If you are a Google Pixel or Pixel XL owner and boasting your photography skills but annoyed with the series of other issues, this one's for you. Google product forum was flooded with several comments regarding microphone failure on some Pixel phones and there's finally a fix for that.
Google's Brian Rakowski replied to one of the comments explaining that the microphone issue in some Pixel phones is due to hardware failure. As you'd imagine, no software update can fix it and the only way to get rid of the problem is by replacing your brand new phone through the official channels (we didn't say you'd like the solution).
Several users have reported problems with the microphone, rendering it mostly useless except for recording videos using camera. Rakowski noted that the problem is a hairline crack in the solder connection on the audio code, which affects all three microphones - the phone audio input and the ambient mics.
If you are resistant to replace your phone, holding the phone in a certain position and based on the temperature changes, there is a chance the problem may go away. But that's not an easy fix and translates to an annoying user experience. According to Rakowski, the problem has occurred in less than one percent of the phones and gets triggered after a few months of use or by dropping the phone.
"We have been taking additional steps to reinforce the connection at time of manufacture on phones built since January. Phones manufactured in the last month should not have this problem. For phones manufactured before then, the incidence of the problem is <<1%. I know this thread makes it seem much more prevalent, but there is a selection bias at work here," Rakowski wrote.
Since the only resolution is to replace the phone, here's how you can do so.
If you purchased Pixel or Pixel XL from Google, contact support and describe the problem as mic failure. The team will rectify the issue, put a hold on your credit card and ship a new phone immediately. Once the defective phone is verified to have the said problem, the hold on the card will be removed.
In case you purchased the phone from a third-party retailer, it's best to go back to the retailer and request a replacement. If you choose to replace it from Google directly for a phone purchased from a third-party retailer, the process will take a couple of weeks.
