Pixel 9 incident leaves a hole in the user's pocket
A Pixel 9 shows off its best Galaxy Note 7 impersonation.
Pixel 9 burns a holw in user's pocket. | Image by PhoneArena
Can you believe that later this summer it will have been 10 years since Samsung released the Galaxy Note 7, a real looker that turned out to be a real cooker. After several units exploded and caught on fire, the phone was banned from commercial aircraft, and Samsung ended up recalling the phone twice. The first time the manufacturer changed the battery, and when that didn't stop the issue, the phone was taken off the market for good.
Remember when the Galaxy Note 7 was the biggest tech story of the moment?
It is hard to believe that a decade has gone by, and while we still hear about random phones catching on fire, we have not seen another incident where a particular model was completely recalled. Part of the reason for this is that the industry has adopted Samsung's 8-point battery safety check that it implemented following the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. However, every now and then, we hear about a random phone that explodes or catches on fire.
Pixel 9 after sparking and catching on fire in user's pocket. | Image by Noe TS
For example, on Reddit, a Pixel 9 owner posted that his Pixel 9 spontaneously combusted on Sunday while resting in his pocket. The device owner said that after hearing what sounded like sparks coming from his pocket, he looked down at the pocket and saw smoke coming out from it.
A Pixel 9 unit started to smoke and spark while in the user's pocket
His reaction was to reach into the smoking and sparking pocket and pull out the phone. Doing this, he noticed that the case was melting onto the body of the device. The fire left the victim with a hole in the pocket that was carrying the Pixel 9.
What causes a phone to catch on fire?
After the shock of seeing his phone burst into flames had dissipated, the owner of the Pixel 9 went around his apartment and opened all of the windows to ensure that there would be enough ventilation protecting him from inhaling any toxic fumes. This is something to keep in mind should your phone have a similar issue.
Google has not responded to the victim in a timely fashion
When it comes to customer service, Google usually does not get high marks from callers, so it is not surprising that after calling Google's support team on Monday, the phone owner has yet to receive a response from the company. That led him to write that "It is a pretty serious situation for Google's team to take over 4 days to get a proper response out."
The phone's case melted to the body of the Pixel 9. | Image by Noe TS
Other Redditors suggested that the victim call Google again to escalate the issue ASAP. He also posted the rather gruesome photos of his Pixel 9 on the Google support page for Pixel phones. He did get a response from a "Product Expert" who answers questions on the support page.
The "Product Expert" is merely a volunteer and a member of the group who is highly valued for his answers to member questions. Still, he is not a Google employee even though he said in his reply that he would pass the info along to "the team."
The Pixel 9 owner said that as a long-time Pixel user, he now has a "bad taste in his mouth"
The victim does have some problems. He is leaving the country in about a week, which means there is no way he will get this resolved with Google before he heads to a foreign land. He also noted that he is a long-time Pixel user and the incident has left him with a horrible taste in his mouth.
Another look at the Pixel 9 following the incident. | Image by Noe TS
When the incident took place, the Pixel 9 owner was in the middle of a FaceTime video chat on his iPad. The person on the other end of the video chat was able to take a recording of what was going on after the victim tossed the smoking handset out of his pocket and onto the floor. You can check out that video, which runs for about four minutes.
Popular stories
Latest News
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: