Some Samsung phones are reportedly experiencing performance issues that make thousands of apps slower. Samsung is aware of this issue and will be releasing a fix update soon.
This issue stems from reports that some Samsung phones slow down the performance of around 10,000 applications due to software called Game Optimizing Service (GOS). Some of the affected applications are quite popular, such as Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, Google Keep, to games like Genshin impact.
Not only that, several Samsung applications and services were also affected, such as Secure Folder, Samsung Cloud, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Pass. Interestingly, this issue does not affect benchmark applications such as 3DMark, AnTuTu, Geekbench, and others.
A YouTuber from Korea also demonstrated this problem through one of his videos. He changed the name of the benchmark application that was not slowed down (3DMark) with the name of the game that was slowed down, namely Genshin Impact. As a result, this technique lowers the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark score from 2,618 to 1,141.
The types of Samsung phones that are reported to have this software include the Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy S20 FE, Galaxy S10E, and Galaxy S21+. The Korean YouTuber who made the above experiment uses the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
In response to the report, Samsung said it was aware of the throttling issue and promised to release a fix for users soon.
"We appreciate the feedback we've received about our products and after careful consideration, we plan to roll out a software update as soon as possible so that users can control their phone's performance while running game apps," said Samsung spokeswoman Kelly Yeo, as quoted by The Verge, Saturday. (5/3/2022).
"Our priority is to provide the best mobile experience for consumers. Game Optimizing Service (GOS) is designed to help games achieve high performance while managing device temperature effectively. GOS does not regulate performance in non-gaming applications," he continued.
Samsung Korea previously released an official statement on the Samsung Member application which was later translated by Twitter user Dohyun Kim. To The Verge, Samsung confirmed that the notification was genuine.
But Samsung did not provide a timeline regarding the release of this update. They also did not explain why popular benchmark applications were not affected, even though problems like this could make benchmark results not match the performance of mobile phones in the real world.
Samsung isn't the only phone vendor that intentionally slows down the performance of its phones. Last year, OnePlus was caught doing the same thing with the aim of optimizing battery life on phones.