Software updates have long been blamed for sluggish phones and glitchy screens. Now the trouble has reached the kitchen. Samsung is facing a wave of complaints after a software update left some of its smart refrigerators completely dead, with groceries inside going bad.
What Happened
The failures began on the afternoon of September 22 in South Korea, days before the Chuseok holiday. Owners said they tapped an update notification in the SmartThings app and the fridge stopped working soon after. Dozens of posts appeared on Samsung’s community forums, with users describing fridges that went offline, with lights off and neither cooling nor freezing working.
Why The Timing Hurt?
Chuseok is the major harvest festival in Korea, when families stock their refrigerators with food for large gatherings. The Bespoke AI four door models were reportedly the ones affected. A breakdown at this moment meant more food at risk and more anxious households.
Owners Speak Out
One user wrote that Samsung had told them to update, they did, and the fridge broke down, with meat and other items close to spoiling. Some owners said their display was stuck on a message asking them to check the SmartThings app during the update. Restarting the fridge, or removing it and adding it again on SmartThings, reportedly did not help.
I was cussing Tata for not being able to get its car software right despite being a tech giant. Lo and behold, Samsung has done even worse. After their infamous software update that left green lines on mobile phone screens, their smart fridges too crashed after software update. pic.twitter.com/1EC2L3sSfJ
— Amit Thadhani (@amitsurg) September 29, 2026
Samsung’s Response
Reports say internal test software reached customers by mistake, and Samsung has apologised and said engineers will be sent over the holiday break. The company told Korean media it had stopped distributing the update. It also told Fortune the problem was linked to internal testing and was limited to South Korea. Some user reports say technicians have been replacing the motherboard in faulty units.
Gaps That Remain
Samsung has not said how many refrigerators are affected, and it has not announced any compensation for spoiled food. One customer was told a service visit would not be possible until after the holiday, and some users turned to stopgaps such as dry ice.
A Wider Question for Smart Homes
The episode comes after Samsung’s earlier update that left green lines on some phone screens, which had already dented user trust. This time, the fault struck an appliance that people expect to simply keep food cold. It raises a fair question: should a refrigerator’s basic cooling depend on software that can be updated remotely? Many users online argue a smart fridge should fall back to working like an ordinary one if an update fails.
For now, the update appears to have been halted before reaching customers outside South Korea. The next things to watch are how quickly repairs are completed, whether Samsung offers compensation, and what safeguards it puts in place to stop test software from reaching homes again.
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Khushi Patel is a Senior Sub Editor at NewsX, covering automotive, technology, Lifestyle, entertainment, and mainstream news. She previously worked as a Copy Editor at Times Network and has written automotive editorial content, including comparison pieces, for TimesDrive.
