Shortly after Samsung began shipping its Galaxy S22-series phones, Korean customers noticed that they could no longer bypass Samsung’s Game Optimizing Service (GOS), a software that limits game performance. The frustration triggered a full-blown investigation from Korean fans, who now claim that GOS throttles over 10,000 apps, including Netflix and Chrome.
As explained by @GaryeonHan, the GOS software maintains a list of apps that require “optimization.” This list is quite extensive and includes nearly every app you can think of, including first-party apps like Samsung Pay. Benchmarking apps are excluded from this list, possibly to hide the fact that other apps don’t run at peak performance.
We can see the extent of this throttling in a Korean YouTube video, where a Galaxy S22 owner tricks their phone into thinking that 3DMark is Genshin Impact, a popular game. The phone immediately throttled 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme test, lowering its benchmark score from 2618 to 1141.
Samsung created an app called GOS and used the app to limit game performance, making the gaming experience worse. However, according to what the Korean community found out today, Samsung confirmed that it has put performance limits on more than 10,000 apps… pic.twitter.com/U58AreZZoo
— 한가련 (@GaryeonHan) March 2, 2022
At the time of writing, it’s unclear which models of Galaxy phone are affected by GOS. Some models ship without the app, and while some customers see GOS on their Galaxy S22, others say they don’t have the app.
But why would Samsung reduce app performance on its flagship phones? These devices always ship with the latest Snapdragon processors and are more than powerful enough to run Netflix. Our best guess is that, much like OnePlus in 2021, Samsung is simply trying to extend the battery life of its phones. Either that, or the company made a goof and is just as surprised as we are.
Samsung hasn’t commented on this situation. That said, several Korean websites, such as Navar, suggest that Samsung wasn’t aware of throttling on Galaxy phones. Korean journalists compare the situation to the exploding Note 7 debacle, where Samsung put all of its resources toward a huge, unexpected mistake. These claims are unverified, though, so take them with a grain of salt.
Source: Android Authority
