YouTube video causes Pixel 7 to crash

A strange bug affects the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, with a specific video on YouTube that crashes the two Google smartphones. Indeed, they crash and must restart.

The video in question is a 4K HDR excerpt from the film Alien, the eighth passenger. Several users report on Reddit that just playing that video with the YouTube app crashes their Pixel 7 causing it to reboot.

According to the thread, some Pixel 6 and 6a also crash when loading video. So the problem is not limited to the latest Google phones. The real question is where does the problem come from? How does a specific YouTube video cause such a crash? Especially since users claim to have temporary cellular connectivity problems after restarting. They must wait a few minutes before a return to normal.

Here is the bug in question:

Google Pixels have had more or less similar issues in the past. For example, the Pixel 2 could constantly crash because of a wallpaper.

Google has not yet reacted to the problem of the day with the Pixel 7. In the meantime, users who are testing the Android 14 beta (recently available for developers) claim to have no particular problem with the video.