I tried 4 subreddits and this question got booted from all of them. Hopefully you folks will give me insight into my question.
I have been trying Graphene OS on a Pixel 5a for several months. I even got a sim to test it out in real world. Couple weeks ago, I was reading email using K9 mail. I opened an email and before engaging with the body of the email, I hit the drop down to see the senders full address. My phone went black.
I tried all the recommended key press combinations with and without charging. I couldn't get a vibration or a light or a noise. It just remained seemingly off. I assumed hardware fault. I feared malware.
I dared not plug it into my PC in case of malware so I literally cut the phone in tiny pieces and tossed it out.
The incident keeps haunting me. Partly because I really want to like Graphene and have a more private mobile life, but also because I need to know if malware could do this.

Was this a hardware problem or was it a malware problem. I read malware can't do this. Is that true?
Thanks for your help.

    sounds like a hardware failure to me. I am not an expert, or even close, so this is literally a guess.

    DeletedUser55 I literally cut the phone in tiny pieces and tossed it out.

    This seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

    Why not bring it to an internet cafe and try the phone there? or just charge the phone from a brick and not the computer.

        Overlay1404 two things: first, I tried charging. I was only going to connect to PC to try to revive or wipe or something. Second, I got mad lol (never the right answer with tech.)

          Judging by the fact that it's a Pixel 5a it could be due to Zalgo/Special malicious text that overwhelmed it.

          And then again, perhaps some advanced malware was abled remote code execution due to the Pixel 5a being more vulnerable.

          Only you would be able to know definitively having all the context of the situation. Everything else is pretty much speculation on our end.

          The best thing you can do is take pragmatic security measures moving forward.

          Yes it is. That didn't prohibit me from using it to familiarize myself with GOS. Maybe it was an email with a nasty bug that 5a + GOS couldn't handle.

            Originalcahummer it seems that you don't value yourself enough to try GrapheneOS on officially recommended device. I did and succesfully and after two years I invested into future proofing my experience by purchasing currently second most expensive Pixel. So far I don't regret my decision.

                DeletedUser69 Value is an appropriate word here. I had that phone in a drawer. Imagine my surprise when I read GOS only works on Pixel phones. Since I am a bit older in years and not sure if I could make the leap, I thought a test run was prudent. I was learning how to get apps, what apps to trust and how to do it all without Google. I have not given up on GOS. I hit a roadbump. I came here to ask a question about malware. So, i can say I value myself enough to go slowly and not become overwhelmed. I am very happy your transition has been a wonderful experience. I'm thankful my roadblock happened on my "test" phone and not my daily driver. Live and learn.

                  @Originalcahummer

                  The issue is when you use a phone that is EOL while it may allow you to see if graphene os will work for you from a phone use functional standpoint it can not address the specific issue you started this discussiin about. You are nit asking about functionality. You are asking people to "guess" at best if your issue was a hardware failure of phone 4 gen behind current and quite old. That is no longer supported with updates and as both old tech and lack of security update support it offers little value in evalutating the sevurity of current supported models. But just some cursory basic research online can easily allow you to formulate an opinin on the security of a current pixel graphene os loaded phone. Properly configured and used it is the most secure consumer available phone to date.

                  So no there is nothing wrong with trying a eol'd phone out for basic functionality of the Graphene OS but that is not tge same as fully evalutating its se urity which is a colegeration of the os current android ver and model phone's hardware. Even beyond that asking for people to somehow crystal ball what killed your phone with the total input of "it died while I was reading an email". There is a huge difference between association and causation. Regardless if it washardaare or hostile email it has no bearing on a currently supported phone.

                    I want to thank everyone who commented thus far. I did not know malware could cause this type of issue. I will try to be more careful in the future about how I word my posts. I didn't really expect anyone to give me a definitive answer between hardware and malware. I know that would be impossible. I did learn much from the interactions. I want to protect my mobile privacy. I have not yet learned enough to do so securely.

                      Originalcahummer Not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet but 5a is long known for this issue of the black screen and not working again after. It could easily just be a coincidence it happened while looking at an email.

                        DeletedUser55 "So I literally cut the phone in tiny pieces and tossed it out."

