Product Confidence

The Samsung Galaxy S5 being used for its camera feature.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 being used for its camera feature.

 

A major flaw with the camera on some Galaxy S5 devices has ignited controversy surrounding quality management. In fact, the defect discovered in Samsung Electronics’ new flagship smartphone is likely to deal a serious blow to confidence about the quality of the new model released worldwide. 

Samsung said on April 28 that the flaw found in the new model was caused by problems with ROM, and a very limited number of products were affected.

The defect leads to camera malfunctions in which Galaxy S5 customers get a “Warning: Camera Failed” pop-up error message. As controversy arose over problems with the camera revealed by Galaxy S5 users of some US mobile carriers such as Verizon Wireless through overseas media outlets, the Korean tech giant announced its policy to replace the faulty products free of charge.   

So far, there have been no reported cases in Korea, but it is more likely that the camera malfunction will also be discovered in smartphones sold in the nation, because the new Android-powered handsets sold worldwide are produced in the same manner and are equipped with same parts. In particular, the Galaxy S5 was first launched in the nation on March 26, prior to its introduction in other countries on April 11. 

The backlash against the product is drawing a lot of attention, in that the flaw is attributable to hardware problems related to ROM rather than general problems associated with software. The camera operation software is programmed in ROM, and this software caused the malfunction. Observers say that the decision of the largest Android phone maker to replace faulty products can be ascribed to the complex nature of programming that improves the relevant software.

This recall of the Galaxy S5 is Samsung’s first recall policy in the era of smart devices. The tech company conducted a recall campaign in the US in 2009 for two models of the Jitterbug cell phone to upgrade software for free. However, total replacement arising from a defect was very rare in the feature phone era. This time, in most cases problems are said to have been discovered in the Verizon Wireless model, but some IT news sites such as Boy Genius Report (BGR) reported that problems were also found in other versions of the Galaxy S5 such as the Sprint model.  

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution