South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has fined Samsung 20.1 billion won, equivalent to approximately $15.1 million, over marketing practices deemed misleading regarding the gaming performance of several of its flagship devices.
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The case involves the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S21 series, as well as the Galaxy Tab S8 tablets. Samsung marketed the devices as offering an ideal mobile gaming experience, while their software included a mechanism that limited CPU and GPU performance when running games requiring high processing power.
According to South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, Samsung used its Game Optimization Service (GOS), which automatically reduced the performance of the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) on the affected devices when demanding games were running.
The mechanism was intended to manage device performance, but it also restricted the devices' capabilities during gameplay. The commission considered this inconsistent with the image Samsung had presented to consumers regarding the level of performance they could expect.
The case centers on the gap between Samsung's marketing promises of a superior gaming experience and the behavior of software that limited device performance under certain conditions.
Following widespread consumer complaints, Samsung released a software update in March 2022 that allowed users to completely disable the GOS service.
The update came after growing criticism over the service's impact on phone performance during gaming, with users calling for greater control over how their devices managed performance.
However, the move did not resolve the issue concerning how the devices had been marketed to consumers before the update, ultimately leading the Fair Trade Commission to impose the fine on the company.
Samsung, for its part, said it does not believe its advertisements caused harm to consumers.
According to Seoul Economic Daily, the company stressed that no court had found that consumers suffered harm as a result of the advertisements.
Samsung has defended GOS as a safety feature designed to ensure stable gaming performance during extended gaming sessions, rather than simply being a means of reducing the capabilities of its devices.
The company is expected to challenge the decision, particularly by pointing to the speed with which it released the update that allowed users to disable the service after the devices were launched and complaints began to mount.
Although a $15.1 million fine may not represent a significant financial burden for a company the size of Samsung, the case highlights the importance of transparency when advertising smartphone performance, particularly for devices marketed for gaming and demanding applications.
The case also underscores the challenge facing manufacturers in balancing high performance with heat management, power consumption and device stability.
Companies may choose to limit CPU and GPU performance under certain conditions, but the way such restrictions are disclosed, and whether they are consistent with marketing promises, can become subject to regulatory scrutiny.
The case serves as a signal to other smartphone manufacturers to clearly explain how their devices manage performance during gaming, so that advertising claims do not conflict with users' actual experiences.
Source: Al Arabiya
