Samsung’s latest update will fix the phone throttling issue
The Game Optimizing Service (GOS) on some Samsung devices was restricting the performance of some games and apps earlier this week, according to sources. Samsung has promised a software update that will make this an optional setting.
Phone Throttling Addressed
According to The Verge, the update will give device users the option of whether or not they want their devices throttled. It’s partially meant to reduce performance in order to keep phone temperatures down, according to Samsung.
While the original allegation claimed that non-gaming applications like Netflix, Photo Finder, and Instagram were also throttled — with up to 10,000 apps impacted in total — Samsung insists that GOS exclusively optimizes game performance, as its name suggests.
To add to the issue, GOS excludes popular Android benchmarking applications, which means that Samsung phones using the software are likely to produce ratings that don’t match the performance you experience when gaming. In response, Geekbench has chosen to remove benchmarking results from the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, and Galaxy S10 series of phones from its database. We’ll have to wait and see whether these grades are reinstated in the future.
Further Details
Samsung has now confessed that its Game Optimizing Service does “control the performance” of games in order to minimize overheating and save battery life — and it isn’t the first phone manufacturer to be detected doing so.
Both Apple and OnePlus have admitted to throttling speed on their phones in the past, and the reasons are the same: the notion is that by forcing applications and games to run a little slower, the battery and other internal components will survive longer.
It’s a valid argument, but consumers should be informed about these tactics and trade-offs upfront, especially before they spend a significant amount of money on a phone. We should, at the absolute least, be given the choice of choosing between greater frame rates and long battery life.
Samsung appears to be on the verge of giving people the option. It’s unclear which devices are affected by GOS, but given that Geekbench has removed scores for the previous four years’ worth of Samsung flagship phones, it’s safe to conclude that the vast majority of them are.
