Samsung Is Reportedly Throttling the Performance of 10,000 Popular Apps

A new finding suggests Samsung is throttling the performance of thousands of Android apps on Galaxy smartphones, including Google and Samsung's first-party apps. XDA Developers reports: Samsung has an app called Game Optimization Service that comes preinstalled on many Galaxy phones. Although the name suggests the app helps improve gaming performance, it's apparently being used to limit the performance of non-gaming apps. Users on the Korean tech forum Meeco have posted a list of affected apps that are subject to performance throttling. The list includes 10,000 popular apps, including Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, Microsoft Office, Google Keep, Spotify, Snapchat, YouTube Music, and more. Samsung's own apps such as Samsung Pay, Secure Folder, Bixby, and others are also on the list. Notably, there are no benchmark apps on this blacklist. A video posted by Korean YouTuber shows how blacklisted apps are subject to inferior performance while benchmark apps are given a free hand. In his test, the YouTuber changed the package name of the 3DMark benchmark app to Genshin Impact, one of the apps on the blacklist. The unmodified version of 3D Mark scored 2618 points in the Wild Life Extreme test. When he ran the same test with the spoofed version, there was a significant drop in the score -- 1141 points. In other words, the spoofed version performed 56% worse than the unmodified version. It's not immediately clear if the Game Optimization Service app is installed on every Galaxy phone. Samsung is reportedly aware of the issue and conducting an internal investigation. "While Samsung hasn't clarified why it's throttling Android apps, it's likely in an attempt to improve battery life," notes XDA.

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