Issues
Samsung batteries are swelling both in new and old phones, it’s bad [Update: Response]
Original story published on Sep 28, update mentioned at the bottom…
Aging Samsung phones reportedly have swelling problems with batteries which cause a popped-up back panel, similar to a bump rear side. In electronics devices, battery swelling is a serious concern as it leads to critical damage, even death sometimes.
We are well aware of the Galaxy Note 7 explosion, which can’t be vanished from the history of Samsung. Meanwhile, the older Samsung phones, such as the Galaxy S20 series and older ones, seems to be affected by a serious issue – swelling of batteries over time, and the ratio of damage is higher than other vendors.
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Spotted and explained by popular YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss, the video showcases various aspects of the battery swelling problem and possible reasons. Arun discovered that the batteries of Galaxy phones are getting swelled to a level where the rear panel popped up by leaving the bond as soon as they get old.
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Well, the company has not yet given a satisfactory reply on the matter when the YouTuber reached the support team, while we recommend you to check the battery status if you also owned a Samsung phone, which is now older than 1 to 2 years.
After spotting the issue on his multiple Samsung phones including the Galaxy S10 and Z Fold 2, Arun managed to find clues that other people are also victims of battery swelling. And from his collection, all Galaxy phones launched before the Galaxy S20 series have this swollen battery issue.
This issue becomes disastrous when smartphones from other Android makers are not affected by battery swelling, raising questions on Samsung’s tests another time. Mrwhosetheboss talked to MKBHD, who revealed that his Samsung phones’ batteries got swelled once he stopped using them and packed them in the box.
Moving ahead, the video mentions a discussion with JerryRigEverything who is famous for his tough durability tests of smartphones. Zack explained how a battery works and the changes that happen while charging or using the power in a normal state – it’s all about anode, cathode and separator.
The YouTuber didn’t get any explanation from Samsung after 52 days of reporting the issue of battery swelling on his three Galaxy devices. However, the documents mentioned in the video suggest Samsung may be investigating the problems in affected units.
To our readers, we recommend checking if there’s any sign of battery swelling on their old and new Samsung phones and tablets. In case you face the same problem, must visit a nearby Samsung service center as a priority even if your phone is out of warranty.
Update 1: Sep 30
Mr Arun received a status update on the battery swelling issue of three Samsung smartphones. According to him, the company informed him that:
“We are aware of this matter and are looking into further technical assessments. We encourage customers with questions regarding their Samsung device to contact their local Customer Service representative.”
| Source |
In February 2022, Samsung introduced the Galaxy S22 series smartphones. These premium Galaxy devices feature Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (widely) or Exynos 2200 (Europe) chipsets. In the software department, the lineup is running One UI 5.1 (Android 13), up from pre-installed Android 12 (One UI 4.1).
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On February 1st, the company unveiled the Galaxy S23 series, which runs Android 13-based One UI 5.1 out of the box. Starting February 13, Samsung has begun to release the S23 lineup’s exclusive One UI 5.1 software with its older flagship devices including the S22 series.
Features apart, the Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra users are facing different kinds of issues (via PiunikaWeb) with their smartphones such as battery drain, heating and low power efficiency. Users believe that the situation was better before December 2022 patch, which got worse with January 2023 patch.
Among consumers, there are discussions that the battery drain and heating issues are generated on models due to chipset maker differences as well as Samsung Foundry. The Exynos 2200 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processors are manufactured by Samsung Foundry.
Due to inefficient processes, the system on the chip gets affected by battery consumption issues due to thermal management. Since consumers in some countries such as India are quite satisfied with their Galaxy S22 phone’s battery, the issue is mainly reported spotted on Exynos models.
During Exynos 2200’s internal testing, Samsung faced critical thermal throttling due to the chipset’s inefficiency and additionally powerful GPU, which forced it to reduce clock speed by 0.61Ghz. To bring the world’s most powerful GPU, Samsung partnered with AMD and used Xclipse GPU in the Exynos 2200.
Due to Exynos’ heating and Foundry’s production efficiency issues, Samsung turned to Qualcomm and decided to ditch its self-developed SoC from the Galaxy S lineup. This year, the Galaxy S23 series uses Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset manufactured by TSMC, worldwide.
We hope Samsung will soon fix battery draining and heating issues on the Galaxy S22 devices through a firmware update. Since hardware issues can’t be fixed with even hundreds of firmware updates, they could be reduced or optimized with code changes.
Are you also facing battery-related issues on your Galaxy S22? Join the thread Twitter thread!
