Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL; DR
- Samsung is said to be curbing the performance of 10,000 apps on mobile phones.
- It is believed to be due to the company’s game optimization service app.
Update: March 3, 2022 (1:27 AM Eastern Standard Time): Samsung is clearly investigating the GOS issues pointed out below.According to the intelligence cycle above Neighbor, The company is conducting an internal investigation and is taking the issue as seriously as the Galaxy Note 7’s blunder. Samsung will also make an official announcement shortly.
Original article: March 2, 2022 (2:49 EST): Over the years, there have been some cases where smartphone makers have limited the performance of certain numbers of apps in order to shorten battery life. Well, Samsung seems to be doing the same.
This list isn’t limited to games, as you’ll find prominent apps here such as Instagram, Microsoft Office apps, Netflix, Google Keep, and TikTok. Samsung’s unique apps and services such as Secure Folder, Samsung Cloud, Samsung Pay, Samsung Pass, Dialer, etc. are also listed here.
It’s no wonder that benchmark apps such as 3DMark, Antutu, PCMark, GFXBench and GeekBench 5 aren’t listed here. This indicates that Samsung is not targeting benchmark apps for throttling. A Korean YouTuber We renamed the 3DMark package to reflect the Genshin Impact (shown in the list) and ran the benchmark. The renamed package achieved significantly lower benchmark scores and average frame rates. Check out the screenshot below. On the left is the renamed package.
The app doesn’t seem to be installed on us because it’s worth it Galaxy S22 series unit. It will appear in the Galaxy Store, but if you click Install, you’ll see that the app isn’t compatible with your S22 Plus review device. Also, it does not appear on Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S10e devices. However, team members reported that they had confirmed the app on the Galaxy S21 Plus and reiterated that it cannot be disabled.
On the one hand, it’s understandable that smartphone makers are trying to balance the performance and battery life of many apps. On the other hand, there is a clear argument that users are not getting the performance they are looking for. It is especially doubtful that the benchmark apps are not listed here. In short, these results do not represent a real experience.
Samsung didn’t seem to learn from OnePlus’ own throttle saga last year.
However, this is not the first time we have seen mobile manufacturers engage in such ethically questionable practices. OnePlus Caught Last year, we “optimized” the performance of popular apps on the OnePlus 9 Pro, but benchmarked apps were also excluded from suppression.
I contacted a Samsung representative to see if this list is accurate and to determine exactly what GOS is doing with these apps. We also asked the company if the benchmark app is subject to GOS. We will update the article if Samsung contacts us.
