We are seeing new and new reports on the internet about how certain Samsung device users are having a problem with green lines appearing on their display after a software update. But these reports appear at regular intervals once or twice a year. Is it necessary to worry about this phenomenon?
So the big question is whether you should be afraid to update the Samsung firmware so that you don't accidentally see these lines on your display. So is it safe to update your device? First of all, it is important to say what it is actually about. In short, it's a display problem of as yet unknown origin that manifests itself as one or more vertical green (sometimes purple) lines running across the entire phone screen.
Many phone models suffered from this ailment Galaxy, but it has also been noted by other brands, even iPhones equipped with OLED panels. Is it a hardware problem? Is this a problem specific to OLED displays? Or can the firmware updates somehow break the phone's display? The truth is that smartphones are complex devices and unless Samsung comes out with an official statement, we can't really be too sure about anything.
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But we can probably say that green and/or purple vertical lines on a smartphone display usually indicate a hardware failure – typically a bad display connection. Not just on Samsung phones, but pretty much any device of any brand equipped with an OLED panel. This problem can have several causes. For example, the OLED connection may have shorted due to liquid damage or other factors such as dropping the phone. There's also the possibility of some manufacturing defects - although in most cases it's logical to assume that these manufacturing defects would be noticeable immediately after the phone is switched on, rather than appearing after several years of use.
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But what about the update, how is it to blame?
Most of the signs point to hardware failure and human nature rather than anything to do with software. Users on the Internet claim that the problem appeared after a firmware update, and this story has more or less been accepted by the whole world, which, after all, still has social networks in motion. However, it would be wiser to avoid sensationalist posts on various social networks when it comes to trying to get information about any issue. It is better to try to identify the old patterns that appear year after year and consider the few facts that are already there.
- Any electronics is defective. These green line issues occur, albeit rarely, with every brand of phone. However, Samsung is (again) the biggest phone seller, so it gets the most attention. The issues affect many models in various price ranges, including Galaxy A, M, S and Z.
- These reports of green-line display issues pale in comparison to Samsung's phone sales figures. This problem is not nearly as widespread as the posts make it seem.
- These issues seem to affect users from India the most. At the same time, it seems that this applies to many phone models, which, on the other hand, are not directly manufactured in India.
- We shouldn't ignore the human element, i.e. there is always a possibility that a certain percentage of affected phone users have accidentally damaged their phones, or have improperly repaired their phones with a third-party display, or are using third-party screens, and of course they won't share this with us. This makes it even more difficult to identify the real cause of the problem.
- The green lines appearing after a firmware update may just be a coincidence. Nothing binds them together but assumptions. If the users in question turned the phone off and on without updating, they would also see the mentioned lines on the display.
Now we have news that Samsung India is also offering post-warranty service for the affected phones. This could indicate that at least a small number of these cases may be due to a manufacturing defect, and Samsung may be using the program to further investigate the defect. The program is logically running in India because that is where the most mentioned problems are reported.
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Update or not?
Samsung releases firmware updates regularly, at least once a month for flagship models. It's probably safer to update your phone with new patches than try to avoid the problem by never updating your phone again. There is a reason why security patches come out.
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If you want to be extra careful, you can ignore updates in the future (you can determine the behavior of updates in Settings -> Software Update). Then you can try to monitor the reactions on social networks to each new version, whether it has brought any problems or is "safe". But of course it is time-consuming, in this case you expose your device to a security risk and lose new functions that updates often bring. Of course, we cannot give you a clear recommendation, however, if you were to ask our opinion, we are not worried about the green lines and we will definitely not be late with the updates.
