Another Samsung Galaxy S24 display issue revealed on Reddit — what we know

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in hand.
(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S24 series' screen issues are far from over according to a recent poll on Reddit. It appears that some users are finding their screens have a grainy texture that is especially visible on dark and gray backgrounds. 

According to the Reddit post, this issue appears widespread and appears to affect customers using the Samsung Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus and Galaxy S24 Ultra models. We checked the Galaxy S24 Ultra that we reviewed to see if we had the same issue, but we did not see the grainy texture.

One Redditor claims to have placed their phone underneath a powerful 400x OM tool (a type of microscope), to check their Galaxy S24 Ultra and found there was a massive drop in brightness uniformity between the pixels at 10% brightness when compared to 50%. Because of this lack of uniformity, it appears to the user as though some pixels are missing, which then causes the screen to appear grainy. 

This issue is known as the Mura effect — or “clouding” — and is a common fault in many LCD and OLED screens. There are comments in the Reddit post that many customers were able to receive a replacement phone from Samsung, but others were refused a replacement and had to escalate the issue. 

S24 Ultra Dark Grey at 10% brightness

This image shows the pixel uniformity at 10% brightness on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, revealing the differences between each pixel's brightness.  (Image credit: erodeloeht @ reddit)

This isn’t the first issue that Samsung has had regarding the S24 series screens. Recently there were reports on Reddit complaining about the lackluster Vivid Color profile on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Many users thought that this was a software issue, but Samsung was adamant that it was an intentional design choice. However, there have been reports that there will be a slider implemented in a future update that will allow users to adjust the color profiles to better suit their preferences.

There have also been posts on Reddit that certain models have shown three horizontal bars on their display while on low brightness. These usually occur because a phone is unable to create enough shades of color to easily smooth them together at lower brightness, leading to lines of a slightly darker tone.

Thankfully, this issue seems to be affecting fewer users than the grainy texture issue. The occurrence of bars on a phone screen is not a new phenomenon and can be quite common, but if they are overly distinct or appear at all times it can mean a fault in the phone screen. 

S24 series phone grey bars

This image shows the grey bars running horizontally on a Galaxy S24 Ultra screen at a lower brightness. (Image credit: beardedsoul @ Reddit)

Finally, there appear to be some complaints about seeing excessive banding when viewing gradient images. But there are claims on Reddit that this is more of a software issue and may be resolved soon. 

The Galaxy S24 series has some great improvements and is one of the best phones we've tested. However, the fact that this is not the first screen issue that has been reported is troubling. Hopefully, there will be a fix in the works and anyone affected will be able to get their units replaced. We will keep you posted on any updates. 

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Josh Render
Staff Writer

Josh is a staff writer for Tom's Guide and is based in the UK. He has worked for several publications but now works primarily on mobile phones. Outside of phones, he has a passion for video games, novels, and Warhammer.