Nexus 6 Release Hits Another Snag

While this morning we confirmed the good news that Google’s Nexus 6 release is picking up steam and becoming more readily available for prospective buyers, new details have emerged revealing another Nexus 6 release setback. It looks like the release and inventory could be further delayed for some due to a software bug.

The Nexus 6 is now available from T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T in the United States, as well as the Play Store and Motorola.com. However, the problem is with AT&T units, as a leak has surfaced showing that all inventory is being sent back to Motorola for a critical software bug that was discovered.

Read: 16 Nexus 6 Tips, Tricks & Hidden Features

The AT&T Nexus 6 has the AT&T logo on bottom, and AT&T’s usual software bloat that many phones come with. Nexus devices never have bloatware from carriers, but the Nexus 6 didn’t get the usual Nexus treatment. AT&T has a few apps that install out of the box, so long as an AT&T SIM is in the device during setup, and it looks like a few changes by the carrier and Motorola could be causing trouble.

The Nexus 6 release has not gone smooth. First it was delayed, carriers were silent on details, and even T-Mobile had to push the release date back a week from the 12th to November 19th. And don’t even ask about pre-orders, as those sold out within 2-3 minutes on the Google Play Store, and continue to be out of stock now nearly one month later.

Today though, the image below was found by Droid-Life confirming some bad news for potential AT&T Nexus 6 buyers. It looks like the initial batch has an issue, and early buyers may need to wait for an update or send their units back for a new model. Bad news all around for those who’ve been anxiously waiting months for this phone to arrive.

The leak states that initial shipments arrived for AT&T users with incorrect software from Motorola, and the company has asked AT&T to send the entire “initial shipment” back. This does mean however that some of the second waves of inventory could have the problem fixed, and this should technically only effect a very small percentage of AT&T buyers that were able to find the Nexus 6 in stock.

The leakster confirmed that the bug causing all these problems is a black screen on initial boot, then once your Nexus 6 does turn on it won’t connect to the internet, AT&T services, or anything, basically making the device rather useless. We’ve yet to hear any confirmations that this is a problem for actual owners, nor does my own AT&T Nexus 6 have the problem

Most likely this is a very small bug in a few limited devices, but we’ll have to wait and see just how widespread it could potentially be.

All said and done, AT&T has confirmed that the problem has already been corrected and all phones currently shipping will not suffer from this issue. Did you get the AT&T Nexus 6? Drop a comment below if you’re experiencing any bugs, screen problems, or data drops.