Samsung Acknowledges Galaxy S24 Ultra Display Quality Problem

Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 Ultra has received high praise from reviewers, but some early customers are less than happy with one key aspect of the new flagship smartphone—the display.

Feb 3 update below—Samsung PR issues statement stating color changes are intentional and not a bug.

Feb 2 update below—Samsung offers "solution" to the problem via official Samsung Community forum. This article was originally posted on January 30.

January 31 update below—Dxomark ranks Galaxy S24 Ultra display No.1.

According to multiple comments on Reddit, several users have discovered that colors displayed on their new Galaxy S24 Ultras look considerably worse than those on previous Samsung flagships, such as last year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Complaints include a “dull” notification area and “awful” colors on the home screen and app drawer.

A similar list of complaints compiled by Samsung insider Ice Universe reveals a long list of related issues, including negative comments such as, “What I can say with confidence is that my S23U looks much, much better “ and “Screen is so dull that I switched back to my S23U.”

Early speculation blamed Samsung’s new anti-reflective Corning Gorilla Glass Armor screen coating for the reduction in picture quality—a potentially disastrous situation for Samsung as it would mean nothing could be done to rectify the situation for existing smartphones.

However, keen observers noted that the issue is, in fact, the result of an easily fixable software bug—and Samsung is already on the case.

The bug is triggered when selecting the smartphone’s Vivid display color mode. Vivid mode typically provides punchy, saturated colors at the expense of color accuracy. Many users prefer this setting over the comparatively muted Natural mode, which offers more true-to-life results.

However, Vivid mode isn’t working as intended for some Galaxy S24 Ultra users, leaving them stuck in the muted Natural color mode. For these users, switching from Natural to Vivid settings results in no visible color changes, as YouTube channel NL Tech demonstrates in a recent upload.

Thankfully, according to one commenter, Samsung is aware of the problem and is already working on a fix, as shown in the provided screenshot from Samsung’s Chat Support, which states:

“No worries, our Samsung developer team is currently working now to fix this issue on your device. Rest assured that this coming software update will fix our problem on our Samsung S24.”

However, it’s important to note that media playback remains unaffected by the bug, so you can watch video and enjoy games using the full color capabilities of Samsung’s latest display while waiting for the bug to be fixed. The phone’s hardware isn’t faulty.

Samsung hasn’t provided a timeline for the fix, but given the relatively trivial nature of the problem, I would expect one to roll out very soon. I have reached out to Samsung directly for comment and will update this story when I receive a response.

January 31 Update—Galaxy S24 Ultra display receives top score in benchmark test.

Despite the opinions of the dissatisfied owners above, Dxomark has today ranked the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display as the number one performer, scoring 155 points—a single point ahead of the Google Pixel 8 Pro.

Dxomark’s report praised the new flagship’s high peak brightness and, more interestingly, claims that the display’s new anti-reflective glass improves contrast and makes images more vivid rather than reducing quality as was once suspected.

Most important, however, is Dxomark’s appraisal of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s color reproduction, which was measured to be superior to that of the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Furthermore, the report includes example images showing the Galaxy S24 Ultra clearly outperforming the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, and Google Pixel 8 Pro in terms of contrast under various lighting conditions. The Pixel 8 Pro remains best overall in terms of color fidelity, according to Dxomark.

Where, then, does this leave our unhappy Vivid mode users? Much of Dxomark’s overall display score comes from factors unrelated to the issue at hand, such as touch response, motion reproduction and video quality. Video quality, in particular, was never a problem, even for those with the reported Vivid mode issue.

Dxomark’s tests also focus on color accuracy rather than eye-catching (but technically inaccurate) vividness, so it’s entirely possible for the “best” smartphone display to perform subjectively “worse” for users who prefer to see boosted colors on the home screen.

Dxomark has confirmed to me that testing was conducted in Vivid mode (the default setting for the Galaxy S24 Ultra). If the “bugged” Vivid mode turns out to be more accurate than intended, this could work in the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s favor when being evaluated for accuracy. However, there’s no evidence that this has happened during Dxomark’s benchmark tests.

However, this doesn’t negate the need for the problem to be addressed, as Vivid mode seems not to be delivering the colors many users expect despite the stellar capabilities of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s display.

Feb 2 update—Samsung offers "solution" to the problem via official Samsung Community forum.

An official response from a Samsung Community Manager spells disappointment for those Galaxy S24-series users who remain unhappy with the “washed out” colors on their home screens.

Commenting on a Samsung Community thread titled “S24 colors washed out and AOD missing options”, the admin user SamsungJustin states:

“The Galaxy S24 series' display is carefully tuned for a comfortable, quality viewing experience. We offer many advanced display settings,” along with a link to Samsung’s display settings help page for Galaxy devices.

The response goes on to say:

“We are tagging this thread as feedback for our engineers. Please feel free to share your thoughts within this thread, we do ask that when you do so, you please follow the community guidelines.”

This official response makes it clear that Samsung is paying attention to user complaints. However, it offers no solution beyond adjusting the very settings that users complain aren’t currently working as desired, namely switching between Natural and Vivid modes.

Furthermore, SamsungJustin’s message has been marked as the solution to the problem, leaving the whole thread marked as solved without offering a method to achieve the color reproduction many users still want.

It should be noted that several users in the same forum have learned to adapt to the Galaxy S24-series colors, some now preferring its comparatively “muted” appearance. However, many remain dissatisfied, claiming to have already returned their devices.

Whether Samsung will respond to feedback and issue an update to fix the problem with Vivid mode remains to be seen. The support thread, just one of many (1,2,3), currently stands at 141 pages long.

Feb 03 Update:

An email from Samsung's Spanish PR agency, seen by Spanish website Teknófilo, states that changes to the Galaxy S24-series color reproduction are intentional and not a bug.

The message reads (machine translated from Spanish):

"We have adjusted the colors and brightness of the Galaxy S24 series products to provide a more accurate and comfortable viewing experience during use. Some changes have been made to the display technology to provide a more natural viewing experience, so users may notice differences in color depth compared to older devices. This display behavior is an intentional color adjustment and is not a product defect, so it is safe to use. To provide our customers with the best possible experience, we value your feedback and continuously improve our software (UX) as the market and consumer interests evolve."

While providing more accurate and comfortable viewing experience is to be commended, many users still prefer vivid colors over accurate ones. It remains to be seen whether Samsung will consider these complaints significant to warrant providing a new, more vivid, Vivid mode in a future update.

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