I picked up my Galaxy S6 Edge on release day and have loved it ever since. Did I spend an extra hundred bucks for the mostly-aesthetic Edge display? Yup! Did I have buyer's remorse about my frivolous spending? Not even a little.
But lo and behold, I found myself at Best Buy this morning exchanging my device for another one. And since launch date, there have been countless Edge owners doing the same. Luckily the process was mostly hassle-free, but it's avoidable. So, if you have an S6 Edge, here's the one thing you can do to keep yourself from making a trip to the retailer or carrier store you purchased your device from—do not use the fast charger.
The Galaxy S6 Fast Charger Issue
Fast charging on the S6 is pretty incredible. Use your phone all day long, then plug it in for 20 minutes and you've got almost a full day's worth of juice ready to go. This is a major selling point for Samsung, as they had to use smaller batteries on the device to keep it nice and thin. But on Edge units, fast charging is causing a serious hardware issue that can not be remedied through software updates.
The problem stems from the heat caused by fast charging, and to put it in non-technical terms, it's frying the device's accelerometer, in turn causing device rotation to fail.
Computerworld obtained confirmation from Samsung of the issue, but at this point, the options for resolving it are non-existent.
What to Do if You Have This Problem
Sure you can call Samsung and go through factory resetting and various other software-fixes. But when hardware is the problem, there aren't solutions that can be handled over the phone. While most users are able to simply exchange their device for another, that doesn't mean the same problem won't happen again on the new one.
While some third-party apps can be the culprit here (namely restored backups of Nova Launcher), those cases are rare. Instead, use the device's built-in diagnostics test feature to see if hardware is to blame on your Edge.
Head to your device's Phone app and dial *#0*#, then select Sensor.
Now try moving your device around. If all three axes are responding under "Accelerometer Sensor," your device should be okay. Hit the Graph button for more details—again, look for changes on all three axes while moving and rotating your device. If any of them are stuck (my Y-axis was stuck, others reported their X-axis was stuck), then you've got some faulty hardware.
If your axes are responding fine but you're experiencing issues with rotation, that could be related to an app. Again, reports of this have been related to Nova Launcher, so you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the app without restoring a Nova backup configuration file.
How to Prevent the Problem
If your device isn't experiencing this problem or you already replaced a faulty one, you can try to avoid it happening to you (or happening to you again). Keep in mind that my device was fine for about 10 days before screen rotation failed, so just because you're good now doesn't mean it'll stay that way.
If your device is working properly, simply stop using the fast charger. Samsung can, and probably will in short order, issue a software update that throttles or limits the capabilities of the fast charger. While that will likely limit how fast it can charge your device, it'll be better than it frying your sensor. But until that update comes, do not use the fast charger.
Watch Out for False-Fixes
Just to drive home the point yet again: hardware issues cannot be resolved with software fixes, but that won't necessarily keep Samsung from trying. The last thing they want are droves of broken S6 Edge units, especially considering just how expensive they are to make. And as Edge owner Paul Waby discovered, a software "fix" ended up not being a fix at all.
Unable to return or exchange his device, Waby took to Twitter to air his frustrations, which resulted in him taking a software update to alleviate the rotation "bug." Now, take this with a grain of salt, but Waby states that all the fix did was utilize another sensor (most likely the gyroscope) to mimic the accelerometer. While that's fine in many cases, it's not really a fix to the problem at hand, and can still leave some functions broken (like Photo Sphere or Samsung's own Surround Shot).
Samsung wants to band-aid this problem ASAP, and they can do it by throttling fast charging. But if your sensor is already broken, you need to exchange your device for another one immediately.
Then once you have your new Edge, avoid using the fast charger until a real fix is issued. Use wireless charging or use a standard charger, and keep an eye out for any screen-rotation issues. Or of course, you can always exchange your Edge for the standard Galaxy S6, which does not have any such issues.
Was your Edge affected by this or any other issues? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow Android Hacks on Facebook or Twitter, or Gadget Hacks on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.
Just updated your iPhone? You'll find new emoji, enhanced security, podcast transcripts, Apple Cash virtual numbers, and other useful features. There are even new additions hidden within Safari. Find out what's new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 17.4 update.
18 Comments
i don't know if Samsung had considered the negative impact of fast charging on battery's life.
I know by experience that the fast charging reduce the battery life..
