14 DAY TRIAL // UPDATE, March 23: Samsung says it's investigating the problem, but the company claims it's only receiving a small number of reports pointing to a touchscreen issue. Original story below.
Samsung started shipping the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ to customers worldwide last week, and the more buyers receive it, the bigger the number of complaints posted online.
One of the issues most frequently reported by the first buyers appears to impact the display, which reportedly suffers from dead zones in random areas. This means that touching the screen in certain points won’t trigger any action, with some users claiming that this problem appears either at the top or at the bottom of the screen.
All signs seem to be pointing to a hardware problem, and a report from PiunikaWeb reveals that Samsung and retailers are exchanging faulty units with new models.
Dead spots and slow touch response
Not all devices are suffering from this problem though, it seems, though it’s not clear if it’s a widespread issue or not. Samsung has remained tight-lipped on the problem, but customers who are seeing this problem are recommended to get in touch with the company for assistance.
“I got the phone directly through Samsung and called them for a replacement. They recommended I order a new phone (now on backorder) and send them back the defective device. They emailed the return shipping label to me,” one user explains.
There are also reports of slow touch response, so even if the screen isn’t completely dead in certain areas, it features a noticeable lag especially when typing. It’s not known if this problem can evolve to become a dead spot entirely or the same behavior is experienced without any servicing.
Ironically, Samsung is currently the world’s leading display manufacturer, and the company has even built the highly-acclaimed iPhone X screen with a notch at the top. But while the performance of its displays can’t be denied, not the same thing can be said about quality, which appears to leave a lot to be desired despite the high price of the Galaxy S9.