                        I believe this would be considered hardware failure now /j

                        My own Pixel 5a had a similar issue btw, Google confirmed it was a hardware failure. I would recommend contacting Google for a replacement assuming warrently is still valid, I don't believe they will take the phone in the condition it is in now.

                        The 5a had a lot of issues, Google paid TWICE for repairs, including giving me a 6a for free. I quite liked Google for doing that.

                          I tgink its much more likely your old 5a failed from that known dead scrn defect. Much more likely then you got a specific malware email that was able to brick your phone.

                          LocaLola you are shooting yourself in the foot with what you present here, but I guess you have never been here for security matters which neither your laptop nor your feature phone will provide on the level latest Pixels with GrapheneOS do. In any case, good luck and stay safe out there.

                              DeletedUser55 Your device had a hardware failure. It's no in any way the fault of GrapheneOS and has nothing to do with malware. Pixel 5a is an end-of-life, insecure device without ongoing support. It doesn't have current GrapheneOS and stopped receiving official security support since September 2024. You would have needed to replace the device either way, and you weren't using the current GrapheneOS on it.

                                  LocaLola Android 15 is very stable. Your claims of hardware issues on Pixels being worse than other devices is inaccurate and completely unsubstantiated. Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 are insecure, end-of-life devices without support from the current GrapheneOS. Your claims about privacy and security are nonsense. You do not know what you're talking about. Your claims about switching phones yearly are total nonsense. The phones have 7 years of support from launch. It was your choice to buy near end-of-life devices rather than phones with long term support. You chose to waste your money, especially moving from a 5th generation Pixel (Pixel 4a (5G)) to another 5th generation Pixel without longer support (Pixel 5).

                                    GrapheneOS Thank you, that gives me a bit more piece of mind.
                                    For security sake, I know not to touch attachments unless I trust them. I know not to click anything unless I trust the source. 90% of the time I can spot spam that leaks past the filters. The other 10% I catch when I open the email.
                                    Just to be clear, can I get malware from opening an email?

                                        @LocaLola It's incredibly strange that you bought a device that's end-of-life for over a year as a replacement for a device launched alongside it with nearly identical hardware. You could have gotten a Pixel 8a with 7 years of support from the recent launch. You chose to have another end-of-life device that's not even newer than what you already had. You chose to buy another device from the less reliable earlier generations before the Pixel 6. Devices have 7 years of support, not 1, but you choose to waste your money while not ending up with the basics for privacy or security. Your issues are self-inflicted. You're wasting your money and you do not have basic privacy or security. You'd be far better off simply using an older iPhone. These kinds of posts are heavily contributing to us ending legacy extended support sooner rather than later because having it available clearly does serious harm to people. We'll most likely drop web installer support for them very soon and phase out publishing the factory images.

                                        You can harm yourself if you want, but you won't be harming other people with your misinformation. When your current 1 week suspension ends, do not recommend using end-of-life devices again, don't downplay the risks of not having privacy/security patches or don't make any further false claims about support time or unsubstantiated claims about hardware reliability. Stop telling people using an insecure feature phone without any options for secure communication is better for their privacy/security. Those devices don't even have basic privacy/security patches or privacy/security defenses. They're entirely reliant on non-private carrier-based communications. There's nothing private or secure about those. You were not suspended due to your ignorance about privacy and security but rather because you are promoting that ignorance to other people and harming anyone who falls for your inaccurate claims.

                                          DeletedUser55

                                          Just to be clear, can I get malware from opening an email?

                                          You cannot simply get malware from opening an email or site. An attacker would need to exploit a vulnerability in the app or OS. Opening a website, email, etc. exposes the app and OS to attack surface which could be exploited. You have an insecure end-of-life device which we strongly discourage people from using due to lack of many important privacy and security patches. However, it's near certain that has absolutely nothing to do with the hardware failure you experienced. That was almost certainly just caused by worn out hardware with faults which finally gave out from the burden of continued usage. It makes sense that a device would die when triggering an action using the hardware more than while idling rather than dying while idle. If your device had been successfully exploited, you would not know. The attacker would now have your data and control over your phone. There's no reason that you would see any signs of it. You should avoid using an end-of-life device to avoid that scenario, but what you experienced is not connected to it.