HIGHLIGHTS
- Game Optimizing Service comes preinstalled on Samsung Galaxy phones.
- The app has been discovered to aid in performance throttling.
- Even well-known games and Google apps are being throttled by Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy phones were discovered to be limiting their performance on thousands of applications that were not designed for benchmarking. The problem does not appear to be restricted to a single model, but rather to a number of them, including the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S22 series. The performance drop affects games such as Genshin Impact as well as programmes such as Instagram, Netflix, and several Google apps. Benchmarking programmes such as 3DMark and Geekbench, on the other hand, are omitted from the list of apps that cause performance throttling.
According to a Twitter user, Samsung Galaxy smartphones employ a preinstalled programme called Game Optimizing Service to limit the usage of hardware resources for over 10,000 apps. According to the user, the default app runs in the background when using both non-gaming and gaming applications and contains Google programmes such as Chrome and Google Docs, as well as a few pre-installed Samsung apps such as the Calendar, Samsung Pay, and Secure Folder.
A YouTube channel also demonstrated performance throttling by renaming the package name of the 3DMark test programme to that of the open-world action role-playing game Genshin Impact.
As observed in the video, changing the package name resulted in different benchmark results.
Separately, Geekbench developer John Poole confirmed that the performance throttling is not limited to the Samsung Galaxy S22 phones, but is also present on previous versions, including the Exynos version of the Galaxy S10. He supplied a link that demonstrates the difference in benchmark results when Geekbench is fooled into running as a non-benchmark app on the phone.
The difference in single-core scores is 74.2 percent, while it rises to 91.6 percent in multi-core scores.
Along with the adjustments at the benchmark level, throttling causes device lag when running the selected apps and games. Some users have reported it on the Samsung Members Community forums since at least December.
It's worth noting that Samsung hasn't revealed any specifics on the Game Optimizing Service, which comes preinstalled on a variety of Galaxy phones. Users are also not given the opportunity to deactivate the preinstalled software from their end.
At the present, it's unknown why Samsung is restricting the performance of its smartphones via the Game Optimizing Service. However, it is expected that by restricting CPU and GPU resources, the software may be able to assist deliver improved battery life and reduce overheating incidents to some level.
Last year, OnePlus utilised a similar method with the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, although it omitted a few popular titles. However, the company's flagship phones were delisted from Geekbench. Later, OnePlus confirmed that the slowdown was used to "deliver a seamless experience while lowering battery usage."
Gadgets 360 has reached out to Samsung for comment on the incident and will keep readers updated as soon as the company answers.
