Fire Hazard Recall May Explain Controversial Pixel 4a Battery Update
Late last month, the Google Pixel 4a received a software update that rendered the device virtually unusable for some people for seemingly unknown reasons. The update included “battery management features” that caused some people’s phones to be unable to hold a charge for more than 30 minutes. Google explained the problems in a support document and offered several solutions, but again did not explain the root cause of the problem. But now there appears to be one possible explanation for the problem – overheating batteries – as mentioned in a Pixel 4a review published in Australia and first spotted by Android Authority .
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a recall notice on March 7, stating in an accompanying document that some Pixel 4a devices are currently at risk of fire due to overheating batteries. The notice clarifies that this does not affect all Pixel 4a devices and goes on to say that if your device is not affected by this issue, the January software update will not have an impact on its battery or performance, implying that Google released the update to reduce the risk of fires on the affected phone.
When Google released the software update, its support document also mentioned that the software update will only update battery management on certain devices. The company also cited potential degradation of lithium-ion batteries as a reason for the update.
If the ACCC notice is correct and overheating batteries are indeed the cause of the January software update for the Pixel 4a, it could offer a potential explanation for why the update was released so quickly. Typically, Pixel phones receive large software updates through Pixel Drops, which are released every few months. Apart from this, Google usually only releases stability and security updates, which are not usually published on their own blogs. In this case, the company released a large update with a detailed support document, perhaps because the problem was potentially serious.
I’ve reached out to Google for comment and will update the story once the company responds.
In short, faced with a potential fire risk, it looks like Google is choosing to limit the battery capacity in affected devices rather than cause a disaster.
Check if your Pixel 4a is affected
If you haven’t already, you can check if your Pixel 4a is affected by going to this Google support page and following the onscreen instructions. If so, Google offers three options: a free battery replacement, a $100 credit toward another Pixel phone, or a one-time $50 cash payment.