Display issues on smartphones like screen flickering and dead pixels are normally infuriating, more so when it’s the manufacturer’s fault for shipping a less than perfect screen. This frustration more than doubles when the phone is just outside its warranty period, as some Galaxy S20 and S20+ owners are experiencing.
Several Samsung users across various social media platforms including Reddit, Twitter, and even Samsung’s customer forums are crying foul after seeing pink or green lines streaking down the displays of their Galaxy S20 smartphones.
What is interesting is that the majority of those running into the issues note that the lines first appeared within a few days of updating the phone’s software.
This more than hints that the defect in the displays might be caused by the software updates. How this exactly happens is still unknown, but if I had a Galaxy S20 device, I would certainly not be in a hurry to install any software update until Samsung releases an official statement explaining what is triggering the screen failures.
What is worrying is that this is not the first time we are hearing of screen defects in the Galaxy S20 series. Late last year, there were users who reported scan lines appearing on the display. The lines then got increasingly worse until the user was left with a completely white or green screen.
This made the phone unusable, and the only way to fix the problem was to get a screen replacement. This is straightforward when your S20 is still under warranty.
But for those whose devices are just outside the warranty period, getting the screen replaced is a hefty cost added to your expenses, with the faulty screen resulting from factors that you do not even have an understanding of.
OLED displays like the one used on the Galaxy S20 series have a history of having stuck pixels that could cause the pink/green lines the unfortunate Galaxy S20 owners are reporting.
However, this is usually earlier in the release cycle, when a few defective units might slip through. The stuck pixels might also be caused by physical damage to the device as a result of being dropped.
It is unlikely that the two situations above might be the cause of the dying displays, considering that the Galaxy S20 got its release in 2020. If the displays were faulty, the problems should have surfaced much sooner than after a period of almost 2 years.
Physical damage being the cause is also highly unlikely as this is not an isolated case, but rather a sizeable amount of users, making it unlikely that they all damaged their phones within a short period of time.
