The Pixel 7’s biggest design change over the past year has been in the camera strip, which has shifted from a single large sheet of glass covering each camera to a solid block of aluminum with smaller glass openings above each camera lens. The thought at the time was that reducing the glass would result in fewer light lines in the camera and maybe even slightly better durability thanks to a smaller glass area. Ironically, this smaller glass appears to be more prone to shattering. A large number of reports began to appear redditthe Google support forumsAnd the Twitter Claiming that the camera glass just shattered one day. Along with hundreds of responses on Reddit and the support forums #pixel7brokencamera On Twitter will give you an endless stream of shocking images.
We’ve seen this exact problem many times before in the smartphone world. Samsung had this problem in 2016 Galaxy S7 And again in 2021 Galaxy S20, Both started Class action. In the cases of Samsung and Google, broken glass does not look like shattering from impact, which usually shows a point of impact and an outer spider web. In these cases, a large, round hole appears in the glass — it looks like the phone was hit by a bullet.
These specialized glass panels for smartphones increase scratch resistance by up to 100% Building stresses in the glass. We don’t know the manufacturer of Google’s camera glass, but a Corning engineer explains the general process on it Scientific American article, he says, “There’s a layer of compressive stress, then a layer of centrifugal tension, where the glass wants to squeeze out, and then another layer of compressive stress.” If you mess something up in your glass composition and those layers aren’t in perfect balance, one day the glass will crack and you’ll get these little, outward eruptions.
Galaxy S20 from a few years ago. All this is very familiar.
This looks like what people describe Some doubt Temperature changes from the cold weather outdoors to the indoor heat is what causes the glass to explode. It is very hard to believe the suggestion that it is from one point. The camera cover is a small circle of glass surrounded by aluminum — even if you were to try to get the phone to land on the camera cover, it would be very difficult.
While it’s hard to imagine this being user abuse, some users say Google isn’t handling the issue under warranty. Alex Hatzenbuhler, one of the victims of the Google Glass explosion, Post a screenshot From Google Device Support claiming that the issue is not covered by the warranty. Some users are quoted About $200 for repair.
The class action lawsuits filed by Samsung were over the camera glass Both Defuse it Thanks to Samsung’s Terms of Use, Requiring “MANDATORY INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION PROVISION AND CLASS ACTION/JURY WAIVER TERMS.” Google user defaults in file similar agreement It provides them with almost no rights, and while can withdraw Of mandatory arbitration, most people don’t, so the lawsuit is unlikely to go anywhere.
What arbitration can’t stop is online pressure and negative press from sites like this one. So, Google, cover your obviously defective devices under warranty. The Pixel hardware division is very small and wants to grow, but you won’t get anywhere if you start screwing up your small customer base. A general statement saying this is covered by the warranty should help people deal with customer support. You have our email.
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