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This is why your Galaxy S8 display may be tinting red, software update to the rescue

by Daniel Petrov / Apr 21, 2017, 3:04 AM

Some Galaxy S8 units have been showing red tint instead of the typical cold, blueish AMOLED colors

Some of the units in the first batch of Galaxy S8 phones shipped over at the home turf in Korea, have shown red tint on their display. It's pretty unusual for AMOLED screens, which are with cold and saturated colors by default, and turn blueish at the slightest tilt of the phone even in the Basic display mode that closely follows the standard sRGB color gamut, so users have noticed the discrepancy immediately.

Granted, all screens differ slightly from factory to factory, and batch to batch, especially OLED displays, where laying millions of light-emitting dots uniformly for a particular color is pretty hard, but when the differences become overly visible, this might present a problem with the affected units. Samsung has already addressed the issue over there by saying that the color temperature can be adjusted in the display settings, if desired. It has also apparently issued a software update to service centers that addresses the color imbalance, too, so apparently its reps don't consider this a manufacturing problem, though the source does say that if that's found to be the case, Samsung will be replacing the affected units.

A Korean business publication has probed a few experts, as well as former Samsung employees, on the matter, and the opinions vary widely. One of the experts says that many screen batches experience problems like tinting or colored streaks on the display, including Apple's iPhones, but that it's especially true for phones like Notes and Galaxies, since "for OLED panels, it’s difficult to evenly deposit luminescent organic materials on panels, and this can cause discoloring."

Other experts attribute the possible reasons to a glitch in the voltage current that drives the red pixels way too high, or to crosstalk of the various subpixel colors that seeps into the reddish side of the spectrum. One former factory employee at Samsung has commented that it will be difficult to address the discoloration with a software update if it is a mishap during panel sheet production, though other experts counter that, depending on the issue, "a software update would be enough to balance out the reddish display to the extent that consumers are satisfied." In any case, these seem to be rather isolated incidents which can be attributed to the usual teething problems when a brand new technology like the tall and curved Infinity Display of the Galaxy S8 is produced in mass quantities, so we wouldn't lose too much sleep about it just yet. Unless we are the ones that happen to land a phone with a jolly reddish panel, that is.

source: The Investor (1),(2)

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25 Comments

1. epdm2be

Posts: 830; Member since: Apr 20, 2012

Sure, keep giving excuses as if THAT's gonna help, greedy bastards!

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 3:19 AM 7

2. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

Yup, at $1000 you want your device to be glitch proof. Wants the point of being premium right? When at day one you'll be greeting yourself with faults.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 3:35 AM 5

4. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

Except the fact that almost all screens are way too blue out of the box and no one complains. LG, HTC as well as Sony screens are often above 8500k, when it should be 6504k. This is blown out of proportion. Now, I'm not a fan of the s8, but the screen is fine. If you get a faulty unit, fix it or get it fixed/replaced at the store.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 3:37 AM 10

7. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

Never saw display faults reported for LG, HTC, or Sony. IPS is too reliable to have faults.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:21 AM 2

10. RoboBonobo

Posts: 62; Member since: Sep 13, 2013

You've probably not heard of it because display calibration and color temperature is typically not considered a fault. It's really common. Most people won't notice it unless you're looking at them side by side.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:28 AM 3

11. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

Samsung just announced that it will patch and fix the red tint problem. And still fanboys are still in denial. Smh

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:38 AM 5

12. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

That actually makes your claim false. If it can be patched via software, it's not a faulty unit. It's just a color calibration error, which is very common on displays. Samsung is getting flak for it, hence they are fixing it. If LG or Sony gets the same, they will fix it too.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:42 AM 9

14. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

Patches are meant to be fixes. Why patch something and fix it when theres nothing to mend or repair? You've said it, they're fixing it which actually means the device is faulty.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:49 AM 3

15. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

Faulty device means the hardware is faulty. In this case, the hardware is not faulty; the calibration is. I never said the display is perfect. It's not, since the calibration is off. But it's by no means faulty. It's just a software issue. Bad calibration is not considered under faulty display. If it was the case, all LG, HTC and Sony devices are faulty since their color accuracy is garbage. This is a white balance issue and hence can be fixed via software update. If it was a panel issue like dead pixels, or ghosting, the panel or device would need to be replaced.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:53 AM 6

18. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

Faulty can be software and/or hardware hence a software update is issued. And why you keep repeating mentioning other OEMs? Don't try to find fault in others to compensate for your shortfall.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 5:10 AM 2

23. j2001m

Posts: 3061; Member since: Apr 28, 2014

Sorry "settings" but you 100% wrong about any problems with the s8 over other s phones calibration problem you get ŵith all phones, but why it's more clear this time is Samsung added a new setting to there software And that the red and blue and green setting edit, but they added it without an turn on or off I.e. It's just live on a setting that auto changes the image, so sometimes it's making it to red due to the calibration of the display, I.e. The update will turn them off so it will work like the s7 out of the box and you can then turn it back on if you like I.e. The setting is used to auto make thing look good "active display"

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 12:22 PM 0

25. SaRPeR

Posts: 167; Member since: Mar 02, 2017

Isn't it called "Adaptive Display" ?

