Screen burn-in isn’t an uncommon issue, but it does seem especially worrisome that it’s showing up within a week or so of these units coming into usage. It’s also possible that what we’re looking at here is image retention instead of actual screen burn-in.
If that’s the case, then it’s not as permanent. Neither one is good, but “ghosting” goes away where burn-in may not. Android Central has a good breakdown.
On asking Google for the screen burn issue they replied “The Pixel 2 XL screen has been designed with an advanced POLED technology, including QHD+ resolution, wide color gamut, and high contrast ratio for natural and beautiful colors and renderings. We put all of our products through extensive quality testing before launch and in the manufacturing of every unit. We are actively investigating this report.”
If it really is genuine screen burn-in (and early indications do, in fact, seem to point in that direction), it’s a really big problem. Many screens, especially OLED screens, do begin to exhibit burn-in over time. But that time span is usually measured in multiple months or even years, not days or weeks.
