Following early complaints from customers claiming their brand new Galaxy S8 handsets are affected by an unusual red tint on the screen, Samsung has vowed to release an a software update that will purportedly solve the issue.
Speaking to South Korean outlet The Investor , a company official said the tech giant will refrain from revealing a “specific date yet, but the update will occur next week at the latest.”
“The company has already notified its nationwide customer service centers that it will release the software for fine-tuning the color balance,” the official continued.
In case the software update fails to eliminate the reddish tint, Samsung will proceed to replace affected devices with new handsets, according to the publication.
The Investor also had a chance to speak with several experts to discuss what could be causing the red tint. While some suggest a software update could very well correct the color disbalance, most remain skeptical this is a viable solution, hinting the root cause might be hardware-related.
One expert said discoloration mishaps are quite common in the industry:
The sentiment was seconded by another person familiar with the matter:
Commenting on the possibility of fixing the reddish screens with software-related solutions, a plant employee said that:
The claim was later also confirmed by an academic expert who insisted that:
Meanwhile, Samsung began shipping its new Galaxy S8 flagship to global markets earlier today, which means we’ll know precisely how widespread the red tint is soon enough – or whether it could be fixed with a simple software tweak.