Customer Complaints Growing
Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S22 series, which was expected to set a new sales record, hit a snag -- the forced use of the game optimizing service (GOS). Criticism is growing among consumers as suspicions arose that the Korean smartphone giant tried to solve the overheating problem through forced GOS operation.
The GOS in question is a kind of safety device that deliberately lowers the performance levels of graphic and other functions to prevent heat generation and decrease power consumption while processing a vast amount of data when high-end games are played on smartphones.
Previously, there have been constant complaints about GOS among mobile gamers, but they were not as controversial as the ongoing one. This time, the controversy was sparked as performance degradation has been found much more noticeable than before.
On top of that, the fact that Samsung Electronics has forced the use of GOS has made the matter worse. Previously, it was left for consumers to activate the function.
“We cannot compromise because GOS is needed to ensure consumer safety,” Samsung Electronics said. But consumers complained, “Is it fine for a company to sell a device that can harm its users when it reaches 100 percent performance?”
In the end, Samsung Electronics products loaded with GOS, including the Galaxy S22, were removed from the Geekbench Android benchmark chart. According to a report by Geekbench developer John Poole, the Galaxy S22 Ultra showed a performance score lower than that of Samsung Electronics’ mid-range model, the Galaxy A52s, when GOS was applied. This means that when playing a game, the Galaxy S22 Ultra becomes inferior even to some budget models.
Until now, most of the smartphones kicked out of Geekbench due to performance manipulation have been products from Chinese manufacturers. This marked the first time that Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy smartphone has been deleted from the list.
Experts cite the Galaxy S22’s overheating problem as the main cause of the GOS fiasco. They claimed that Samsung Electronics reduced the size of the vapor chamber, which is needed to solve the overheating problem, in order to increase the price competitiveness of the Galaxy S22 series. The basic model of the Galaxy S22 series does not have a vapor chamber at all.
Some users are taking collective action demanding compensations. More than 3,300 people signed up for the Naver Cafe Galaxy GOS Class Action Preparation Room, which opened on March 2.