Some Pixel 2 XL Users Are Reporting An Unusual Screen Flashing Issue

Google’s Pixel 2 XL flagship smartphone has been met with several issues related to its OLED display. Now, it appears as though another display problem has surfaced as some users are experiencing screen flashes when locking and unlocking their Pixel 2 XL units.

The issue was first brought to light by a Pixel 2 XL user Cynthia O in the Pixel User Community forums. She says that her Pixel 2 XL’s screen would flash white when the phone is being unlocked, when the screen wakes up to show notifications, when it locks by itself and when she manually locks it.

The Pixel User Community forums post, which was first published back in Oct. 21, has now gained some attention with other users reporting to be experiencing the same issue. Some users are saying that they began experiencing the problem just hours after purchasing the phone. Some are even experiencing the issue when turning on the Pixel 2 XL from a fully powered-down state.

Rebooting the Pixel 2 XL in recovery mode doesn’t appear to fix the issue, nor does performing a factory reset on the phone. Some users are saying that the screen flashing issue could be temporarily stopped by disabling the Ambient Display and turning it on again. Unfortunately, there appears to be no permanent solution to this problem as of this writing.

It’s very likely that this problem is the result of faulty or defective hardware. If that’s truly the case, then this issue on the Pixel 2 XL can’t be fixed through a software update. However, a few Nexus 6P users have also reported that they’re experiencing the same screen flashing issue. The affected users claim that they began experiencing random screen flashes since updating to Android 8.0 Oreo. This could still be a hardware related issue that’s directly tied to Android Oreo.

For users who are already experiencing this screen flashing issue, they should definitely return their device to Google and ask for a replacement. For those who aren’t experiencing the same problem yet, it’s possible that their Pixel 2 XL units are not affected and they shouldn’t worry too much about it. The screen flashing issue appears to be only affecting a very small number of Pixel 2 XL users and shouldn’t be considered as a widespread issue, according to Android Police. The problem also doesn’t appear to be affecting the smaller Pixel 2, which also comes with an OLED display.

This new screen flashing issue on the Pixel 2 XL may not be widespread, but it could certainly still affect the public’s perception of Google’s Pixel brand. The Pixel 2 XL’s display has already been criticized for its lack of vibrant colors, extreme blue shift when viewed at an angle and even image persistence or display burn-in. Google has already addressed the muted colors of the display by including a new saturated color mode with the November security update. Google also said that the security update changes how the UI works to mitigate the possibility of screen burn-in and extends the life of the Pixel 2 XL’s OLED display.