Some Pixel 10 users are noticing a weird screen glitch

While scrolling through my X feed over the weekend, I stumbled upon a post from Aaron Zollo, a popular creator who goes by zollotech on YouTube, who highlighted a bizarre issue with the display. As seen in the video he shared, the screen is suddenly filled with horizontal bands of distorted colors, mostly pink, yellow, and green lines, creating a striped appearance. The distortion covers the entire display, making it impossible to see any normal content or interface. 

Check it out for yourself:

Well this is an unexpected behavior from a new Pixel 10 Pro XL I bought. It has been on my desk all day, never dropped, hardly used and I picked it up and it does this. A reboot fixed it though. Very odd. #Pixel10ProXL #MadeByGoogle pic.twitter.com/BL0cKmr9m5

— Aaron Zollo (@zollotech) August 29, 2025

At the time, I assumed it might be a one-off glitch that no one else would experience. But it seems I was wrong. After scrolling through Reddit, I noticed a few other people experiencing the exact same display artifacting. 

Reddit user Ok_Economist_3997 posted about experiencing the issue on their brand new Pixel 10, just two days into ownership. Their post shows the unmistakable colorful static pattern that completely overwhelms the display, making the device practically unusable during these episodes.

What’s particularly interesting is that multiple users report the glitch fixes itself. Ok_Economist_3997 mentioned that locking and unlocking the screen made the problem disappear, while another user, joaocadide, found that a force restart brought their Pixel 10 Pro back to normal. This temporary nature suggests we’re dealing with a software hiccup rather than permanent hardware damage, which is somewhat reassuring for affected users.

The Reddit threads reveal this isn’t isolated to specific variants either. Reports are coming in from both regular Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro users, with some mentioning they’re seeing identical patterns of colorful horizontal bands. One user noted their device remained responsive to touch even during the glitch, with the phone vibrating when tapped despite the chaotic display.

Google’s official PixelCommunity account has been actively reaching out to affected users on Reddit, requesting private messages to investigate the issue further. At least that shows that Google might already be aware of the issue.

So far, things aren’t looking good for Google’s brand-new flagships. Just yesterday, we covered reports of issues with pairing smartwatches, Magic Cue, scrolling stutters, and wireless charging problems. These display glitches add another layer to what’s becoming a concerning pattern of early bugs and issues plaguing the Pixel 10 series.

Some Reddit users suggest the problem might stem from GPU driver issues, which would explain why restarts seem to resolve the situation temporarily. One commenter mentioned that after about 20 minutes, their screen returned to normal on its own, supporting the theory that this is software-related rather than a fundamental hardware flaw.

For now, affected users should document their experiences and reach out to Google support. While the glitch looks alarming, the fact that devices recover suggests this will likely be addressed in an upcoming software update rather than requiring hardware replacements, at least that’s what one should hope.

Featured image credit: joaocadide / Reddit