These days, it seems there’s not a smartphone launch that goes by without some hiccup. In the case of Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro, users have been complaining of their screens tinting green in some circumstances. Initially, Huawei offered no official response, instead asking affected customers to go through the process with their retailer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this didn’t resonate well with all customers. Those who purchased from Optus took to the YesCrowd forums to vent their concerns.
Our earlier story on these issues attracted a lot of attention. So much so, in fact, that almost 50 customers contacted Ausdroid with their details and asked for our help. So, help we did. Ausdroid’s working relationship with Huawei allowed us to contact the right people to help get this issue the attention it deserves. Fortunately also, Optus has stepped up its response to customer feedback about the Mate 20 Pro screen, and it appears the issue is now being addressed.
Optus has confirmed the existence of the issue:
After analysis of a sample of Huawei Mate 20 Pro returns conducted by Huawei and Optus we have confirmed that all units tested exhibited the green tint to varying degrees.
Testing has shown that the failure manifests when the display brightness is set to zero and viewed in a low ambient light environment and only when viewing a dark screen.
We can confirm that the failure doesn’t inhibit the issue of the handset or pose a danger.
We will continue to offer a replacement from good stock or a cancellation/refund (if you’d prefer)
An Optus representative has also confirmed what our feedback found; the LG display appears to be the main culprit. Very few of the other displays (manufactured by BOE) have demonstrated the same issue. 91% of those who got in touch with Ausdroid had Mate 20 Pro screens from LG, whereas only 8.3% had BOE screens.
Further to this, Huawei Australia has been in touch with all customers who contacted Ausdroid about their Mate 20 Pro experiences, though we understand a few remaining customers will be contacted early next week. We understand that Huawei is working with Optus (and other retailers) to ensure that any affected customers have clear options available to them to address the issue, including replacement or refund if required. Huawei has also given direct contact details to affected customers should they need them.
One Huawei customer posted this email he received on Optus’ YesCrowd forum:
As much as a public statement from Huawei might offer some confirmation or comfort, I’d rather see concrete action and that’s what we seem to be seeing now. Affected customers are being given assistance to resolve their concerns, and Huawei and Optus appear to be working to ensure supplies of unaffected stock so that the issue gets resolved going forward as well as for existing customers.
We’ve discussed this internally, and our Editorial team agrees – this is a good development from Huawei and Optus. It might’ve taken a bit of a voice to get everything happening, but the response from Huawei and Optus seems to be pretty good. Let’s hope it delivers. Kudos! 👍
Thanks ChrisR. No criticism intended, merely making sure that my input had been captured. I will continue to wait…
I got another call from Huawei today. I think this time was in response to Chris’ form.
All they basically said was “So you are sorting it out with Optus? Great. Okay bye..”
Had a call from Huawei, they are sending out a replacement device… hopefully that will be a good one! Kudos to them for this though.
Well after two emails to Chris here at Ausdroid with my details (Optus and JB bought Mate 20 Pros, both faulty) I’ve neither heard back from Chris nor from Huawei… 🙁
Chris has a life and this isn’t his problem. Be thankful he is helping people out and does so much for all readers of Ausdroid.
Thanks other Chris. You’re right. I didn’t get much of a weekend dealing with all this stuff, but that’s just how it is.
Hi Simon, I didn’t reply to you but I did receive your email and it was forwarded on to Huawei on Sunday morning about 8.30am. I understand your details have made it to the area they need to be, and you’ll be contacted soon. Unfortunately, as you may appreciate, there’s a lot of people who asked to be contacted through Ausdroid, and there’s probably many more who are experiencing issues which Huawei also need to deal with. I’m sure they’ll get in touch when they can.
Hi Chris I am one of the contributors to the Optus message board and responded to your request for information about the fault. To date I have heard nothing from Huawei. I did go into an Optus store (Hurstville) on Sunday where they were perfectly pleasant but were unable to help as they had no new Mate 20 pro stock in. They did offer to refund me but as I need the phone for work (and my old phone died) that was not an option so they offered alternative handsets from Samsung and Google. Unfortunately these all cost more than… Read more »
Hi Anthony, can you shoot me an email please and I’ll escalate for you. Email’s above in the author info box.
Just noticed my today, got on Optus chat and they will send me out a satchel to sent the phone back for assessment.
I just spoke with a Huawei employee over the phone who stated that “a high percentage” of the existing LG panel stock are affected, with unaffected BOE stock incoming. I have also confirmed with an Optus employee that despite what this article/announcement says, their stores are not replacing phones with unaffected stock under the current procedure. This would explain why many people are replacing their phones only to discover their new phones are also affected. I have been told there is going to be an upcoming Optus announcement which details a new in-store replacement procedure that involves the store making… Read more »
That’s kind of crap Ryan, especially when Optus had advised us (and customers) that it was replacing from BOE stock. How disappointing.
