Some Samsung Galaxy M & Galaxy A Models Have A Nasty Bug

A handful of customers of the Samsung Galaxy M and Galaxy A lineup of smartphones are complaining of a new bug that freezes the device and reboots it automatically.

So far, the bug has appeared on the Galaxy A50, Galaxy A50s, Galaxy A51, Galaxy M30s, Galaxy M31, and the Galaxy M31s phones in India. It’s likely that this issue could be limited to a particular batch of phones sold in the country (via).

While some users face freezing and rebooting of their phones, others are reportedly stuck in a boot loop wherein they can’t get past the Samsung logo.

Users have raised complaints about this issue on Samsung’s forums for around two months now

Expectedly, Samsung India forums contain user reports citing these issues from at least two months ago. However, Samsung hasn’t said anything about the bug, leaving users to fend for themselves.

Some device owners took their phones to a nearby Samsung outlet. They were reportedly told that the fix requires the motherboard to be replaced. This could cost up to $100 which is too steep a price to pay for a mid-range smartphone. The issue also appears to impact users out of India, so it could be more widespread than initially believed.

Moreover, spending money on a software/hardware bug that the users didn’t cause hardly seems fair. Some digging reveals that the chipset could be a common factor between the affected smartphones.

The phones in question either use the Exynos 9610 or the Exynos 9611 chipset, which gives us an inkling of the problem at hand. Despite this, it’s unclear if this is what’s causing these phones to freeze up and reboot.

All attention is now on Samsung as customers eagerly await a resolution for this bug. It’s hard to determine whether this is a software or a hardware bug at the moment. While the former is fixable with an update, the latter could prove to be a tough task for the company.

Samsung’s Galaxy A and Galaxy M devices are widely popular across the world for their mid-range appeal. These phones perform significantly better than Samsung’s high-end flagships, particularly in emerging regions.