Samsung says a fix for the app throttling issue on Galaxy S22 is coming

AppleInsider

Samsung says that it's working on releasing a software update "as soon as possible" to address complaints about app throttling across many of its Galaxy smartphones, including the latest S22 devices.

Credit: Samsung

Earlier in March, a report indicated that Samsung was subjecting at least 10,000 apps to performance limitations through a native system called the Game Optimizing Service. Despite being aimed at games, the throttling app also affected TikTok, Netflix, and Google Keep, among others.

Now, Samsung says it's developing a solution that will allow users to toggle the performance throttling on and off through the game launcher app, ZDNet has reported.

As far as why the throttling was happening in the first place, Samsung said it implemented the systems to prevent devices from overheating and losing battery life too quickly while gaming. It didn't address why benchmarking apps weren't included.

The list clearly indicated non-gaming apps like Microsoft office getting throttled. However, Samsung denies that its GOS app affects anything other than games on Android.

The throttling app affected a number of Samsung Galaxy devices. Despite initial reporting claiming otherwise, the company's latest Galaxy S22 smartphones were included too. Since sales of those devices began, there have been numerous complaints on the company's South Korean community forums.

The GOS throttling system isn't new to the Galaxy S22 lineup. It has been included on previous generations of Samsung's smartphones, such as the Galaxy S21.

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addison huy

I can’t believe Samsung would slow down their newest phone. I know Apple was only slowing down older phones that had an older battery.

maltz

I mean, this sounds like a fairly legitimate thing to do, and along the lines of Apple's throttling of EVERYTHING when older batteries are unable to deliver adequate current for stable operations at full speed.  Not including benchmark software is a LITTLE shady, but I think an argument can be made that if the purpose is battery life and heat, that benchmark software wouldn't really affect that.  (I.e., no one runs benchmark software long enough for it to have much effect on either.)

But I will say that they should be open about such a function, and allow the user to make the choice, as Apple was eventually forced to do about the battery-based throttling.

badmonk

Class action lawsuits?  Government investigations into possible designed obsolesce?  Oh wait it’s not Apple.

dewme

I was wondering where the disgraced VW emission control software engineers found new jobs. Apparently Samsung welcomed them with open arms.

muthuk_vanalingam

dewme said:

I was wondering where the disgraced VW emission control software engineers found new jobs. Apparently Samsung welcomed them with open arms.

Lol. Samsung must have been pulling this crap for a long period of time, even before the VW emission control software engineers started looking for new jobs. Their phones have had the bad reputation of being "slow" among all of the Android OEM software implementations and this issue seems to explain why it was so.

maltz said:

I mean, this sounds like a fairly legitimate thing to do, and along the lines of Apple's throttling of EVERYTHING when older batteries are unable to deliver adequate current for stable operations at full speed.  Not including benchmark software is a LITTLE shady, but I think an argument can be made that if the purpose is battery life and heat, that benchmark software wouldn't really affect that.  (I.e., no one runs benchmark software long enough for it to have much effect on either.)

But I will say that they should be open about such a function, and allow the user to make the choice, as Apple was eventually forced to do about the battery-based throttling.

Nope, not at all. I opposed Apple throttling their phones due to poor battery. And I oppose Samsung pulling this crap as well. It just means that they have inefficient SoC(s) and that they want to showcase their SoC(s) as having higher performance than what they are actually capable of.

maltz

muthuk_vanalingam said:

Nope, not at all. I opposed Apple throttling their phones due to poor battery.

Well, older batteries simply can't provide the voltage levels new batteries can at the same load.  So, excepting changing the laws of physics, your options are:

1. Throttle high-load activity as the battery ages, reducing peak (but not typical) performance of the phone.  Replacing the battery restores full performance - no new phone required.
   
2. Design the platform capability such that high CPU load will not overload even old, worn-out batteries.  This is actually the same as #1, but instead of slowing down as it gets older, it starts out slow.
   
3. Run the CPU at full power even as the battery ages, resulting in voltage drops beyond what the hardware can deal with, resulting in instability and crashes.

Congratulations, you can now choose #3.  You do you, I guess...