Samsung has some of the most powerful smartphones currently available. The company throws the best specs at its hardware, especially flagship models. So, why is the South Korean giant reportedly throttling thousands of apps?
Android Authority reports there are forums in Korea that are showing evidence of Samsung Game Optimizing Service (GOS) is throttling over 10,000 apps.
You may remember last year, OnePlus was found to be doing the same to improve battery life on its devices. Samsung’s reason seems to be different as the company is accused of throttling apps simply to improve game performance.
All the affected apps are listed in this Excel file, although this is not a checked file so download at your own risk. It shows Samsung is throttling major apps like TikTok, Instagram, Netflix, Microsoft Office, and more.
Microsoft Office is especially interesting considering Samsung has a close partnership with Microsoft. More interesting is the list contains some of Samsung’s own applications, such as Samsung Pay and Samsung Cloud.
Reason
Back in June 2021, it was determined that OnePlus deliberately throttles some popular apps. The company admitted to the accusations and stated that it does this to optimize battery life rather than manipulate unthrottled benchmarking apps. Now, Samsung has been accused of doing the exact same thing.
Let’s be clear, app throttling is normal and all vendors do it. However, the problem with Samsung is it is not throttling apps based on metrics, such which take more resources. It is also not randomizing, but instead throttling apps that are on a predetermined list.
Another issue is the company is simply not telling users what it is doing. It is worth noting benchmarking tools are not part of the throttling. So, your device may score excellent benchmarks but then perform poorly running some apps.
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