Samsung Galaxy phones having a bad week as display and battery issues arise
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Samsung Galaxy S23 and S22 owners have been hit with a one-two punch as users have recently experienced faulty hardware and software.
On social media platforms, and even on the company’s own community forums (opens in new tab)are messages that show some kind of bubble defect in the lower corners of the Galaxy S23Ultra. The location varies by device: some have while on the left others have it on the right side (opens in new tab).
The good news is that this is purely cosmetic as no one has reported any performance issues so far (unlike the recent camera stabilization error). But given that the S23 Ultra costs more than $1,200, you can’t blame people for being a little miffed. The company is well aware of this as the official Samsung UK Twitter (opens in new tab) told an affected user that the bubble is more of a feature, not a bug.
Apparently, if you shine a strong enough light on the S23 Ultra’s screen, “some parts appear to be squashed”. The squashed appearance is said to be a result of Samsung’s pressing process during production when the company adds “water and dust resistance” to a phone screen. Apart from the bubble, everything seems fine.
Affected owners are still annoyed by this defect. It seems that the Samsung UK is reaching out to Twitter and trying to help people with the bubble screen. The company is therefore at least aware of the defect.
Battery drain
The same cannot be said about the One UI 5.1 update that recently rolled out to older Galaxy phones like the S22 and S21.
The patch was only intended to introduce new features and improve the performance of the device. However, some people are reporting that their phones’ battery usage skyrockets after the patch. A user on the European Samsung Community Forums (opens in new tab)posted an image of the sudden power outage. They claimed that their S22 Ultra’s battery completely drained after about seven hours of moderate use. Another claims (opens in new tab) that due to the problem, they have to charge their device in the middle of the day.
However, there is some debate about what exactly causes the battery to drain. This is according to a report from GSMArena (opens in new tab), the drain could be due to either the One UI 5.1 update forcing Galaxy phones to enter maximum performance mode or some sort of Samsung keyboard compatibility issue. If it’s the latter, official support pages recommend clearing the keyboard’s data cache and rebooting the phone.
We’ve reached out to Samsung to see if it’s aware of the battery drain and if it’s working on a fix. So far, the company has not made any official statements regarding the One UI 5.1 patch. In addition, we asked what it will do for users suffering from the bubble defect, such as replacing the screen. This story will be updated if we hear anything.
While we have you, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best Galaxy phones for 2023 – so far.