Skip to main content

The Pixel 7’s latest problem? Randomly shattering cameras

Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro have been the subject of many complaints regarding a spontaneously cracking camera glass. Reports circulating on Reddit and Google’s own Pixel support forums over the winter show frustrated customers claiming that their Pixel’s camera lens shatters — seemingly for no discernable reason.

The reports go back to November, shortly after the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro became available, but have been increasing in the interim. Affected users speak of skepticism by customer agents because “it just broke on its own” isn’t really a convincing argument most times. The users also claim to be using protective cases and don’t recall dropping their phones. However, repeated occurrences are cause for concern, and Samsung was subject to a class-action lawsuit over something similar for its Galaxy S20 in 2021.

Photo of a Pixel 7 with shattered glass over the rear camera.
Glittering-Ability-2 / Reddit

“I’m flying to the parents’ house today for Thanksgiving. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to scan my boarding pass, and what do I see? Cracked camera glass over the ultrawide side of the lens (so much so that [the] glass is actually flaking off). A nice TSA lady gave me a piece of tape to prevent further flaking,” one fuming user reported, “I’m running a case, haven’t dropped the phone once, and it was literally fine 30 minutes ago. I’m quite pissed considering I don’t know what I did to crack it.”

Recommended Videos

A hypothesis has emerged, linking the glass breakage to temperature changes that occur in the winter. As users are more likely to move from a warm indoor environment to a cold outdoor environment, the metal contracts and expands in response to ambient temperature. This, the hypothesis goes, would result in the glass shattering for no apparent reason.

The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro had problems with temperature as well, albeit on the other scale and unrelated to the fully glass camera bar. Some users reported, and I experienced, poor performance during the summer. These issues ranged from intense overheating to severe battery drainage to total system shutdown. Though beautifully designed, Google’s Pixels handle extreme temperatures with far less grace than most other equivalently priced smartphones.

Google has always had issues with quality control on its Pixel line, and despite the great leaps it’s made in design and camera technology, those problems have persisted with the Pixel 7 Pro. We’ve reached out to Google for comment on this and will update this story if a response is forthcoming.

Michael Allison
Former Mobile News Writer
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
It looks like the big Galaxy S24 One UI 7 update is about to restart
The welcome screen for One UI 7 on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

If you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S24 in your hand, then it’s time to start checking the software update page again, as it appears the much-delayed One UI 7 update has restarted in South Korea. It means there’s a strong chance it will also be sent out to global Galaxy S24-series phones in the near future. 

Samsung phone owners will be aware of how much hassle the One UI 7 update has been for the brand’s top 2024 smartphones. Not only has it been a long-time coming — One UI 7 arrived with the Galaxy S25 in January — but when it did eventually arrive last week, a serious flaw related to locking and unlocking the phone was discovered and the update was abruptly stopped. 

Read more
I tested the Pixel 9a and iPhone 16e’s cameras, and the two almost tied
A person holding the Google Pixel 9a and Apple iPhone 16e.

The Google Pixel 9a’s arch rival, almost regardless of whether you are trying to decide which one to buy, is the Apple iPhone 16e. Just like dogs chase cats, a new Pixel phone will go up against an iPhone in a camera test at some point, and over the past week or so, we’ve worked to answer the question of which phone takes better photos, the Pixel 9a or the iPhone 16e.
The camera specs
Google Pixel 9a (left) and Apple iPhone 16e Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The two phones have very different camera systems. The Google Pixel 9a has a 48-megapixel main camera with an f/1.7 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), plus a 13MP wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree field of view. On the front is a 13MP selfie camera.

Read more
Samsung’s One UI 7 update makes the Galaxy S24 Ultra feel like new
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

I’d been refreshing the Software Update menu on my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra for a few days, expectantly waiting for One UI 7 to arrive. Then, on the morning of April 10, it was suddenly available and I eagerly installed it. Samsung’s One UI 7 software over Android 15 on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a big success, but what would it be like on 2024’s flagship Galaxy phone?
Not a massive update?

To my surprise, the One UI 7 update on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is modestly sized, and took less than three minutes to download and install on my phone. It did so without any issue too, and aside from a few setup screens to navigate through — one for accessing Google Gemini, and another showing the new Galaxy AI features — my phone was operational again in moments.

Read more