The Samsung Galaxy S6 is nearing its global launch date set to be released in stores on April 10th. Leading up to this date there is a lot of news surrounding the next series of flagship phones from Samsung, mostly centered on the features and hardware. Today is no different, however, this time news has surfaced that the Galaxy S6 may be shipping with a major software bug. While the phone hasn’t launched yet, several customers who pre ordered the device have received units ahead of schedule. Users over at the XDA-Developers forums have been communicating and sharing details of a problem several of them have even corroborated with images. Allegedly, even while the camera is not in use, the phone’s flash LED remains dimly lit at all times.
What makes this issue so interesting is that the LED remains lit at such a low level, that it is very difficult to detect unless in a very dark room. In an even stranger twist, there are some Galaxy S6 owners reporting that their flash LED is remaining dimly lit even after powering off their device. The biggest concern here will be the toll this could potentially have on battery life. It is believed that removal of the battery would of course disable the flash LED, but considering the Samsung Galaxy S6 does not ship with a removable battery this is not an option. Hopefully this bug is repairable via a software update, however considering the fact that the LED remains dimly lit even when powered off, raises questions. Samsung is yet to release a patch, but it is believed that Samsung is aware of this issue, likely implying they are hard at work to release a fix.
Reports of a bug such as this with a flash LED that won’t turn off most definitely puts a dampening on the launch of Samsung’s next flagship phone. This is especially true considering recent reports that Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge units are being received by customers with scratches and blemishes out of the box. What needs to be understood is that only a few phones are shipping ahead of the April 10th launch date, so it is more than likely these reported issues will not affect the majority of users.