That’s a shame.
And yeah, I agree. Samsung makes great phones hardware wise (at least when they are not bursting into flames) but their software / ROM is absolutely atrocious. It’s a shame all Samsung phones have locked boot loaders these days, so you can’t install a better 3rd party ROM. 
I believe stories like these (and some involving fire and flames) are what made Google implement and enforce their controversial “battery health” system in newer phones.
I’ve never had a Pixel 7a, but I bet that other than this battery issue, it is still a capable enough phone to last out to its EOL date ~2.5 years from now.
Unless you are chasing the latest AI features (and I don’t understand why anyone would), there is literally no reason to pay good money for the latest phones anymore. Even the most basic or older phones are just fine. The only thing that makes me upgrade these days is the magical EOL date, as in the always connected era it is foolish to use any system or software that is not actively maintained for security.
At this point I haven’t actually bought a new phone in years since I picked up my Pixel 5a in August 2021 when it launched.
I used Googles “Phone Subscription” which is essentially just a misleading name for a payment plan. $9 per month for 24 months for that. I also had an additional $6 per month for the protection plan, which paid off. (more on that in a second.) They even gave me $80 as a trade in for my old Pixel 3.
By month 25 it dropped to just the $6 protection plan. I considered dropping it, but I never did which was lucky. I was perfectly happy with the aging 5a, so I had planned on keeping it until EOL in August 2024 and then figuring out what to replace it with. Then one morning in April 2024 when I woke up it was just bricked. Wouldn’t turn on no matter what I did.
So I contacted the protection plan, and after paying the $65 (I think it was, can’t remember) they sent me a new phone.
When I received it, it was a Pixel 7 Pro, which was weird. I gather with 4 months left until EOL they no longer had any 5a’s in the service pool.
So I lucked out, and gained another free 38 months until the next time I had to deal with EOL, for only th ecost of the $65 deductible. (though once I got the 7 Pro, the protection plan went from $6 per month to $9 per month.
And now with Pixel+ Care (or whatever they are calling the new protection plan) battery replacements are free once you hit 80% of the original batt3ery capacity, so I just monitor it with Accubattery, and when the time comes (if it comes) I’ll just have it replaced.
Who knows what will be on the market in October 2027 when the phone goes EOL, but that’s a Matt in 2 years problem.
As of today, factoring in the $80 credit for my Pixel 3, I’ve only spent $136 on phone hardware in the some 4.25 years since getting the 5a, though that number does go up to $570 when factoring in the protection plan and deductible costs. Still not terrible for over 4 years of phone use.
By the time October 2027 rolls around and it is time for another phone, that will have been the same $136 on the phone, and ~777 once including the protection plan and 2024 deductible… It’s not nothing, but for 6.5 years of phone hardware it isn’t terrible.
That said, I never added up the protection plan costs before. Makes me wonder if it is worth it as they added a ton of money to the total cost of ownership. I’ll have to try to see what phones were selling for back in April 2024 and compare just buying one at that price to what the few years worth of protection plan costs would have been. Maybe I should just “self insure” instead.
I remember back when we were all on 2 year upgrade plans with our carriers, and phones were starting to feel terrible and slow after only a year, and then you had to put up with them for a year until you were eligible for an upgrade. What a different experience phone ownership is now.
That said, the initial investment and protection plans are still way more expensive than the phones used to be back then.
I wish someone would still make something like the Nexus phones used to be. Perfectly serviceable phones for between $200 and $300. There wasnt even a reason to pay for a protection plan back then.
Anyway, I digress:
I gather you didn’t have a protection plan? If you were happy with it other than this, I’d consider bringing it to one of those phone repair places (UbreakIfix is one of the better ones) and see how much they quote you to repair it.
