Users are seeing a green line appear on their Samsung phone screens after a recent update. Reportedly, the issue mainly affects the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, including the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy S21 FE.
Several articles on claim that the problem occurred on older Samsung phones after updating the device. You can see two examples below.
Samsung has recently fixed several issues with a few of its older devices. For example, there have recently been several reported cases of hinge breakage on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The problem appeared to be that the glue holding the small brushes inside the hinge was wearing away, preventing the hinge from closing correctly.
It’s not just older models that have taken Samsung behind. Recently, the company had to respond to a reported Mura effect on the Galaxy S24 series, which caused a grainy texture at certain brightnesses. This problem is mainly caused by the brightness of individual pixels on the screen varying, meaning that the color no longer appears uniform and small, darker areas start to appear.
What could be causing this?
The fact that the problem appeared after a One UI update suggests that this is the cause of the row and hopefully means that a subsequent patch or update can resolve it. But a green line on the screen is often a symptom of a hardware problem rather than a software one.
These are usually caused by a faulty flux cable connection, which can happen over time. When this cable is damaged or worn, lines appear on the screen.
The idea that an update would cause such a hardware failure is unlikely, although there is a possibility. If the update caused increased heat generation in a phone’s circuitry, this, coupled with specific environmental factors or heavy use, could loosen the glue that holds the screen components together and damage the screen cable.
But for now, this is just speculation. We’ve reached out to Samsung for comment and will update you as soon as we hear anything.
This is unlikely to be solely due to the latest update and is more than likely due to a combination of issues. However, it might be best to avoid updating your old phones for now, or at least do it in a cool, well-ventilated area. Or if you need to upgrade, you can take a look at the best Samsung phones to see what the latest Galaxy phones are capable of.
Learn more about Tom’s Guide