Reports of the issue first began circulating when Galaxy S8 pre-orders started shipping to customers in South Korea last week. Although the extent of the problem isn’t clear, images of the red tint on social media have become trending content across the web.
Samsung initially claimed that the S8’s display is operating as intended. “The Infinity Display on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ has applied Super AMOLED and provides rich and expressive colors, enabling users to enjoy a clearer and more vivid viewing experience,” the company said.
Owners were advised to adjust Android’s colour temperature settings if they’re experiencing issues. While this resolution has helped in some cases, other users have found their display tint is so strong that the slider cannot entirely remove it.
Going against its former statement, Samsung has now conceded that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ may ship with an unnatural red tint, admitting it’s beyond what can reasonably be expected of a new phone. According to Korean news site The Investor, Samsung is readying a software update that will rebalance the S8’s display temperature on affected devices.
The site’s sources did not detail how this will be achieved. There’s currently no date for when the patch will be released but it should be available by the end of this week “at the latest.”
It’s believed the tint is being caused by an attribute of the new Super AMOLED display panels Samsung is employing for the first time on the Galaxy S8. The screens contain two different types of combined pixel: red-green and blue-green. This feature hints at the reason for the mysterious red hue.
To counteract the impact of the two green sub-pixels, Samsung is thought to be artificially boosting the red pixel to ensure the panel doesn’t develop a green tint. Industry professionals have suggested the company is overcompensating, causing the screen’s colour temperature to shift into the warm red region. Another idea is that Samsung’s “adaptive display” – a software feature that adjusts the colour range and saturation to suit ambient conditions – could be responsible for the problem.
After initially refusing to formally acknowledge the reports, Samsung’s reconsideration indicates it’s keen to resolve the issues and avoid tainting the S8’s reputation. With its Note 7 disaster still well within recent memory, Samsung’s using the S8 to demonstrate it’s capable of building high-quality phones that aren’t subject to manufacturing flaws.
Affected owners should expect a software update later in the week that should finally put the red tint to rest. If this measure doesn’t work, Samsung will reportedly start replacing defective phones, ensuring owners don’t end up looking elsewhere.
