Samsung has denied recycling older AMOLED displays on new phones

Recently an alleged former-Samsung employee came forward with what they claimed was evidence the smartphone maker was recycling older, sub-par AMOLED displays and putting them into newer devices — thereby cheating the consumer.

Evidence was supposedly posted online, but according to Phone Arena it has since been removed. Samsung, of course, has denied the allegations, saying:

“There is a rumour that we have used recycled AMOLED display panels in our smartphones, but it is not true at all. Recycled AMOLED display panels have not been used at all in product manufacturing processes, while some of the panels have been employed for paid warranty services. This individual is not one of our employees and it is not sure if the place shown in the pictures and videos is our factory.”

Samsung has admitted that cheaper recycled displays are often used when repairing smartphones, but it always obtains consent from individual customers before doing so. That would make sense, because using a cheaper display means the customer has to pay less in repair costs.

Right now there isn’t any tangible evidence for us to look at, so it’s more a case of one person’s word against the other. I would assume that if there is any credibility to the claims then someone will end up investigating Samsung to uncover the truth. But it is also just as likely that whoever is spreading the rumours is making everything up.

Tom Pritchard