Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Caught Throttling Games Too Prompting Geekbench Delisting
Samsung became the subject of negative attention earlier this month when allegations began circulating that the company’s Galaxy line of phones includes software that throttles games and other apps while letting benchmarks run at full capacity. The allegations center around a Samsung software component called Game Optimizing Service (GOS) that was found to contain a list of over 10,000 apps that GOS detects. Among the apps in this list are a great many popular non-gaming apps, leading people to conclude that GOS throttles not only games, but possibly a large portion of the most commonly used apps.
However, benchmarks are notably absent from the list of apps that GOS detects, and some testing showed that GOS does not throttle benchmarks. Geekbench saw this behavior as “benchmark manipulation” and delisted the Galaxy S22, S21, S20, and S10. Samsung committed to releasing a software update that addresses GOS throttling, but Geekbench has a policy of not removing device bans even if the offending issue is resolved by a patch.
Then, last week, after a complaint was filed with the South Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC), Samsung published a FAQ about GOS in an attempt to clear up some misconceptions. Samsung claimed that the list of 10,000 apps detected by GOS is not a list of apps that GOS throttles, but rather a list that GOS uses to quickly determine which apps to throttle and which to not. After digging into the GOS code, Android Police was able to confirm this claim, meaning that GOS exclusively throttles high intensity games, contrary to the initial allegations that the throttling was much more widespread.
However, benchmarks are notably absent from the list of apps that GOS detects, and some testing showed that GOS does not throttle benchmarks. Geekbench saw this behavior as “benchmark manipulation” and delisted the Galaxy S22, S21, S20, and S10. Samsung committed to releasing a software update that addresses GOS throttling, but Geekbench has a policy of not removing device bans even if the offending issue is resolved by a patch.
Then, last week, after a complaint was filed with the South Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC), Samsung published a FAQ about GOS in an attempt to clear up some misconceptions. Samsung claimed that the list of 10,000 apps detected by GOS is not a list of apps that GOS throttles, but rather a list that GOS uses to quickly determine which apps to throttle and which to not. After digging into the GOS code, Android Police was able to confirm this claim, meaning that GOS exclusively throttles high intensity games, contrary to the initial allegations that the throttling was much more widespread.
However, Android Police also found that GOS throttling isn’t limited to just Galaxy phones. Tests run on the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and S8+ show that Geekbench produces significantly lower scores when GOS is fooled into detecting Geekbench as the game Genshin Impact. Android Police also tested the Tab S7 series and Tab S5e, but did not find evidence of GOS throttling.
Unlike the Galaxy phones with GOS throttling, the Galaxy Tab S8 series is not already listed in Geekbench’s database. Even so, Geekbench plans to delist the Tab S8 series like it did with the Galaxy S22, S21, S20, and S10, according to Android Police.
Unlike the Galaxy phones with GOS throttling, the Galaxy Tab S8 series is not already listed in Geekbench’s database. Even so, Geekbench plans to delist the Tab S8 series like it did with the Galaxy S22, S21, S20, and S10, according to Android Police.
