POCO F1 users asked to return phone to Xiaomi over touchscreen issues after update

POCO F1 (review) recently received the MIUI 10.3.5.0 stable update that has apparently caused touchscreen issues on the handset. To evaluate these issues, Xiaomi is now asking affected POCO F1 users to hand over their units to the company; it is not yet clear if the brand will be providing these customers with a replacement unit for the time being, though that can be expected. The touchscreen issues after the botched software update include screen freezing, ghost touch, and touch lags. It seems not all POCO F1 units are affected by these touchscreen bugs and it could not be determined at the time of writing how many units in India are affected.

(1/2) Now that 10.3.5.0 stable has been released for POCO F1 and some improvements have been reflected in the build, we are looking to analyze devices that are facing 1) screen freezing 2) ghost touch 3) touch lags. We will need to collect some devices to further test.

— Alvin Tse (@atytse) July 12, 2019

The request for submitting the affected POCO F1 units for assessment comes from Pocophone's Global Head Alvin Tse. In his tweets, Tse says Xiaomi needs to collect some devices in order to conduct some tests. Those willing to send in their handsets are required to email him their user ID, contact information, description of the issue their unit is facing, videos or screenshots showing the problem in action, and the Feedback ID. Xiaomi representatives will reach out to select users via email and pick up the device for the tests.

(3/3) Apologies, I meant to write vzhaoxiaomi@gmail.com. Please send your email to this address instead. Our staff will pick the most representative devices for us to followup with further testing. If yours is picked, they will email and give further instruction.

— Alvin Tse (@atytse) July 12, 2019

The touchscreen issues POCO F1 is facing after the botched update will definitely hamper the user experience of the device. Screen freezing would mean the actions the user performs on the handset will not appear on the display, which will be stuck on one frame. Ghost touch will give the affected smartphone phantom inputs — the handset will receive inputs on the touchscreen even when the user is not tapping anywhere on the display panel. As for touch lags, it will mean a delay in processing inputs — the user's taps on the screen will not be registered for several seconds. Nonetheless, it seems Xiaomi (the Pocophone brand rather) is working on figuring out what causes these bugs and how to resolve them, so we can expect a fix in a few weeks.

In a statement, the company said, "At Xiaomi, customer experience is of utmost importance. As a standard practice, Xiaomi collects samples across the entire portfolio for bugs/ issues that our users have reported. The feedback collection starts at the service centre level, after which samples are further analysed to improve/ correct any existing issues. The POCO team is determined to continually improve the user experience on POCO F1, and this exercise is a part of regular quality practice."

POCO F1 was launched last year as a mid-range smartphone with a flagship processor, the Snapdragon 845. It quickly gained traction in the market thanks to its aggressive pricing, which has only continued to drop over the past few months. However, the fate of the POCO F1 successor seems uncertain as the brand has not revealed if and when it will launch a second-generation model. Moreover, Xiaomi is launching the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro in India next week as its budget flagship smartphones. Nonetheless, 91mobiles has heard from industry sources that the POCO brand is not being scrapped as of now and the company is still evaluating its future.