Earlier this month, Samsung rolled out a software update to the Galaxy Watch 4 series, but it had a major issue. Smartwatches running the new firmware wouldn't turn on once they were turned off or ran out of battery. The company quickly recognized the issue and started rolling out a new update in the US yesterday to fix the problem. The same update is now rolling out to the Galaxy Watch 4 series in India.
The new software update for the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic in India comes with the firmware version R8xxXXU1GVK4. Apart from offering a fix for the issue that could brick the smartwatches, the update also brings November 2022 security patch. Although the update claims to fix the bricking problem, a few users report that the issue continues to persist.
One of our readers, who was using their Galaxy Watch 4 Classic on buggy firmware, made sure that the watch did not turn off or restart to prevent it from bricking. However, once they installed the update that claimed to fix the issue, the smartwatch had to restart to apply the update, and when that happened, the smartwatch didn't turn on again. Of course, this issue isn't affecting all the Galaxy Watch 4 series units. A few users are reporting that they have no problems with the firmware.
According to a few users on Reddit, Samsung is asking $72 to repair their bricked Galaxy Watch 4 if it is out of warranty. That is completely absurd, as Samsung's own faulty software caused the issue. However, we suspect that the service centers are unaware of the problem, and Samsung should release a directive to all its service centers worldwide to repair the Galaxy Watch 4 for free.
SamsungGalaxy Watch 4 (40mm)
SamsungGalaxy Watch 4 Classic (42mm)
