Been having microphone issues with your Google Pixel? If so, you’re not alone.
Google has acknowledged that some Pixel and Pixel XL phones are having issues with microphones that work intermittently, or sometimes stop working altogether. According to Google employee Brian Rakowski, there are a few know root causes of the problem.
The most common issue is a hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio codec. Because of the nature of the crack, sometimes it’ll seem like the issue will be fixed but then it’ll return based on temperature changes or the way you hold your phone. This issue occurs on less than one percent of phones, says Rakowski.
Other issues are caused with a faulty microphone. You can tell this is the case when a single mic just stops working.
Google says that if you’ve encountered mic failure on your device, you should contact customer service to get a replacement. If you bought directly from Google, you can contact them and get a replacement. For folks that bought from another retailer, it’s recommended that you speak to the retailer that you bought it from. You can process your return through Google, too, but that’ll take much longer since you’ll have to send the phone to Google and have them verify that it’s a legit return of a Pixel phone.
Finally, Rakowski said that Google has taken additional steps to reinforce the mic connection on Pixel phones built since January.
This mic issue is kind of a big deal for the Pixel. While not everyone may use their phone as a phone all of the time, there are still lots of instances in which you’ll need to use the microphone, like when you’re talking to Google Assistant. The good news for folks that have encountered the problem is that Google is aware of it and making it easy to return a defective phone for a replacement.
Have you encountered this Pixel microphone issue?