When the phone was otherwise in a working condition.
The LED should be expected to outlast the rest of the phone by a large margin. That said, given enough units out there, it's statistically inevitable to get a couple with some issue that die earlier.
If phone manufacturers cheap out, they can fail to handle the heat from continued LED use (e.g. as a flashlight) which can cause premature failure
No but I did have a flashlight fail me while I was exploring a long abandoned power plant and in a dark room with evidence that someone may have been living in the facility. I only shit my pants a little
I think it only fails on horror movies other than that i have never seen one fail IRL.
I once got a „refurbished“ phone from a third party shop where it was not working. But I guess it was a defect from the refurbishment itself. They repaired it though.
Other than that, no. And I don’t think the LED would fail, maybe the plug would rattle loose.
Now I'm curious as well. I use it often, but not for that long each time. I know it gets hot after a while and it drains the battery.
How long is it supposed to last?
LEDs should last for tens of thousands of hours. There may have been a manufacturing defect in OP's case.
This isn't necessarily true. LEDs are capable of running for years, but not all LEDs are designed this way or are operated this way. An LED in a given application can die quicker if:
the LED manufacturer cheaps out
the phone manufacturer runs the LED at higher current for more brightness
the phone is poorly designed, allowing the LED to heat up
the phone is exposed to significant heat and/or the LED is covered while used for a long enough duration
No
Fail as in did not provide enough light to walk through the woods, then yes. I have flashlight in my EDC.
Why is it whenever I see someone say they have an EDC, I imagine fingerless gloves?
Yes. Samsung S6 edge I think? Before flashlight was an intentional functionality. I had an app or a ROM that gave me a flashlight button but if I used it too long it would stop working for a while. It would come back eventually but made me nervous so I avoided using it for more than a few seconds.
I never had this happen to me I guess this is because I do research and take precaution on various technology.
I think the key to this would be to use the flash light less frequently and lesser times.
If you have no reason to leave the flashlight on for hours, don't.
Don't flash it on and off again rapidly, the worse thing you can do to an led life cycle, you'l likely blow out the light which I know people to do carelessly before with light switches.
Really, for the life cycle you should only use it if you need to and find any means to not have to use it and the life cycle would be more unlimited rather then limited. (although still limited technically)
The LED should be expected to outlast the rest of the phone by a large margin. That said, given enough units out there, it's statistically inevitable to get a couple with some issue that die earlier.
If phone manufacturers cheap out, they can fail to handle the heat from continued LED use (e.g. as a flashlight) which can cause premature failure
No but I did have a flashlight fail me while I was exploring a long abandoned power plant and in a dark room with evidence that someone may have been living in the facility. I only shit my pants a little
I think it only fails on horror movies other than that i have never seen one fail IRL.
I once got a „refurbished“ phone from a third party shop where it was not working. But I guess it was a defect from the refurbishment itself. They repaired it though.
Other than that, no. And I don’t think the LED would fail, maybe the plug would rattle loose.
Now I'm curious as well. I use it often, but not for that long each time. I know it gets hot after a while and it drains the battery.
How long is it supposed to last?
LEDs should last for tens of thousands of hours. There may have been a manufacturing defect in OP's case.
This isn't necessarily true. LEDs are capable of running for years, but not all LEDs are designed this way or are operated this way. An LED in a given application can die quicker if:
No
Fail as in did not provide enough light to walk through the woods, then yes. I have flashlight in my EDC.
Why is it whenever I see someone say they have an EDC, I imagine fingerless gloves?
Yes. Samsung S6 edge I think? Before flashlight was an intentional functionality. I had an app or a ROM that gave me a flashlight button but if I used it too long it would stop working for a while. It would come back eventually but made me nervous so I avoided using it for more than a few seconds.
No, at least not independently of other hardware failures.
If you mean the screen, then yes.
no but I have often thought that it would be a good thing if it did because I hate light
I never had this happen to me I guess this is because I do research and take precaution on various technology.
I think the key to this would be to use the flash light less frequently and lesser times.
If you have no reason to leave the flashlight on for hours, don't. Don't flash it on and off again rapidly, the worse thing you can do to an led life cycle, you'l likely blow out the light which I know people to do carelessly before with light switches. Really, for the life cycle you should only use it if you need to and find any means to not have to use it and the life cycle would be more unlimited rather then limited. (although still limited technically)