Some Pixel 6 phones reportedly have strange screen defects

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Reports of flickering, a green tint and an extra punch hole

pixel 6 pro laying flat on book
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Update: November 1 @ 11:40 — We have obtained another image of a Pixel 6 display seemingly affected by the additional punch hole issue. You can take a look at it below.

Now that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have started making their way into buyers' hands, we're hearing about some issues that we didn't experience with our review units. 

Notably, these problems relate to the Pixels' displays. Right now, these reports are coming from just a few users, but that number could increase.

Some people have reported that their Pixel 6 displays have a strange flicker, a greenish tint, or, weirdly enough, a second hole punch. The flicker occurred with one user on Reddit (vis GSMArena), who reported that the screen would inconsistently flicker when the power button was pressed when the Pixel 6 Pro was powered off.

Some others have reported a greenish tint to the Pixel 6's display, which isn't uncommon with OLED displays. In fact, some previous Pixels like the Pixel 4 XL and Pixel 5a have run into this problem. It's sad to see flagship phones with this issue as a tint significantly detracts from what is otherwise not a bad screen.

The final reported issue is by far the strangest. The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro feature a centered hole-punch cutout for the front-facing camera. The display and OS wrap around this and it's unobtrusive, but one user showed off a video of a second hole-punch cutout. 

This new cutout overlapped with the normal one. This appears to a be a double hole-punched display and seems to be a fluke in manufacturing.

A second image, sent into us by a Tom's Guide reader, seems to show a similar problem. However the additional hole in their Pixel 6 was located over the corner of the display. While it's different from the previous instance, this adds more weight to suspicions that Google's quality control is not as good as it should be.

A reader-supplied image of a Google Pixel 6 with an additional punch hole cut out from the corner of the display.

(Image credit: Sent in by a TG reader)

We want to make it clear that neither my Tom's Guide colleague Philip Michaels nor I experienced any of these problems with our review units. In fact, the Pixel 6 Pro is my new favorite Android phone, despite its shortcomings. 

That said, Google has never been good at quality control with Pixels. That seems to hold true this year. We just hope we don't end up with a widespread issue like the Pixel 2 XL's display problems.

Defects in manufacturing are inevitable, but the sign of good quality control is rejecting defective devices and not allowing them to reach customers. It seems Google still needs help in this aspect of producing hardware.

Today, Oct. 28, is the official launch day for the Pixel 6 series, so we could see new or additional defect reports in the coming days and weeks.

Jordan Palmer
Jordan Palmer
Phones Editor

Jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom's Guide, covering all things phone-related. He's written about phones for over six years and plans to continue for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his home with a book, game, or his latest personal writing project. Jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Outside of work, you can find him poring over open-source software and his studies.