The Surface Pro 4 screen flickered, so owners put it in the freezer
Surface Pro 4 screens flickered past warranty; free replacements came 15 months later
The market's verdict: -5.7% on MSFT in the week after.
What actually happened
Surface Pro 4 tablets developed a screen flickering defect that tended to strike just after warranty expiry, and with Microsoft quoting 450 to 800 dollars for repairs, more than 1,600 documented owners resorted to home remedies, including putting the tablet in the freezer because cold genuinely calmed the flicker. The class action got attention in February 2018, and on May 11, 2018 Microsoft finally launched a free replacement program, refurb units, covering the defect for three years from purchase. A premium hardware line whose advertised answer to a hardware defect was thermal improvisation.
This one is well documented.
Were you affected? Unbreak it
Free replacement program ran three years from purchase
Microsoft has acknowledged this issue; a fix ships in an out-of-band or next cumulative update. Check Windows Release Health before manual workarounds.
They did it more than once
Red rings for consoles, flickering screens for tablets. The hardware QA torch passes on.
Links
↳ caused by Surface Pro 4 display defect (Flickergate)
Timeline
- Feb 1, 2018 Confirmed First reports came in.
- May 11, 2018 Mitigated Free replacement program launched after class-action attention.