Galaxy S21, S22 and Tab S8 series targeted in ruling

CPU, GPU speeds throttled to as low as 30% of maximum

Fair Trade Commission says consumers' purchasing choices were impaired

Samsung Electronics has been sanctioned by the Korea Fair Trade Commission for promoting the gaming performance of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets while concealing that certain high-end games triggered automatic performance throttling on those devices.

The Fair Trade Commission said Tuesday it had decided to issue a corrective order and impose a provisional fine of 20.11 billion won ($15.2 million) on Samsung Electronics for deceptive advertising.

A Galaxy S21 advertisement on Samsung's website [Korea Fair Trade Commission]
A Galaxy S21 advertisement on Samsung's website [Korea Fair Trade Commission]

According to the Fair Trade Commission, Samsung Electronics promoted the Galaxy S21 and S22 series and the Galaxy Tab S8 series between January 2021 and March 2022, emphasizing their superior gaming performance. The company did not disclose, however, that running certain high-end games would automatically cap the devices' maximum performance regardless of their operating condition.

Samsung promoted gaming capabilities aggressively through its website, promotional videos, Unpacked launch events and press releases. It described the Galaxy S21 as carrying the fastest application processor in Galaxy history, saying it could "hard carry" demanding games. The Galaxy S22 was marketed on its fast touch response and smooth screen transitions, while the Tab S8 was advertised as delivering seamless, ghost-free gameplay even in fast-paced titles.

In practice, however, launching certain high-end games immediately activated the individual policies of the Game Optimizing Service (GOS), which capped the CPU and GPU maximum clock speeds and screen refresh rates at preset values.

GOS is a system that manages heat generated during gameplay. Its general policy adjusts performance based on the device's condition, such as temperature, but its individual policy uniformly caps maximum performance the moment a specific game is launched, regardless of the device's actual state.

The throttling was substantial. When running "PUBG: New State" on the Galaxy S22 series, the CPU's maximum clock speed was reduced from 2.99 GHz to 0.94 GHz, and the GPU's from 818 MHz to 220 MHz — equivalent to just 31.4 percent and 26.9 percent of their respective maximum speeds, the commission said.

The number of games subject to CPU and GPU speed caps reached 82 for the Galaxy S21 series, 47 for the S22 series and eight for the Tab S8 series.

With maximum clock speeds capped, the devices could not deliver higher performance even when games demanded intensive processing, potentially causing screen stuttering, input lag and degraded graphics quality, the commission said. Consumers in fact filed numerous complaints about choppy gameplay and reduced resolution when running games on the affected devices.

The commission determined that Samsung's failure to disclose the performance limits impaired consumers' ability to make informed purchasing decisions, given that gaming performance is a key factor in buying premium smart devices.

Conveying an impression of superior gaming performance through advertising while omitting a material limitation that affected actual performance constituted deceptive advertising under the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising, the commission said. Had consumers known about the throttling in advance, they could have chosen alternative products, but the lack of disclosure prevented them from making rational purchasing decisions.

In March 2022, Samsung released a software update that lifted the CPU and GPU clock speed caps, introduced a "Game Performance Mode" with relaxed thermal controls, and removed the block that had prevented users from bypassing GOS individual policies.

The commission said the ruling affirms that when a company advertises a specific performance feature as a selling point, it must also clearly inform consumers of any material limitations that affect that performance.

The commission added that it would continue to monitor and act against false or misleading labeling and advertising to ensure that information material to consumers' purchasing decisions is provided accurately.


y2k@heraldcorp.com