Do you have a Pixel 6 phone? Be careful when resetting data

Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Pixel 6a owners have taken to the forums with a very unusual and annoying problem. After a factory data reset, instead of a blank canvas, they got a broken phone that won't boot. Google replied to them that it is aware of the problem and is investigating it.

Users say that after trying to reset the phone, it won't boot up, but an error message appears:

“I can't load Android. Your data may be corrupted. If this message continues to appear, you may need to perform a factory data reset and delete all user data stored on this device.”

The phone offers the option to retry the data reset, which does not change the final result, nor does a simple reset of the phone. During the data wipe, an additional error appears informing the user that the phone is missing the "tune2fs" file, which apparently refers to a Unix command line tool used to set file system parameters.

Some users have reported that the problem occurred after updating the phone, but the complaints seem to be due to a factory reset rather than a specific software update. It's not clear how widespread the problem is, but Google will have to act quickly, otherwise they risk more broken phones.

This is not the only problem with the Pixel 6 phones. Google has faced lawsuits in the past accusing the American giant of phones overheating and charging slower than advertised.