Samsung just launched its latest flagship smartphones – the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra – that have received high praise from reviewers and users alike. However, some early customers have already encountered a problem with the display of the higher-end Galaxy S24 Ultra.
According to a Reddit post, several users have found that the colors displayed on the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s screen in “Vivid” mode appeared considerably worse than on previous models of the flagship, such as last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra and 2022’s S22 Ultra.
Bug Leads To Galaxy S24 Ultra Displaying Dull Colors In The Saturated Vivid Mode
Samsung insider ‘Ice Universe’ compiled a list of complaints from users where they noted that the screen’s notification area looked “dull”, while the home screen and app drawer projected “awful” colors. One user even said that the screen was so dull that they decided to switch back to their Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Initially, it was speculated that Samsung’s new anti-reflective Corning Gorilla Glass Armor screen coating was causing the drop in picture quality. However, it was later discovered that the issue was the result of a software bug that is triggered when users select the ‘Vivid’ display color mode.
The outcome would have been disastrous for Samsung if the former was true as it would mean that the company would be able to do nothing to clarify the issue for existing devices.
Usually, the Vivid display mode makes the display more punchy with saturated colors at the expense of color accuracy. It is one of the most preferred modes by Samsung users, who choose it over the muted but true-to-life Natural mode.
However, in this case, what happened was that when S24 Ultra users switched from Natural to Vivid mode, they observed no visible changes. Tech YouTube channel NL Tech demonstrated the issue in a recent video.
Samsung Has Acknowledged The Display Issue And Promised A Software Update To Fix It
To everyone’s relief, Samsung was made aware of the problem and has promised to rectify it. In a screenshot of what looks like a response to a user’s complaint on the company’s Chat Support forum, a representative said the Samsung developer team was working on a software update to fix the Vivid mode issue on Galaxy S24 devices.
Another important thing to note is that the bug has not affected the media playback quality. This means that users can continue to watch videos and enjoy games on the smartphone utilizing the stunning capabilities of Samsung’s latest generation AMOLED display.
Although the Korean electrics giant has not provided a timeline for the fix, it is expected to be rolled out soon given the trivial nature of the problem at hand.
S24 Ultra Scores The Highest In DxOMark’s Smartphone Display Quality Ranking
Despite a hoard of users growing dissatisfied with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display issues, smartphone camera, and screen quality score publisher DxOMark ranked the device as having been equipped with the best screen in the market.
The S24 Ultra scored 155 points in the test, leaping over Google Pixel 8 Pro by a single point.
DxOMark praised the flagship smartphone’s high peak brightness and even claimed that the anti-reflective glass on the display improved contrast and made images look more vivid, instead of reducing quality as was once suspected.
The agency also commended the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s color reproduction, which was found to be far superior to the one on last year’s S23 Ultra. Furthermore, the S24 Ultra outperformed its competitors – iPhone 15 Pro Max, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and S23 Ultra – in terms of contrast under various lighting conditions.
Interestingly, DxOMark conducted its tests on the controversial Vivid mode. If that is the case then the ball is in Samsung’s court and it would be able to deal with the display quality issue without much trouble.
