Trouble in paradise: Google Pixel 3a/3a XL users are facing random shutdowns

Google Pixel smartphones have always featured excellent cameras and first-hand software support, but they were also plagued by various issues quite frequently. Fortunately, none of these issues reached the magnitude of Samsung's epic Note7 failure, but still: first-gen Pixels had problems when backing up data, the Pixel 2 XL was affected by display-related issues, and the Pixel 3 camera app was plagued by bugs. Now, the time has come for the Pixel 3a and 3a XL to face a rather old problem in the smartphone world that refuses to go away: random shutdowns.

As you can see in this Reddit thread, quite a few Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL are facing random device shutdowns. On the other hand, there is also a significant number of Reddit users who own these handsets and shared their entirely positive experience on the same page. 

While an official statement from Google is not yet available, many of those who contacted their carrier or Google had their defective units replaced. In addition to the random shutdowns problem, some users also had to face various display problems. The unlucky user who started the aforementioned thread had to go through both: after replacing his Pixel 3a XL that developed display problems shortly after purchase, he received a unit that is going off randomly.

A software fix might become available in the future, but there is not much to do until it arrives. Once the phones die, they require a hard reset — performed by holding the power button down for 30 seconds or so until they turn back on. In some cases, using Safe Mode cannot help, either.

Have you experienced such problems with your Pixel 3a/3a XL or even another phone? Do you have any piece of advice for those having to choose between waiting for a software fix while living with the random shutdowns and returning their units?