AT&T began sales of the Nexus 6 a little over a week ago, giving us Lollipop-hungry consumers another retailer from which to get Google and Motorola’s new smartphone. Unfortunately for us, now it looks like that option is going to be unavailable.
An internal AT&T memo leaked by Droid-Life shows that AT&T stores are being instructed to return all of their Nexus 6 inventory immediately. This is because of some software bug that apparently causes the N6 to display a black screen and fail to connect to service when the phone is powered on. The good news is that Motorola is said to have identified the cause of the problem and is working on shipping out phones with a fix.
AT&T says that the Nexus 6 will still be available through Direct Fulfillment, which involves you contacting AT&T to buy a unit and it shipping a phone to you. As for in-store inventory, AT&T says that more details will be shared in the coming days. And if you’ve already bought an AT&T Nexus 6 and have run into this problem, you should take it into a store to get it exchanged.
Despite the fact that it’s been nearly a month since the Nexus 6 went up for sale, the device is still pretty tough to come by. That’s why the news of losing AT&T as a buying option is a bummer. Thankfully, Best Buy is now selling both the Sprint and AT&T versions of the Nexus 6, so at least we’ve got a replacement.
UPDATE: In a statement given to Android Police, Motorola explains that it sent “a small number” of Nexus 6s loaded with “incorrect software” to AT&T pre-order customers. This software prevents the affected N6s from starting up correctly. Those customers affected will get replacements.