Samsung Galaxy S22 Bugs/Issues Thread: Battery drain, heating, low power efficiency #Samsung #GalaxyS22 @SamsungMobile
Consumers having issues with their S22 can share their concerns/feedback in the comments. 👀— Sammy Fans (@thesammyfans) January 21, 2023
Updated on March 25
Commenting on our Twitter thread that tracks Galaxy S22 series battery concerns, a Verizon S22 Plus user reported having “performance issues, battery drain and overheating since the last update.”
Verizon support acknowledged the issues and promised to address and troubleshoot concerns. We will share the steps as soon as we get info about the discussion done via DM.
We would be happy to troubleshoot these issues with you if you could follow and send us a DM! *Zachary
— Verizon Support (@VerizonSupport) March 24, 2023
Mar. 22
Besides battery drain, Galaxy S22 users reportedly facing issues with the phone’s wireless charging function. As per a user, wireless charging makes no progress. (In fact, it runs down on the charging pad!) Source
Mar. 19
After the One UI 5.0, Galaxy S22 users received One UI 5.1 and the March 2023 security patch. Meanwhile, the excessive battery drain issue still persists on some units powered by the Exynos processor.
S22 Battery lasts barely 4 hours of combined usage, leaving me constantly tethered to a charger or mobile battery pack. I’ve tried various remedies I can find online but to no avail. Source
Mar. 15
Due to bad battery life, some Galaxy S22 Ultra users are wondering to upgrade to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is setting new records in efficiency. Meanwhile, it’s bad to hear that the company has not yet completely fixed the battery draining issue on the S22 series.
Are my apps that power hungry ? To where I can’t even get 3 hours of SOT, without having to charge. ABSOLUTELY love the phone but considering upgrading to s23 ultra just because of the battery upgrade. Which I can’t even say it’s worth paying the extra 5-600 dollars for that.
by u/Pleasant-Union8829 in S22Ultra
Mar. 11
Samsung started rolling out March 2023 security update to the Galaxy S22 series. And we have noted different feedback from consumers, with some users having better battery efficiency, while some are still complaining about the drainage issue.
Mar. 4
Galaxy S22 Ultra (Exynos) users continue to report (1, 2) battery drain issues on their smartphones. Hopefully, the March 2023 security update will bring improvements to battery efficiency as part of fixing the issue.
Feb. 23
After upgrading to the One UI 5.1 software, some Galaxy S22 smartphone users are still facing battery draining and low power efficiency issues. Not only the screen on time, but the battery is also getting more consumed while the screen is off, or not in use.
Feb. 14
Reports suggest that the One UI 5.1 update has not fixed Galaxy S22’s battery-draining problems.
Feb. 13
Samsung pushed the major One UI 5.1 update for several Galaxy devices including the S22 series. It’s now expanding to both Exynos and Snapdragon models, worldwide. Hopefully, the One UI 5.1 update will resolve the battery draining and low power efficiency problems.
Feb. 7
Concerns like abnormal battery drain and low power efficiency continue to emerge (1, 2, 3, 4) on the Galaxy S22 series devices. The company has recently pushed the February patch for select Galaxy models, and we hope, it could fix the battery and heating problems.
I have had the Galaxy S22 (Exynos) for almost a year now and my experience has not been completely satisfactory The battery gives me between 2-3 hours of SOT, and the device’s performance has been quite poor. There are frequent lags, the phone gets very hot, and if l’m playing a game (not a heavy game, for example Brawl Stars) while listening to music with the Galaxy Buds Pro, the music cuts out and the experience ends up being very bad. Does anyone else have this problem? Do you think that if a go to the technical service they can give me a solution?
Feb. 5
Two more Galaxy S22 smartphone users reported having battery drain and overheating issues. According to the first affected user, their S22 heats up in general usage (such as WhatsApp, Twitter), however, the device is already delivering bad battery efficiency.
Second user said that they have fully charged the smartphone and the battery drained by 13% without any usage in the meantime. The user speculates that the Always on Display feature is eating battery heavily, however, there seems a software issue.
Jan. 31
A Galaxy S22 smartphone user said on Reddit that Samsung’s authorized service center can just factory reset the device and recommends waiting for a few days since the battery health is good. It looks like processor issues and buggy software is causing the battery drain and overheating issues.
Jan. 30
Samsung released the 2nd January 2023 firmware update Galaxy S22 series in certain regions but the battery drain and overheating issues continue to emerge. Meanwhile, there are different kinds of workarounds, which has the latest entry of turning off “Adaptive Battery” feature.
