Folks who’ve received review units of the new Google Pixel 2 XL are reporting a pretty gnarly display issue known as screen burn or pixel burn.
More common on TVs, screen burn is permanent ghost-like impressions left on a display after extended use, particularly in areas that don’t change often. Alex Dobie, the editor of Android Central, was one of the first to notice the problem, posting an image on Twitter which you can see below.
That’s some pretty wild OLED burn-in on the Pixel 2 XL after maybe 7 days of full-time use pic.twitter.com/EPJTs6D0Kg
— Alex Dobie (@alexdobie) October 22, 2017
You can see the burnt-in Android navigation bar at the bottom of the display. Others also took to social media to post images of their own screen burn.
You can add my Pixel 2 XL to the burn-in pile. pic.twitter.com/r9u31wal4Q
— Ron Amadeo (@RonAmadeo) October 23, 2017
Quite frankly, this is embarrassing after about 50-60% brightness and 3 days of use. #PixelXL2 #Pixel #ScreenBurnIn pic.twitter.com/jVB0bPtvvs
— Bïbbêę (@Bibz32) October 22, 2017
In a statement given to The Verge, Google say they’re aware of the issue and are currently looking into it.
“We put all of our products through extensive quality testing before launch and in the manufacturing of every unit,” the company said. “We are actively investigating this report.”
While a lot of OLED displays tend to eventually show signs screen burn over time, it’s worrying to see it happening after just one week.
The Pixel 2 XL is the larger of the two new Google phones and by most accounts, is a solid competitor to the iPhone X, assuming they can find a way to resolve this display issue. It’ll be available in Australia on the 31st of October starting at $1,399 for the 64GB model.
