Older Samsung Galaxy phones are being bricked, but there might be a fix on the way
Owners of older Samsung Galaxy models have reported that a new update has caused their phones to start bootlooping
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A new update has reportedly bricked olderSamsungGalaxy models, according to reports from owners.
Samsung users on Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) have suggested that a recent update has caused theGalaxy S10,Galaxy Note 10,Galaxy S10eto begin bootlooping.Android Authorityreports theGalaxy M51may also be affected.
According to X usernegativeonehero, a tech news aggregator who rejects the title “tipster”, the issue seems to be caused by an update to Samsung’s SmartThings smart-home connection service and is affecting phones running Android 12 or lower.
Thankfully, owners of Samsung’s newer phones – such as theGalaxy S24,S24 Plus,S24 Ultra, and any other units running newer versions of Android – seem to be in the clear.
A thread by userrthompsonvon the r/samsunggalaxy subreddit detailing the issues has garnered more than 300 responses in less than 24 hours – many of them corroborating complaints of a forced update and subsequent bricking.
“I work at a cell phone store and I’ve had 5+ people come in with S10s in boot loop today – we haven’t even been open for an hour yet,” replied userMightyJoeTYoung.
For those not familiar, bootlooping refers to an uncontrollable cycle of restarts. It’s a known symptom of data corruption,operating systemfailure, or hardware breakdown, so the worry from Samsung owners about this latest bug is more than understandable.
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Other users have shared concerns to X, where at the time of writing a search for “Samsung S10” returns a long list of user complaints.
Userthembodergcomplained about their Galaxy S10 and received a response from Samsung Australia suggesting they book in at a Samsung service center. themboderg’s subsequent response implies that they were advised to factory reset their device.
Luckily, it looks like a fix is on the way – Samsung hasn’t made any announcements, butnegativeoneherohas noticed an incoming patch to Samsung SmartThings Framework, which may be intended to fix the bootlooping.
Of course, it’s not clear whether those with phones stuck in a bootloop will be able to access the update, given that their handset may have been rendered unusable.
Some social media users report that a factory reset of the affected device fixes the issue, but we’d advise Galaxy users to wait for an official announcement from Samsung before doing this and permanently erasing their data.
Until then, be sure to keep up with ourSamsung phonescoverage for the latest updates.
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Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. He’s been tech-obsessed from a young age and has written for various news and culture publications. Jamie graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Since starting out as a music blogger in 2020, he’s worked on local news stories, finance trade magazines, and multimedia political features. He brings a love for digital journalism and consumer technology to TechRadar. Outside of the TechRadar office, Jamie can be found binge-watching tech reviews, DJing in local venues around London, or challenging friends to a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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