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 12:36 PM 0

3. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

Since the software doesn't know if yours has a red tint, it can't help. All software can do is alter the color balance and reduce the red. But if they do it on all the phones, some phones that are already perfect will become too blue, and this will cause the opposite issue. The best solution is to go in settings and adjust the white balance yourselves. It isn't a defect, it's just screen calibration.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 3:35 AM 5

9. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

In short, Samsung Quality Control failed again. Adjusting white balance just won't do it. You'll get false color representation and reduced screen brightness, opposite from Samsung's marketing of the "infinity display".

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:27 AM 2

13. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

How will fixing white balance give false color representation. This is pure BS. Also, increasing color temperature usually increases brightness, not decreases it. Learn how displays work before spewing BS around. Companies who learn from their mistakes like Samsung and Oneplus fix their issues, while dying companies like HTC, Sony or LG don't even add an sRGB mode in display profile. Remember how Oneplus added sRGB mode via an update. Come back to me when you see LG or Sony do it.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:44 AM 6

17. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

RGB sliders are maxed by default, to remove the reddish tint all you can do is adjust the slider to the left therefore decreasing the screen brightness. Want proof? https://youtu.be/YTmNrqO6TIw

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 5:04 AM 2

19. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

And it still doesn't change the brightness as you can see in the video. This is not how AMOLED brightness works. The brightness depends on the PWM and the APL of the display. You are just changing the white balance, not turning off red light by doing that. Most of the brightness comes from the high energy blue LED. Red barely has an effect on brightness. If you calibrate other OEMs displays, they will lose a lot more brightness since they will have to turn down blue light. In fact, there was a video by Erica griffin of some Xperia phone a couple years ago. She demonstrated that fixing the white balance reduced the brightness from 600+ to 400 nits, since it was so much more blue.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 5:18 AM 4

21. Settings

Posts: 2943; Member since: Jul 02, 2014

The S8 amoled is different from the previous ones. Samsung claim it has Deep Red so that explains it. It's all over in XDA. Users reported adjusting RGB sliders minimally solves the problem so there's really wrong with the new amoled.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 6:24 AM 1

22. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

It's not defective. It just means some units have higher red than G or B and they are not calibrated for the voltage levels. Honestly, I can't believe you still don't understand. It's an issue with the calibration, not the display.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 6:46 AM 3

24. j2001m

Posts: 3061; Member since: Apr 28, 2014

You wrong it's because they added the red setting page without an on and off, the s7 will have been the same, but there is no setting

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 12:26 PM 0

26. xondk

Posts: 1904; Member since: Mar 25, 2014

If they are maxed and at max everything it produces too much red, then reducing the red down by the amount that is too much will give proper colour representation. You aren't adjusting RGB values when you do these things, you are adjusting how much voltage goes to said red led's. So full 255 Red will still be 255 red.

posted on Apr 22, 2017, 6:05 PM 0

5. Plasticsh1t

Posts: 3109; Member since: Sep 01, 2014

Lesson learned : never buy first batch products or you will shed "infinity" tears.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 3:57 AM 4

6. NewroticSlob

Posts: 182; Member since: May 09, 2013

This is equivalent to buying a new car and having a tire with low pressure or a slow leak. Put some air in it and deal with it or replace it. No biggie.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:20 AM 0

16. Trex95

Posts: 2383; Member since: Mar 03, 2013

https://youtu.be/1T5lIpI_J0U Hope Apple and LG not shifiting to carrpy Amoled, Super Amoled or OLED soon and stuck to IPS LCD for a while.

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 4:57 AM 0

20. nothingmuch

Posts: 201; Member since: May 03, 2013

More gripe from picky consumers! If they say they're gonna fix or replace it be happy! I got a $150 pair of Nike that the sole came out 2 days later and couldn't return because I wore them outside! Now that's a reason to be peeved!

posted on Apr 21, 2017, 5:22 AM 0

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