It seems like a lifetime ago that Google released the last Nexus devices at a modest event in San Francisco. I was there to cover the launch of the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, and it was the smaller device that captured my attention at the time.
Others loved the Nexus 6P for its larger size and better cameras, but a good many people didn’t like the 6P at all. So much so, in fact, that a class action was launched in the US which saw Google and Huawei sued for various hardware issues.
Amongst other things, the issues included boot-loop problems, battery life issues and more. While the class action won’t solve any hardware issues – as it’s doubtful many of these phones from late 2015 are still being used today – it will see Google and Huawei on the hook for $US9.75m compensation.
The class action got up because Google and Huawei allegedly breached their warranty on the Nexus 6P, by being aware of hardware issues and not properly responding to those issues while continuing to sell it. Woops. Though a court didn’t make such a finding, it appears that Google and Huawei are aware that something wasn’t right, and they’ve proposed the settlement which is up to the court to approve next month.
There’s quite a process for US-based claimants to go through to access the class action settlement monies, which we won’t go into here, as no one in Australia will be eligible to participate.
One can only hope that in the years since, companies have learned their lessons about supporting and resolving issues with defective hardware. You may recall Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro woes last year with some affected by green-tinted displays. Fortunately for those who bought these devices (in Australia, at least) Huawei did the right thing and made sure everyone was taken care of and (fairly) quickly.
Google, too, seems to have done a much better job with its own hardware in more recent times, and even though the Pixel 3 XL has some gnarly issues due to (amongst other things) its lack of RAM and not-fully optimised software, Google has reacted quickly to do what it can.
You can certainly feel a lot more confident buying a phone in 2019, it seems.
