The One UI 6.1 update promised some notable updates to the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, and although it did fix a particular screen burn-in issue, it’s looking like it’s bringing more problems than solutions. Following complaints about slower charging speeds and broken fingerprint scanners, now the One UI 6.1 update appears to be the culprit of yet another issue on these devices.
The latest issue popping up on the Galaxy S23 series after updating to One UI 6.1, as reported by Tech Issues Today, is related to the touchscreen. Some folks say that their screens are freezing up or not responding to taps. Others say the only thing that works on their screens in their S Pen.
These reports are popping up all over the SamsungCommunityforums as well as social media sites such as Reddit. However, it should be noted that in some cases, the affected devices have had a screen replacement with a non-OEM part. That still leaves the question as to why it is only disabling finger touch while pen input continues to work.
Sadly, the usual tricks like restarting the phone or resetting it don’t seem to work for most of the devices affected. There was one instance in which the user claimed the issue went away after the apps were optimized, but generally most users are reporting that they are just totally stuck without a way to make their devices work.
So right now the only option for the affected devices appears to be the nuclear one — downgrading the software altogether. Thankfully, some users are reporting that rolling back to One UI 6.0 brings back the touchscreen functionality.
Samsung hasn’t officially acknowledged any of these issues yet, but with so many people reporting them, the company can’t ignore this for long. If you have a Galaxy S23 device, and you haven’t installed the One UI 6.1 update yet, we’d strongly advise you to hold off for now until all the aforementioned issues are resolved.
It is unclear how these bugs snuck past beta testing and Q/A. Additionally, if you’re one of the unlucky few with a glitchy Galaxy S23, we would suggest documenting your issues on the Galaxy S23 forum. The more of these are documented, the better the chance that Samsung will notice them and issue a quicker fix.
