Is Your Galaxy S6 Flash Always On?

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With the S6 appearing in stores in just a few days time, the device is already suffering from several major defects. Firstly, there was an issue affecting 20% of users with thousands of minute scratches underneath the display and now reports of a second major issue are surfacing. Many users are reporting that their flash LEDs are remaining on constantly, even when the device is powered off. The LED is not lit as bright as it normally would be, however in dimly lit conditions it is noticeable.

The Issue

Contrary to popular belief, this flaw has nothing to do with Google Fit or the heart rate monitor and uninstalling these will have no impact on the flash on your device. Another popular opinion is that there is a small amount of current leaking allowing the LED to light. The issue has been reported to be still present both when the device is on and off and does not appear to stop whilst the battery still has charge.

Who Is Affected?

So far, the majority of users with this bug have been with T-Mobile USA however with reports also coming from users on other carriers and even reports of the bug on unlocked devices in Saudi Arabia, it is possible that the quick launch and shipping of devices from T-Mobile have caused people to receive these sooner and therefore inadvertently made them more prominent amongst the discussion. The problem has been reported on both 32GB and 64GB models.

A Fix

Users who have contacted Samsung have been informed that they are aware of the issue and that there will be a firmware fix available. However it is currently not available online and engineers do not appear to have revived the update yet either. We reached out to Samsung to confirm whether we can expect an OTA fix and received the following reply “Unfortunately, we are unable to speculate on software updates.” However we will hopefully see an update in the coming weeks.