The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Product Safety arm issued a recall for the Pixel 4a late last week. The reason, the commission said, is that Google's firmware update and battery changes served to "mitigate the risk of overheating" because "an overheating battery could pose a risk of fire and/or burns to a user."

The Pixel 4a is being recalled in Australia due to battery overheating risks, finally shedding more light on what's wrong with the phone.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) confirmed the update's true purpose was to mitigate overheating hazards.

The Google Pixel 4a received a battery management update in January 2025, which led to some people's phones running out of charge in as little as 30 minutes. Now, the Pixel 4a has been recalled in Australia and the notice for the recall explains the potential reason behind the battery management software update.

Google is recalling its Pixel 4a smartphone in Australia after an update that it pushed out in January significantly degraded the battery rendering it useless.

The Pixel 4a Battery Performance Program and update in January was to “mitigate the risk of overheating," according to a recall