- Open System Settings >> Battery >> Adaptive preferences >> Turn on “Adaptive Battery”
Jan. 28
A Reddit user @lazykryptonian said that the Galaxy S22’s overheating issue is caused because of the chipset’s design and Samsung foundry problems. Further, they added that “Some are much better than others but there’s no control over getting a decent one vs bad.”
Jan. 27
A Galaxy S22 Ultra user claimed that after restricting background activities of unused apps, the battery consumption is greatly reduced. As per the user, the battery consumption before restricting activities was 10% per hour, which is now 2% per hour. You can also try it as a temporary fix.
Jan. 25
Samsung provides you with tips that will show you how to get the best out of your battery in everyday usage and how to look after your battery. The tips are as follows:
- > Reduce display brightness level
- > Close, disable, or uninstall unused Apps
- > Turn off Always On Display (AOD) or set a schedule
- > Toggle off WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS when not in use
- > Turn on Power saving mode
- > Check your device Signal bars
Jan. 24
Some users reported having overheating issues during video calls, as well as on WhatsApp video calls. And amid battery drain controversy, a Galaxy S22 Ultra user said that his phone’s brightness was fading day by day, which could be because of abnormal battery drain.
Jan. 23
Issues like abnormal battery drain and overheating continue to emerge on the Galaxy S22 series devices, with Exynos models being most affected. Consumers complained that the January patch destroyed battery performance and generated heating issues, even in normal usage.
Samsung Galaxy devices come with two messaging applications pre-installed. Both apps offer great features and have various advantages in their own ways. Recently, an annoying bug was spotted on Samsung devices using Google Messages as the default messaging app.
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User reports, Google Messages footer prompt flickers (like vibration) on the chat screen on Samsung Galaxy devices. It looks quite annoying even in videos shared by users and sometimes leads the handset to vibrate even without any new notification or phone call.
Notably, the Google Messages app footer vibration issue arises on the chat screen where no reply button is available. You can reply to a contact, but the Messages app doesn’t provide the input text and send elements where the reply is not possible such as brands, banks, and telecalls.
Have a look at Google Messages app’s footer vibration bug:
Google Messages footer is vibrating/jumping/dancing on Samsung devices 😂😂😂🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/SRR5HIDIOq
— Samsung One UI Software Updates #SamsungUnpacked (@SamSWUpdate) March 18, 2023
As a temporary solution, you can either clear the app cache (learn how) or try clearing app data and setting up the messages app again. However, this is not a widely spread issue as just a limited number of consumers reported having the annoying bug problem.
If you are also facing the issue on your Android device, ensure the Messages app is updated to the latest version on Google Play Store. Till now, the company has not acknowledged the problem with the footer flickering and we hope, it will get fixed with the next release.
How to get rid of this bug
It’s simple. Just turn your default Messages app to Samsung Messages from Google Messages. Samsung’s native app brings cool features, while there are two choices on Galaxy devices so users can go either with One UI or Android’s Messages app.
Don’t forget to read the ultimate comparison:
Some Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus users reported having a camera blur issue. Since both smartphones feature the same camera setup as their predecessors, it looks like, the software is causing the problem on some units. Besides, big camera firmware is on the way for the S23 series.
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Users of both non-Ultra Galaxy S23 devices complain that whenever they capture images using the primary camera, the focussed part looks sharp, while the edges and sides get blurred. Also, it has been reported that the affected models are manufactured in Vietnam.
Seeing complaints by Galaxy S23 users, some Galaxy S22 users said that this problem also exists on their models, however, they have not reported it at that time. However, we suggest you reach out to the authorized Samsung support center and send it for repair if they identify the issue.
Well-known tipster IceUniverse recently revealed that at the end of March 2023, Samsung will release a big camera firmware update for the Galaxy S23 series. Since the devices would celebrate their second monthly birthday on April 1st, Samsung appears to be fixing the emerging problems.
If it is a hardware defect, sending your Samsung phone for repair is the only solution left. Meanwhile, we believe that the company will fix the problem with the next firmware update. Until then, you can continue rocking with your phone using the manual focus feature before hitting the shutter button.
Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus Camera
The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus bring triple rear cameras including a 50-megapixel (F1.8) wide-angle sensor, a 12-megapixel (F2.2) ultrawide, and a 10-megapixel (F2.4) telephoto. The telephoto camera is capable of 3x optical zoom as well as up to 30x digital zoom.