I called Samsung and they claimed this issue was software related. I found and read this article on day 14 of my 2 week "get a another brand new phone" grace period! Thank you for posting! Will NOT be using the super-awesome quick charge feature any more ;( *very sad face
Am from India - bangalore. I bought Samsung S6 edge and got to know battery is discharging rapidly. I spoke to customer support and sent it for service center. They said phone does not have any problem and returned same defect phone without fixing. Samsung is least bothered about their customers and service center guys are too unprofessional. Please do not buy the product.
Samsung has the worse customer service ever. All I did was get passed around to at least 4 different people and put on hold numerous times. This went on for at least two days. Got fed up and called Verizon and asked them to call Samsung and get the problem fixed. Verizon got the run around as well. Verizon took care of my problem and gave me a hundred dollar credit on my account for my trouble with Samsung.
I have s6 for a little over two months and I've yet to experience a problem due to the fast charger.
Got a question, the fast charger is the only one that is damaging the accelerometer ? Can I use a regular wall charger, not a fast one connected to the wireless charger to prevent this issue?? Or the fast charger will not damage the accelerometer thru the wireless charger?
THe wireless charger should be the fine. The fast charger is the one that comes with the phone.
any charger wired or wireless is safe as long as it maintains 5v at 2 amps or less...the fast charge feature increased voltage to 9v which generated more heat... 5v=good.. 9v=hopeuhavealandline
Yes! This makes so much sense because my battery life was really bad, and now the original charger completely stopped working. VErizon sent me a replacement charger and it's working so much better. I've been having so much issue with the s6 edge and it's not working well. The first one was having so much issue including over heating and weird color changingray on screen. I have VEDixon but my signal is terrible. Then second one, the Sims weren't regiatering... has to do with their software update.. I'm now on my 3rd s6 edge. I didn't have a hard time using my warranty until now. Out of no where, without dropping the phone... I see a crack at the bottom of the phone. Looks like it cracked from the inside out. I believe it has to do with how the phone is made. Saw the same issue happened to someone else on another forum. Now, I can't use warranty without having to pay for the extra charges. This phone posses so many issues. Samsung clearly do not know what they're doing... I'm escalating this issue to version Corp and samsung corp. Any advice on what I can do is welcome. Thanks guys.
I have galaxy 6 Edge T-Mobile and my phone feels hot after 15-20 minutes of use. I could not fine option to turn OFF fast charging mode. So Samsung asked me to send my phone for repair to there Service Center. One week later they send it back to me because they said Reactivation Lock Triggered and we can't login to your phone. I received back and when I checked there is no Reactivation Lock option in my phone. I called Tech Support and they didn't believe me so I allowed them to access my phone remotely and they saw that this option is missing in my phone. So now I send it back to Service Center and waiting for answers.
Wow, you'd think Samsung's own tech people would be smarter than that. Let us know how it turns out.
Yo tengo el S6 Edge desde hace dos semanas y no he tenido problemas de ningun tipo, me va genial por el momento y aunque lo tenga asegurado voy ha dejar de usar la carga rapida "Por si las moscas"
I have the S6 Edge two weeks ago and I had no problems of any kind, going great at the moment and although it has it secured will has to stop using the load fast "Por si las moscas" :)
How do I turn fast charge off??
just to ask, i have the S6 Edge plus. is this affected or have Samsung rectified it???
Hard to know...so far, no reports of the issue. Also, keep in mind that this only affected units with a CDMA radio, meaning devices on Sprint and Verizon.
yes..but it affects the rear camera circuit..not the accelerometer
my s6 edge is having a big problem. auto rotation , auto brightness , ir blast and other sensor is not working. Dose any body know the solution? Is samsung going to fix the problem ... like if it is a software issue. please comment below.
Verizon s6 edge plus user...now that I'm on my 3rd replacement phone in 4 months I figured I'd share my experience...Verizon Techs claimed they'd never seen this model experience the camera failures that kept happening to me so I started troubleshooting my device myself, eventually drawing the conclusion that it was charger/charging circuit related. In short transformer was alarmingly hot and after metering the cable I noticed high resistance..opened the phone up and what'do ya know...charging circuit on phone heated up enough to burn through the camera circuit...(I like living on the edge (see what I did there? heh) so I still use the adaptive fast charge on my newest replacement...but I strongly recommend only using it with phone powered down...if there's any load at all (apps running, Processor usage etc.. the transformer immediately starts cooking... Samsung techs need to rethink the current drop when it switches to 9vdc.. still way to high. In my particular situation...the culprit was the heat transfer from the transformer...not the adaptive tech on the phone... tested 9vdc trans at 1.3A...from dead to full charge about an hour and five min...and transformer maintained a healthy temp...
Share Your Thoughts