Samsung investigates reports of Galaxy phones throttling apps

In a statement to The Verge, Samsung says it will roll out a software update soon to allow users to control the performance of their phones while running game apps. It added that the company's priority is to "deliver the best mobile experience for consumers" and GOS does not manage the performance of non-gaming apps.

Originally reported on March 4

Samsung could be the latest handset maker to throttle the performance of apps.

Numerous reports have surfaced on Twitter, Samsung's Korean community forum and YouTube about apps being throttled on Samsung Galaxy phones. The issue seems to stem from Samsung's Game Optimising Service (GOS) which is reportedly throttling the performance of 10,000 apps including Instagram, Microsoft Office apps, Netflix, TikTok, Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass.

As bench marking apps such as 3DMark, Antutu and GeekBench 5 are not in the list, it is speculated that Samsung deliberately excluded these apps from throttling and the results are unlikely to be accurate. A YouTuber tested the GOS by changing the name of a benchmarking app to that of a popular game, and the overall benchmark score was significantly reduced.

In a statement to Naver, Samsung says it is carrying out an internal investigation and treats these reports as serious as the Galaxy Note7 debacle. An official announcement on the matter is expected to be made soon.

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At the time of publication, it is unclear which Galaxy phone are installed with GOS. Android Authority claims it is not installed on their Galaxy S22, S20 FE and S10e phones while a team member saw it on the Galaxy S21+. We're checking on ours and will update soon.

OnePlus was caught red-handed last year with a similar practice. The company defended itself on the basis of "delivering a great user experience" while "reducing power consumption".

This article was first published in Hardware Zone.