Exynos variant of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra experiencing display issues
There have been several reports of display issues with Exynos 2200 (European) versions of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Some users are experiencing graphical glitches, where a reoccurring bar covered with a purple static effect is visible across the screen. The display issues are occurring with brand new S22 Ultras that have not been accidentally damaged.
It’s not clear if this is a hardware fault or software issue, however this is a common side effect for desktop PCs whenever a graphics card is manually overclocked by the user without sufficient cooling. It can also be an early indication of a hardware fault, such as a loose cable, or something more serious such as a faulty component.
We recently reported battery life issues with the Samsung Galaxy S22, caused by the poor thermals of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. However, the Snapdragon version of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra does not seem to be exhibiting the reported display issues, but rather the European Exynos 2200 variants.
In addition, there have been no reports of regular S22 and Plus variants with Exynos processors experiencing the display issues. One reason why this may only be occurring with the S22 Ultra is because the display runs at a much higher 1440 x 3088 resolution, compared to 1080 x 2340 pixels with the S22 and S22 Plus variants.
This may suggest that the Exynos 2200 processor is overheating when attempting to run at a higher resolution, causing the purple static effect. This is further backed up by claims that lowering the resolution to FHD+ and changing the colour temperature to neutral fixes the graphical issues.
It's currently not clear if this issue can be fixed with a software update, such as a driver patch for the Xclipse 920 GPU included with the Samsung Exynos 2200 chip.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra was introduced by Samsung as an intended replacement for the Galaxy Note line, which itself has experienced hardware issues in the past (albeit more serious).