In an unfortunate turn of events, it looks like there’s trouble in paradise for at least some Verizon customers who are owners of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5. According to numerous reports, Verizon customers are experiencing a pretty serious problem with the device, in which the camera fails altogether and kicks backs a, “Warning: Camera Failed” message. Worse off, rebooting the phone doesn’t seem to help the matter, nor does performing a factory reset. One XDA user even tried installing a 3rd party camera app, but unfortunately didn’t have any luck with that either.
Sadly, there is no word from Samsung yet on a fix, although signs point towards the problem being hardware-related. Right now, it looks like owners are faced with the hassle of having to return their devices to Verizon, Best Buy, or whichever retailer they purchased the phone from for a replacement. We are not sure how many users are affected by this issue, but from a quick glance at the thread on XDA, there’s more than one user there suffering, and some comments suggest Best Buy salesmen having to replace S5’s for several other customers who also suffered from the same problem.
These types of things happen when dealing with a product produced on such a massive scale as the Galaxy S5, unfortunately. On the plus side, at least Samsung and retailers are being proactive about getting replacements into the hands of their customers in a timely manner. With the Galaxy S5 already accounting for almost 1% of all Android smartphones on the planet, it sure would be a shame to think there’s a good number of them suffering from such a critical issue. The Galaxy S5 features a 16MP camera capable of shooting stunning photos and crispy, clear 4k resolution videos. As this is surely a selling point for the device, it is crucial for Samsung to determine the source of this problem and nip it in the bud before it grows into a more wide scale issue, potentially ruining Samsung’s relationship with many of its customers. I know I’d surely be upset if the camera on my new phone went out, so I can’t say I’d blame anyone else for being mad either.
Verizon folks with an S5, have you ran into this dreaded error? If so, be sure to share your experiences with us in the comment thread below.