Samsung apparently throttles the performance in many apps. We clarify the background.
If you use a Samsung smartphone, you might not be able to use the full power of the processor. According to reports, Samsung throttles the performance in around 10,000 apps by more than half in some cases.
The throttling was made known by the Korean Twitter user @GaryoenHan (via Android Authority). He wrote that Samsung uses an app called Game Optimizing Service (GOS for short) to throttle performance in numerous apps. He also posts some screenshots of affected apps. You can find the tweet here:
link to Twitter content
Not only games are among the affected apps, but also apps like the camera, Microsoft Office applications or even the contacts app from Samsung. Below the tweet, Han Garyeon claims that he and the Korean community have confirmed that benchmark apps like Geekbench or 3DMark are not affected by throttling.
A koreanischer YouTuber then tested it himself: He has the package for the benchmark app 3DMark in Genshin Impact
renamed to make his smartphone think he’s playing the game. Since Genshin Impact is on the list of throttled apps, it scored 1,142, far worse than the unthrottled benchmark’s 2,618.
Which Samsung smartphones are affected?
It is still unclear which smartphone models from Samsung are affected. If you have one, you can check for yourself whether the app Game Optimizing Service
is installed on it. Don’t forget the option Show system apps
turn on.
Android Authority colleagues found the app on smartphones from the Galaxy S22 series and on a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. You can find out which smartphones we can generally recommend to you in our purchase advice:
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Why would Samsung throttle performance? One obvious reason for this is battery life. If the smartphone only uses half of its performance, the battery will last longer accordingly. Samsung names the second obvious reason in a statement itself: the temperature.
Samsung has already responded
Samsung has already become aware of the issue and, according to the Twitter user, has Dohyun Kim published a statement. It states that the GOS app should optimize CPU and GPU performance to prevent the system from overheating when users play games for a long time.
Samsung also says that an update is planned that offers the option to prioritize the performance of the smartphone. It is not yet known when the update will come. Meanwhile, Samsung’s new flagship, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, was already struggling with problems before it was released. You can find out what this is all about here:
Do you have a Samsung smartphone and is the GOS app installed on it? Do you think your smartphone is too slow? Let us know in the comments.
