A number of Samsung Galaxy S8 owners have reported an annoying bug that inadvertently turns on the device screen and, in the process, swiftly drains its battery.
The so-called wake-up bug has been plaguing both the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, but there were reports that claimed the Galaxy Note 8 was hit by the same anomaly. As of writing, Samsung Mobile has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
In Reddit, one user reported a problematic Galaxy S8 that will "randomly wake up while charging." The problem appeared to have started following the handset's November firmware update that was rolled out by AT&T.
Similarly, another Samsung Galaxy user with the S8 Plus took to the official Samsung community site and complained of a "new S8+ phone [that] has started waking up from lock screen every 10 [seconds] or so." The same user also stated that a factory reset was performed on the malfunctioning device, but the fix did not work.
A site moderator advised the user to do a soft reset, but the problem persisted.
"I tried soft reset before but it did not help. I did factory reset several times and cleaned cache. I also disabled as many apps as possible. But the problem persists," the community member reported.
With no quick fix in sight, the same user said the S8 Plus now suffers from battery drain and loses up to 60 percent of its energy overnight. This happens with or without the proprietary Samsung flip case.
Same Case With Galaxy Note 8
Likewise, the bug has reportedly reached some Galaxy Note 8 users, but Samsung has yet to acknowledge a potentially serious problem. It is understood, though, that the problem is mostly confined to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus for now. It is unclear too if Samsung plans to issue a software update soon to resolve the matter.
What's apparent at the moment is that users are completely clueless on what to do, as the workarounds discussed on both Reddit and Samsung's U.S. community site so far failed. While it is hoped that an immediate firmware update will quash the bug, with Samsung's silence, such a resolution remains up in the air.
What's Causing The Bug?
To date, it remains a mystery how and why the wake-up bug suddenly surfaced. As suggested in the Reddit discussion, the firmware update is the likely culprit, but without confirmation from Samsung and AT&T, it all boils down to baseless speculations.
It's possible too that the bug was triggered by Bixby, Samsung's in-house digital assistant, but to be clear, this was a suggestion unsupported by facts. The only consolation for now is that the bug does not appear to pose security risk.