Yes it seems that part of the Optus announcement was a bit premature as most stores are still using existing stock to replace. Luckily as I had my suspicions this was happening, I’ve held off replacing. But I’d say all the people who have replaced and got another faulty one are even more pissed off now. Even once this new stock procedure is in place, as far as I can tell that is only for warranty replacements. Looks like Optus are going to continue selling old stock to unsuspecting new buyers, even when Huawei themselves are saying that a high… Read more »
Hey, does anyone know if the handsets sold by Vodafone are affected? I just got one from vodafone. Hope its a good one. Fingers crossed.
Most of the issues reported to us were from Optus customers, but that might only be coincidence. Best indicator of whether there’s likely to be a fault is whether your display is LG or BOE. You can download the Device Checker app to verify which one your phone has.
Hey Simon,
I got mine from Vodafone , its also affected by the green screen issue.
Again the display is LG as well
So I’ve just ordered mine from mobileciti online and I’m in a small town. If I have a problem with the screen, can I take mine to. Optus or do I have to send it back to sydney where mobileciti is?
You’d need to go back through Mobileciti for any warranty claims, as they’re your retailer.
I purchased mine a week ago and noticed the problem within a couple of days and is definitely getting worse. I spoke to Optus online as I was unable to get in store due to them being closed on Sundays and was told to visit in store to resolve the issue. I hope to get in tomorrow and be provided assistance… I love the phone but just not the green tint…
I didn’t notice this issue till yesterday when I read Chris article and checked my handset right away and I had green tint on the top part of the screen near the notification area, didn’t waste a single minute to contact Huawei yesterday and their representative called me on the same day, asked to drop my handset at any Optus branch so that they can send my handset to Huawei for further testing. Just drop it today and now let see how it will go. I also ask Huawei representative if they replace my screen what’s gonna happen to the… Read more »
Most of the people on YesCrowd that have mentioned receiving replacement handsets from Optus have also reported them to be faulty. Optus official replacement procedure for this phone was and still is: Keep getting replacements from existing
stock until one isn’t affected. As far as I can tell Optus have done nothing to ensure the supply of unaffected stock.
My experience with Optus today was as I expected. Poor. They would only take the phone and send it for assessment. Despite my images and example of the issue. Both Optus via Facebook and Huawei via Facebook have offered no acceptance of this issues. I do know you’ve been vocal which is great and I’ve communicated with Dan as well, but I feel like Optus should be far more proactive in following this up.
Best bet @jayden is to go back to your retailer and ask. If it’s Optus you’ll have no issue swapping for an unaffected handset. If it’s another retailer, you SHOULDN’T have an issue, but YMMV. Main thing is to go to your retailer first; they’re in the best place to help you, and Huawei will assist if that doesn’t work.
I have recently really started to notice this issue with my phone. How would I go about fixing it (and how would a replacement procedure work?)
Bought this phone as soon as it came out. Within two days its had the green edge screen problem. Manage to get a replacement. Again within two days the same problem appeared. This time I was told by JB HIFI that Huawei refuse to except there is any problem with the phone, would not give a refund of the substantial sum of 1600 dollars. Taking it in to check if there was a problem would not be fruitful. Just going through the motions. Was also treated like a fool as no one would except there was a problem even when… Read more »
I suggest putting a review at Product Review
Then go to Fair Trading of your state and lodge a formal complaint
Sounds like your retailer failed to act in accordance with consumer Law, and you’re blaming Huawei for it.
Given the slight green tint in low brightness in dimly lit conditions is not likely to frequently or seriously affect the usage of your phone in most conditions you’d actually use it in, maybe “expensive paper weight” is a bit much.
Your phone has been on sale for just on two weeks, not several, and if you sent the phone off to Huawei for assessment, and not hearing anything, why aren’t you following it up with the store or Huawei?
It’s great that Huawei are finally taking action. Unfortunately, a lot of damage has already been done – a lot of affected customers will probably never buy a Huawei ever again and they will relate their experiences to their friends and family. Slow response time (two weeks), coupled with recalcitrant retailers, has not done Huawei’s brand any favours. I may still buy one of these as the next batch to arrive in Australia at the end of the month should hopefully have gone through more stringent QC than the first batch. It seems from doing my research that the quality… Read more »
Yeah I had to deal with Optus and Huawei twice with my Nexus 6P. Their hardware is crap and they provide crap to non-existent support. That put me off ever getting a Huawei again.
It’s a real shame to hear that other people are now getting burnt by Huawei’s crap hardware. Best of luck to you all! I hope you manage to get it sorted.
Chris is right — JB Hi-Fi have a LEGAL OBLIGATION to either replace your phone or give you a full refund if the product is not fit for purpose. In this case, a green OLED screen which should be black would be considered defective — imagine if it happened to one of LG’s OLED TVs! You wouldn’t tolerate it. Here is an excerpt from JB Hi-Fi’s own website: “Consumer Guarantees, Warranties, & Refunds The Australian Consumer Law protects consumers by giving them certain guaranteed rights when they buy goods and services. For example, the Law requires that goods must be… Read more »