Do Samsung smartphones perform as well in the real world as they do in benchmark testing? The complaint for this class action alleges that they do not, and that Samsung “cheats the tests.” It claims, “It puts cheating software on its devices that allow benchmark testing applications to run at high speed, while it throttles the speed and performance of every day applications in order to maintain safe operating temperatures and preserve battery life.”
The National Class is all persons or entities who bought a Samsung device containing the GOS app.
The complaint also proposes seven state subclasses for persons or entities who bought a Samsung device containing the GOS app in the states of Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, respectively.
At issue in this case are Samsung smartphones, including but not limited to the Galaxy S10, S20, S21, and S22, and versions with designations such as FE, Ultra, Plus, or the like.
Electronic devices are supposed to perform as well in the real world as they do on benchmarking tests. But the complaint alleges that Samsung puts benchmark cheating software in its devices that let them run at higher speeds for testing. “As a result,” the complaint alleges, “these devices fraudulently test at high performance rates that consumers will never experience with real-world applications.”
The problem lies in a mobile app called Game Optimizing Service (GOS), the complaint claims, “that artificially and selectively limits—or ‘throttles’—access to the Devices’ processing power and other resources, purportedly with the intention of preventing overheating and extending battery life of the Devices.”
However, when the devices detect benchmarking apps, the complaint says, they run at faster speeds.
The point, the complaint claims, is to promise both better, faster performance and better, longer battery life at safe operating temperatures, and then to cheat the benchmarking apps so that its devices seem to deliver on these promises. But when the devices are in normal use, their performance is throttled.
The complaint alleges, “Samsung’s throttling manipulation was intended to address a defect in the design of its Devices: the Devices’ batteries lacked the capacity and power to keep up with the demands placed upon them by Samsung’s hardware and software…”
According to the complaint, Samsung did this to increase demand for its products and to seemingly justify their high prices. But if the devices are not living up to the promises Samsung made for them, the complaint claims, “consumers are not getting the full advertised performance of their phones.”
The complaint points to a class action filed in February 2014, alleging a similar but reverse claim: that Samsung made its devices increase their operating speeds when it detected certain benchmarking apps. A settlement was reached in that case around September 2020.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Samsung Smartphones Cheating and Throttling Complaint
April 8, 2022
Do Samsung smartphones perform as well in the real world as they do in benchmark testing? The complaint for this class action alleges that they do not, and that Samsung “cheats the tests.” It claims, “It puts cheating software on its devices that allow benchmark testing applications to run at high speed, while it throttles the speed and performance of every day applications in order to maintain safe operating temperatures and preserve battery life.”
Samsung Smartphones Cheating and Throttling ComplaintCase Event History
Samsung Smartphones Cheating and Throttling Complaint
April 8, 2022
Do Samsung smartphones perform as well in the real world as they do in benchmark testing? The complaint for this class action alleges that they do not, and that Samsung “cheats the tests.” It claims, “It puts cheating software on its devices that allow benchmark testing applications to run at high speed, while it throttles the speed and performance of every day applications in order to maintain safe operating temperatures and preserve battery life.”
Samsung Smartphones Cheating and Throttling Complaint