S21 Ultra screen death!

[Babishko]

Until yesterday morning my 512Gb Exynos S21 Ultra had been a joy to own with any early thermal problems soon righting themselves. When I bent down in my hallway to disconnect it from the mains after charging however I noticed that the screen was unbelievably bright and flickering wildly. I never use auto brightness and keep the screen at 40% brightness always which was still the case when I pulled my notification bar down and checked. The screen suddenly went black. I pressed the power button to engage the lock screen and it only blinked on for a fraction of a second and when it did so it had a pronounced yellow green tint. My heart sunk. I could feel the fingerprint sensor working but no entry into the phone was possible. The pin entry screen was not available now either. The clock was just glanceable when I hit the power button so the phone seemed to be still functioning behind the screen and I could feel the phone going through a reboot via vibrations when I attempted to use this to clear the problem. This did not work. I only had the briefly visible tinted screen of death.

 I rang EE later the same morning and spoke to a very warm and kind and knowledgeable lady with a lovely South Wales accent and I went through a reboot with her on the phone and she quickly agreed that my screen was knackered (my words not hers.. ) and she checked my details to see that I had insurance with them and that she would get a courier out to me as soon as possible to pick up my phone for repair. She also offered me a replacement phone for less than half my insurance excess as a goodwill gesture on behalf of EE but I am so happy with this phone and opted for the free repair option as I have so many non backed up pictures and videos on the brilliant little thing. 

 The courier has just been and collected my phone less than 24 hours after the problem developing and I have swapped my SIM back into my trusty old Note 9 which I know I can always count on to get me through such a crisis. EE tell me my phone should be repaired in between 7 and 14 days. Their service has been brilliant. I hope nobody else out there has this fault develop on their phones and would like to know if anyone else out there has had this same problem?. Thanks. 👍👍

[Babishko]

Thanks for your input and theories GoanGeek.. At the moment I am stumped as my phone was going along so well and is only some 10 weeks old or so.. I don't think I will be without my phone for long and hopefully I will get to find out what needing fixing?.. It has had a hard life camera wise but then again so did my Note 9.. For over 2 years with no hiccups.. Sad thing now is that I have only had the phone not in my keeping for 12 hours and I am already missing the b*gger!.. 🤣 🤣.. 👍

[GoanGeek]

If you remember the phone normally would get hot with camera usage and although it doesn't now maybe samsung still need to further optimise it.
Do report how it goes and I feel the pain of not having your latest baby with you.

[Babishko]

Thank you so much for your kind words smiley. I don't think I will be without my phone for long as you suggest. I am very pleased with EE's speed of service and am determined just to find out what happened to the phone as this fault or anything like it has never happened on any of my older phones but modern screens are bristling with much higher technology aren't they?... Thanks again mate.. 👍

[Babishko]

Yeah GoanGeek the camera software does need some work for sure especially the video aspect of the phone but I feel it was something that happened whilst charging that is the key?.. A power surge or something?.. But who knows. Shall I take things two steps too far mate and throw my little injured warrior a party when it comes home!.. lol!.. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣.. My Wife told the lady from EE who handled my breakdown issue on the phone that I take better care of the phone than I do of her!.. 🤣 🤣 🤣.. I don't of course. Honestly!.. 🤣 🤣 🤣.. 👍

[GoanGeek]

😅👍

[Biz]

Never experience this issue with my galaxy phone even my (2016 galaxy). I think its faulty unit, but lucky you have back up and get replacement. 😁

[Babishko]

I agree mate that it is all just a bad luck issue.. These things happen and I am sure this won't be a problem that more owners will suffer.. I get my phone back shortly and all will be well again.. I do miss the phone though and will appreciate it more than ever when I get it back..👍👍

[TAMERA0415]

I went through something so similar with my S21. Actually, I'm currently going through it. I was using the phone <ordering an uber> after grocery shopping and my screen started flickering like a strobe light. I seen the orange tint, green, back to flicker. Behind the screen/led issues, I was still able to accept calls, hear clearly, the screen would stop flickering and I was able to use apps, etc. So after a day of trying to find a tmobile to help me, I mailed it in to Samsung. It is 3 months old and I'm waiting on a response/repair costs. But it was not dropped other then a small drop 2 weeks prior to the issue on a rug, so I honestly have no idea what else could have caused this. Still waiting on a response from samsung, but I just need my phone!!! Hoping good outcomes for all of us!

[Masima]

This exact problem happened to my S21 Ultra last week. Just scrolling through the phone and the display completely died. The screen changed to an array of colors and lines, similar to what happened to my TV when my display board chipset died. 

Called AT&T warranty and he said he's getting 3-4 calls a week with this same phone and display.

They mailed me a new phone and sent the other back. So there is definitely an issue with these phones, and hopefully it was corrected! 

[Babishko]

The repair that EE did on my phone Masima was brilliant thankfully. New screen and display and a new battery all means that 10 months later my phone performs truly brilliantly. I really love the thing. Fantastic display and speed and battery life and that stunning camera is the cherry on top of the cake but in retrospect there was something amiss with my original display as I thought I could detect a faint burn in like horizontal line about 60% down from the top of the screen from the end of the first week of use. Is there a batch or just a number of S21 Ultras with poor quality displays?.. I hope your replacement phone works as brilliantly as mine now does Masima and you can put this whole nightmare behind you and that anyone else suffering this problem gets a happy ending too. 👍