I Do Not Recommend Google Hardware

I’ve been a GrapheneOS user for years now. Back in 2022 I switched away from /e/OS on a Samsung Galaxy S10 to a Google Pixel 6a that I had bought, because at the time it happened to be one of the cheapest devices on the short list of officially supported Pixels. However, my history with Google phones goes way past the 6a and ever since I got my first Nexus, every single piece of Google (branded and manufactured) hardware that has passed through my hands has eventually broken on a hardware level, way quicker than expected. At this point I have run out of patience with Google’s consumer electronics and have decided to stop giving the company any more of my money. This post is part personal post-mortem, part survey of the wider Pixel landscape, and part forward-looking note on what I’m going to do instead. Disclosure: The opinions in here are entirely my own, formed from years of using Google hardware as a paying customer. Why a Pixel to begin with? To be very clear up-front, I have…