Several owners of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus are complaining about the sudden loss of audio they are encountering with their handsets. According to some affected owners, they are experiencing audio drops with their speakers when playing games, watching videos, and listening to music. However, once users route the audio through the headphone jack, the audio loss does not occur. The affected users are speculating on whether it is a hardware issue or a software one. A number of members of the Samsung community forum are convinced that it is a hardware issue since some quick fixes to the speaker problems involve physically tapping the device. Others are claiming that they could replicate the problem by violently shaking the device, which could point to a loose contact, which one Samsung technician allegedly confirmed.
However, Samsung is insisting that the audio loss is a software issue, some owners of affected devices claim. The South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer is reportedly advising people contacting its customer support to follow certain steps like wiping the cache partition and even resetting the device. Other users were asked to put the phone into the developer mode and enable the “Prevent USB Audio Routing” option. Some users who have followed the instructions said that Samsung’s suggestions did not resolve the issue, with the speaker audio loss occurring sometime after resetting the device.
There were several users who attempted to ask for a replacement of their smartphones but Samsung reportedly turned down at least some of these requests. A number of the company’s customers said that Samsung insisted that the audio loss is a software issue and therefore does not qualify as a reason for a replacement device. Meanwhile, others were requested to turn in their devices for repair instead of outright replacement. Whatever happens to be the case, Samsung’s responses resulted in some annoyed device owners who felt that the customer service and product quality offered by the company aren’t up to the standards set by the premium prices of its flagship phones, though it remains to be seen whether the Seoul-based consumer electronics manufacturer issues an official comment on the matter.