Déjà vu: screen issue that appeared on Galaxy S20 after 2 years shows up on S21
Green and pink lines have appeared on the screens of some Samsung Galaxy S21 units, according to posts on Twitter and Samsung community forums.
The issue cropped up after the May update, so those who still haven't installed last month's update are advised to stay away from it.
Pictures shared on Twitter by user Tarun Vats show vertical pink and green lines in the middle of the screen. The affected users say that they did not drop their phones and have ruled out the possibility of water damage as well.
I am writing to express my disappointment with the recent update to my Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus. This phone was my dream phone, and I worked very hard to collect the money to purchase it. Unfortunately, since the update, I have noticed a pink line that has appeared on my screen, followed by two green lines. This has made it very difficult for me to use my phone effectively, and I am extremely disappointed." - Members_SOe878D
A few weeks ago, I noticed a thin green vertical line running from the top to the bottom of my screen. The line does not go away even after restarting the phone. It is very annoying and affects my user experience. I have searched online and found out that this is a common issue with some Samsung models. Many other users have reported the same issue, indicating that this is not an isolated incident." - First Poster
Since the Galaxy S21 is a costly phone, users are understandably miffed and are demanding a quick resolution, be it in the form of a software side fix or a free screen replacement.
The Galaxy S21 series is two years old at this point. This is exactly how long it took for a significant number of the Galaxy S20 series to exhibit the same problem. Samsung ended up replacing the screen for free for many affected users in mid-2022.
Whether the company will take the same course of action again remains to be seen. Currently, it looks like only a small number of Galaxy S21 users are experiencing green and pink lines on their screens.
Since the phone is out of warranty, customers will have to pay for a replacement out of pocket if Samsung refuses to do it for free. That would be quite costly, as it takes around $289 to get a new screen from Samsung.
A quick online search shows that many Galaxy Note 20 users also went through this problem so this looks like something Samsung's high-end phones are susceptible to.
Samsung makes one of the best flagship phones around and they are quite expensive. The company should get to the root cause of this as most people replace their phones after around three years so they should ideally work smoothly until then at least.
The company has a dedicated page for pink screen lines and says they could be stuck or dead pixels. The page downplays the issue by saying that dead pixels are not unusual and are usually unnoticeable.
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