LG G4 Fiasco

The LG G4 phone had a massive failure issue and LG did not issue a recall when millions of customers were affected (Source).

This issue was caused by heat which would detach the soldering, with the most common result being a boot loop issue where the device would be stuck in a cycle of booting but never post. This would result in all user data being lost, and the device being unusable.

Other issues included touchscreen issues, where the screen would stop responding permanently (or until restart for some users), charging port death, speaker function damage and double tap features no longer functioning, which would be occurring early on as a precursor to the touch screen issues. When reports of abnormally high failure rates occurred in the first couple months (as several media outlets covered, I will add this later) LG hid it, refusing warranties early on. When public outcry became too much of a wave for them to deny, they told outlets it was a very small subset they would look into, all the while having confirmed many months before that it was a universal issue.

The issue was exasperated by the device having the snapdragon 808 processor inside. Which famously had overheating issues along with the 810. But it was there devices (including the G flex) that suffered these desoldering issues en-mass.

LG did not recall the devices, as the LG G4 was LG's best selling phone ever. LG instead continued to marketing the device (the G4 was marketed for over two years at bus stations in Canada, well after the release of the G5.) The company launched a replacement scheme with US carriers to hide the issue with replacements (will add source here), which did not address its systemic problem of breaking down and losing all user data.

Users who had their phone replaced reported it dying a second or third time because the heating issue was never fixed.  All data is lost upon bootlooping and LG still continued selling it for over a year after finding out (Source here).

The phone received Android 5.0 near the first two months after release, and was expected to get 2 major updates. This was even confirmed through a LG spokesperson in South Korea (twice) that the device would be receiving 6.0 marshmallow (source here), however the update was never globally released despite saying for many months that they would update the phone. At the time Android updates were not yet segmented (link to video on this topic), so updates took much longer to develop, and the decision to do so would be made well in advance. The device was still being advertised for over 6 moths after Android 6.0 was supposed to be released. The update was made but it was only ever released in South Korea.

LG only ended up paying for one settled class action suit on the issue exclusively in the USA. They avoided a recall, that executives knew would be needed months after release (source on LG knowing the bootloop issue existed 3 months after release). LG left the phone market in 2021.