Recently, Samsung was found to be limiting the performance of its flagship Galaxy S22 series smartphones. The company has limited the performance of more than 1,000 applications that have been added to the Game Optimizing Service (GOS) list. While GOS is supposed to optimize system performance and prevent overheating issues, the application has been found to prevent these applications from taking full advantage of the chip’s performance.
The list of applications added to GoS includes popular ones such as Snapchat, LinkedIn, Microsoft Office and many games. Testing apps like Geekbench and 3D Mark are not included in this list. After the fiasco, Geekbench decided to exclude the Samsung Galaxy S22 series and some older smartphones from the Android Benchmark table in the Geekbench browser.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Series Removed from Geekbench
The Samsung Galaxy S22 series has been delisted from Geekbench for Android after it was found to limit the performance of several apps. GOS decides to block (or not block) applications using application IDs, not application behavior. After extensive internal testing, Geekbench has determined that GOS is used along with the S22 series, Samsung S21 series, Galaxy S20 series, and Galaxy S10 series. All smartphones under the mentioned flagship smartphones that were listed on Geekbench have been removed from the Android Benchmark chart.
Geekbench stated that GOS chose to limit or not limit the performance of an application based on IDs rather than the behavior of the application, which is a form of test manipulation.
Samsung has reportedly stated in its defense that the GOS on the S22 series aims to prevent excessive overheating during prolonged gaming. However, in order to meet the needs of various customers recently, the company said that it will release a software update as soon as possible, which provides the performance priority setting in the Game Acceleration Lab in the Game Launcher application. The company has also launched an internal investigation into the matter. There is currently no information on when the update will be rolled out.
Samsung isn’t the first to be caught manipulating app performance. OnePlus has previously limited the performance of over 300 apps on the OnePlus 9 series to avoid heat issues. Realme has reportedly interfered with the AnTuTu performance of its Realme GT smartphone in order to get a higher score. It was later removed from the official AnTuTu list.