It sounds like some Galaxy S8 owners have run into an issue with their new phones. And it involves audio cutting out over the phone's speaker.
According to a thread in the Samsung Community form, some Galaxy S8 owners say that when they play a video or music over the phone's speaker, the audio will drop after a few seconds. There's no one app where the problem flares up, as users say that it happens when watching videos on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, listening to streaming music, or even getting voicemail messages.
The problem only seems to affect audio playing through the Galaxy S8's speaker. Forum posters says they're able to hear audio through the phone's headphones without any issues.
MORE: 7 Galaxy S8 Problems and How to Fix Them
A video posted to YouTube shows the problem in action. The user tries watching NBA highlights on Facebook, but audio stops playing after an initial burst of sound. The user then accesses settings to fiddle with volume controls to no avail. Eventually, the sound returns.
It's unclear whether the audio problem is the result of a software or hardware issue, though evidence points to a hardware issue. One Samsung forum user claims that a Samsung technician identified the problem as a "loose contact in the assembly," though the company has yet to officially confirm that diagnosis.
More worrying for S8 owners affected by the issue is that there's no consensus on how to fix it. Some users in the Samsung forum have tried a factory reset and reported that their phones are now working properly, though others who tried the factory reset route claim that the issue returns after a while. Another popular fix has been to press on the S8's back cover until audio returns. (That would seemingly suggest that the dropped audio is caused by a hardware problem.)
We've contacted a Samsung representative and will update this story if we get a confirmation as to the cause of the audio problem and whether there's a way to fix it, should it flare up on your S8.
Since its debut last month, the Galaxy S8 has generated pretty positive reviews and hasn't run into any of the severe issues that doomed last year's Galaxy Note 7. Still, a few problems with the Galaxy S8 have cropped up here and there, most notably reports of red screens and troublesome Wi-Fi connectivity. In many of those cases, the problems are being handled with a software update.
