Older Samsung Galaxy phones are being bricked, but there might be a fix on the way

Owners of older Samsung Galaxy models have reported that a new update has caused their phones to start bootlooping

News By Jamie Richards published 3 October 2024

A new update has reportedly bricked older Samsung Galaxy models, according to reports from owners.

Samsung users on Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) have suggested that a recent update has caused the Galaxy S10, Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy S10e to begin bootlooping. Android Authority reports the Galaxy M51 may also be affected.

According to X user negativeonehero, a tech news aggregator who rejects the title “tipster”, the issue seems to be caused by an update to Samsung’s SmartThings smart-home connection service and is affecting phones running Android 12 or lower.

Thankfully, owners of Samsung’s newer phones – such as the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, S24 Ultra, and any other units running newer versions of Android – seem to be in the clear.

A thread by user rthompsonv on the r/samsunggalaxy subreddit detailing the issues has garnered more than 300 responses in less than 24 hours – many of them corroborating complaints of a forced update and subsequent bricking.

“I work at a cell phone store and I’ve had 5+ people come in with S10s in boot loop today – we haven’t even been open for an hour yet,” replied user MightyJoeTYoung.

For those not familiar, bootlooping refers to an uncontrollable cycle of restarts. It’s a known symptom of data corruption, operating system failure, or hardware breakdown, so the worry from Samsung owners about this latest bug is more than understandable.

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