A hot potato: Although buttery smooth stock Android and top-notch photographic camera performance make Google's Pixel phones stand out from the competition, the devices have also had their fair share of hardware and software problems across several generations. The latest consequence appears to be a major one, targeting Pixel 3 and three Twoscore owners, and is causing the phones to randomly shutdown, boot into a special recovery mode and remain stuck in that country.

The Pixel 3 and 3 XL but have another month to get before Google retires them from its officially supported list. However, information technology won't be smooth sailing until October 2022 (or afterward), given that a number of Pixel 3/iii XL owners running the latest Android xi build accept encounter an consequence -- some every bit far back as December last year -- that'southward causing their devices to turn into bricks.

Android Law reports an increasing number of affected users having their devices bricked overnight, booting and getting stuck into EDL Mode, or becoming completely unresponsive afterward a random shutdown. The mysterious issues is apparently linked to a security update, according to some users, although Google, who is aware of the result, is yet to offer a solution.

Interestingly, these bricked Pixels are accepting wired/wireless charging in some cases and come up as "QUSB_BULK_CID:xxxx_SN:xxxxxxxx" when continued to a PC, indicating that the device is running in a special recovery style called Emergency Download (EDL). While Android ability users can likely unbrick devices from this special kicking fashion past flashing firmware, there'due south currently no convenient manner to get around the problem.

Frustratingly, pretty much all Pixel 3/3XLs have run out of warranty at this betoken, leaving owners little option other than trying their luck with a factory reset or having their device checked/stock-still at an authorized repair center.