Several users of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6, are reporting seeing a purple speck that appears in their pictures that are taken by the device's front-facing camera.
The unusual issue has users seeing the speck appear near the top right corner of images, with complaints and discussions about the problem being posted on online forums such as Reddit.
A starter of a thread for the purple speck issue from the front-facing camera of the Galaxy S6, Redditor dhern19, said that the problem was not there when she purchased the smartphone, as she claims to have taken photos from a couple of weeks ago that did not have the purple speck.
Some of the users in the thread who also experienced the issue said that upon reporting the problem to Samsung, their units were replaced. However, there has so far not been any explanation from Samsung on what is causing the problem, whether it is a problem with the smartphone's hardware or software.
Another Redditor with the username benji2000 said in the thread that the issue is due to a defective camera sensor, which needs to be replaced. The problem will only be noticed in pictures taken in low-light situations, and the solution should be to have the Galaxy S6 replaced.
A thread regarding the problem on another site, the XDA Developers forum, claimed that the dots that appear can be avoided by decreasing the resolution of the images that the smartphone's front-facing camera takes from 5.0MP to 3.8MP. However, this is a poor solution to the problem because it prevents the user from accessing the best features that the Galaxy S6 is capable of.
So far, the issue seems to affect only the Galaxy S6, as there have been no comments made by Galaxy S6 Edge owners that they are experiencing the same problem.
There have been several issues regarding the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, including supposed hardware reliability concerns, specifically on the touchscreen displays of the devices. Swipes and touches are reportedly barely or not at all registering when made on the bezels of the touchscreen.
There have also been reports of a problem with the camera flash LED of the Galaxy S6, with some users reporting that the light continues to remain lit up albeit very dimly, despite having turned off the camera of the smartphone. One problem that an always-on camera flash LED could lead to is its effect on the performance of the Galaxy S6's battery life.
