Samsung fined over $15M for throttling Galaxy flagships it claimed had “ultimate” gaming power

We keep hearing about cases where brands try to inflate benchmark numbers to hype the device’s performance. But what has happened with Samsung is completely different. The South Korean giant has found limiting game performance on several flagships against its claim of delivering the ultimate gaming performance, and has been ordered to pay 20.1 billion won (~$15.1 million) by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC).

The lawsuit revolves around the Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy S21 series, and Galaxy Tab S8 series. According to KFTC, Samsung has engaged in deceptive marketing practices for selling these devices. Precisely, the South Korean tech giant claimed that the devices deliver “the ultimate mobile gaming experience,” but in reality, the software had a Game Optimization Service (GOS) that throttles the performance.

The GOS service on Galaxy devices automatically throttles CPU and GPU performances on the aforementioned devices when playing demanding games. As a result, gamers didn’t get the “ultimate mobile gaming experience” promised by the brand.

Following widespread consumer backlash, Samsung quickly released an update in March 2022, allowing users to completely disable GOS.

According to Seoul Economic Daily, Samsung emphasizes that “no court has found that consumers suffered harm because of the advertising.” The company argued that GOS is a safety feature and that it ensures stable gameplay during long gaming sessions.

Of course, Samsung will fight back as it believes it has done nothing wrong, especially since the GOS update was pushed quickly after the device release. Considering the scale of operations, $15 million isn’t a hefty sum for Samsung, but it’s impressive to see a incorrect performance claim dragging a company to court. Other smartphone brands should also take important notes out of this case.

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source/via: South Korea’s FTC, GSMArena