[Updated] BREAKING: Samsung hit with lawsuit over Galaxy S9 call issues

Update (May 28):

It’s now possible to record calls on Galaxy S9/S9+. More information here.

Update (April 23):

Details of the lawsuit filed against Samsung.

Original story:

Ours was the first website to bring to light Galaxy S9/S9+ call drop/mute fiasco. Not only that, we have also been actively tracking and highlighting every bit of development regarding the case in point, including confirmation of the problem by a Samsung forum moderator.

While Samsung has apparently been avoiding coming up with an official statement on the matter so far (after all who would like to invite bad press for a freshly launched phone), looks like that will change soon.

The chaos created by Samsung Galaxy S9 call issues has apparently reached its peak point, at least in Israel, where a regional law firm has filed lawsuit against the South Korean company over the problem.

Samsung dragged to court

According to a local Israel news website, the company has now been strangled in a legal procedure by Zamir, Nahum & Co. law offices for selling a defective product to their consumers. The law firm filed a petition against Samsung and Sunny (importer of Samsung phones in the region) with the Central District Court on April 16, claiming NIS 17 million (about 4.8 Million USD) in damages.

As per the report, the petition says:

This is a fault that causes an absolute loss of audio, which takes several seconds, during a cellular conversation on the new devices.

The petition calls the problem a hardware-related glitch, claiming that the S9 units sold in Israel are incompatible with the regional networks, hence the entire calls-related mess.

An initial investigation indicates that apparently the processor embedded in the cellular devices marketed in Israel is not compatible with the Israeli communications networks. So if this is indeed the problem with the cellular devices, then every software update will be a band-aid on a problem with the hardware of the handsets and their lack of suitability for the communications networks in Israel.

But, we can confirm that complaints on the matter aren’t limited to Israel – they’re rather global (mainly being reported with the Exynos model). And if the investigation the petition refers to stands true, all those encountering the problem have apparently received defective units.

Samsung has been promising a software update to fix the problem. However, we fail to understand, how a hardware-related issue (if this is one) can be fixed through software updates.

The petition also points out another issue wherein it’s not at all possible to record calls on Galaxy S9/S9+ (yet another problem that we highlighted first).

To sum things up, the petition says:

out of greed and at the very least negligence, Samsung released a flawed product market, while Suny imported it to Israel, selling the defective products to thousands of innocent consumers.

Concluding words

The entire legal course in currently in its initial phase as the court is yet to approve and start hearing the case. As always, we are keeping a continuous tab on the matter. Meanwhile, we have also approached the concerned law firm for more details on the matter, and will update as and when we get to hear anything news worthy.

Stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) to hear about all related developments as and when they occur