Samsung Was Fined $15 Million for Hiding How Much Galaxy Phones Slowed Down in Games

In early 2022, Samsung sold the Galaxy S22 with a promise of “the ultimate mobile gaming experience.” In at least one popular game, owners later found the phone’s main processor was capped at 0.94GHz, about a third of its 2.99GHz top speed. On October 27, 2026, South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) finally ruled on those ads, issuing a corrective order and a Samsung GOS fine of KRW 20.1 billion, about $15.2 million.

If you missed the original controversy, here’s the short version. Samsung’s Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, quietly limited performance in demanding games on its flagship phones and tablets, while the ads talked up gaming power. The fine is small for a company of Samsung’s size, but the reasoning behind it says a lot about what phone makers must tell you when they advertise speed. Here’s what the regulator decided, how the number was calculated, what Samsung argues, and what it means for the phone in your pocket.

What the Regulator Decided

The KFTC found that Samsung’s ads for three product lines were deceptive under Korea’s Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising:

• Galaxy S21 series
• Galaxy S22 series
• Galaxy Tab S8 series

The ads ran from January 15, 2021, to March 21, 2022, on Samsung’s website, in promotional videos and at its Unpacked launch events. They used phrases such as “the fastest Galaxy ever,” “hard carry when playing high-end games” and “the ultimate mobile gaming experience.” 

The regulator’s core point is simple. If an ad sells performance, it has to mention limits that affect that performance. The KFTC said consumers paid flagship prices partly for gaming power, and it called the omission deceptive. Standing commissioner Lee Soon-mi said the question was whether Samsung properly informed buyers at the time of the ads, separate from the fixes it made later.

What GOS Actually Did

Every phone chip slows down when it gets hot, a process called thermal throttling. That’s normal, and it protects the hardware. GOS went further.

Instead of reacting to temperature as it rose, GOS applied preset limits to the CPU, the main processor, and the GPU, the graphics processor, as soon as certain games launched. It covered titles like PUBG, Genshin Impact and Lineage W. Here’s what the reported caps looked like:

Device and game	Reported limit
Galaxy S22, Battlegrounds: New State	CPU capped at 0.94GHz vs a 2.99GHz maximum
Galaxy S22 series, Genshin Impact (examiners’ test)	CPU at 46.8% and GPU at 42.8% of maximum
Galaxy S21 series	CPU and GPU caps applied in 82 games
Across affected games	Speeds as low as about 30% of maximum

By our math, 0.94GHz is about 31% of 2.99GHz. In practice, owners described stutters, slower touch response and lower graphics quality.

Two details made it worse in 2022. Benchmark apps, the tools reviewers use to measure speed, weren’t capped the same way, so test scores looked better than real gaming. And on the Galaxy S22, Samsung had blocked the workarounds users relied on to turn GOS off. After a wave of complaints, Samsung released an update in March 2022 that lifted the limits and added a game performance mode you could choose yourself.

The Numbers Behind the Samsung GOS Fine

The final figure looks random until you see how Korea calculates these fines.

	Korean won	US dollars
Related sales (S21, S22, Tab S8)	KRW 4.0228 trillion	about $3.04 billion
Examiners’ proposed range	KRW 32.2 billion to 64.4 billion	$24.3 million to $48.6 million
Final provisional fine	KRW 20.114 billion	about $15.2 million

The KFTC rated the violation’s severity as low and applied a 0.5% base rate to related sales. That’s exactly where the final figure comes from: 0.5% of KRW 4.0228 trillion is KRW 20.114 billion.

Here’s what stood out to us. In September, the commission’s examiners had treated the case as a serious violation and floated a fine of up to KRW 64.4 billion. The final fine is about 31% of that ceiling and below the bottom of the proposed range. So the commission agreed the ads were deceptive, but sided with Samsung on how serious it was.

Samsung’s Side of the Story

Samsung disputes the ruling and says it will file a lawsuit after reviewing the written decision. Its arguments, in fairness:

• GOS was a heat-management tool meant to keep long gaming sessions stable, a challenge every phone maker faces.
• The caps applied to a small number of high-heat games and were set above typical operating speeds.
• The regulator looked at maximum clock speeds, not actual frame rates or gaming experience.
• It fixed the issue with a March 2022 update, and the settings are no longer used.
• No court has found that consumers were harmed by the ads.

Its statement put it bluntly: “As a manufacturer, there is absolutely no reason to intentionally lower device performance.”

The court record mostly backs that last point. A Korean district court dismissed damage claims in a class action, and a Seoul High Court mediation this year resolved the remaining complaints, with reports saying some plaintiffs received an undisclosed payment. Lawsuits in the United States and Israel ended with withdrawals.

Samsung has a fair argument that GOS wasn’t designed to cheat buyers. But the regulator’s logic is hard to argue with. If you headline gaming speed, you can’t leave out a system that cuts that speed by half or more in the games you’re advertising.

A Four-Year Timeline

Date	What happened
Jan. 15, 2021	Galaxy S21 ads begin
Early 2022	Galaxy S22 owners discover GOS caps; Samsung had blocked workarounds
March 2022	Update lifts the caps and adds a game performance mode
March 21, 2022	The ad period the regulator examined ends
2022	1,882 Korean consumers file a class action
2025	A district court rejects damage claims
Early 2026	Seoul High Court mediation resolves remaining claims
Sept. 3, 2026	Examiners’ proposal of up to KRW 64.4 billion becomes public
Oct. 27, 2026	KFTC issues corrective order and KRW 20.1 billion fine

By our count, the ad period ran 430 days, and the ruling arrived about four years and seven months after Samsung’s March 2022 fix. The lesson for buyers is that regulators eventually catch up, but slowly.

How to Check Whether Your Phone Throttles

You don’t need special skills to get a rough answer:

1. Run a stress test. Benchmark apps such as 3DMark offer stress tests that repeat the same scene for about 20 minutes and report how much performance holds up.
2. Compare the first and last loops. A phone that keeps 70% or more of its starting score is holding up well. A big drop means heavy throttling.
3. Watch the temperature. A warm phone is normal. One that’s too hot to hold comfortably is likely slowing itself down.
4. Test in your actual games. Some games show frame rates in their settings. If smoothness drops sharply after 15 minutes, your phone is throttling.

The 70% threshold is our rule of thumb, not an industry standard, but it’s a useful starting point.

The KFTC’s message to phone makers is clear, even if the fine is modest: you can manage heat however you like, as long as you don’t advertise the phone as if you weren’t.

FAQs

Will the Galaxy S27 Ultra have a bigger battery?

It looks likely. A recent leak points to a 5,700mAh battery on the Galaxy S27 Ultra, Samsung’s first capacity increase on the Ultra in years. Chinese rivals still pack much larger cells.

Is the Galaxy S26 Ultra still worth buying?

It depends on what you value. Chinese flagships often win on battery and zoom, while Samsung wins on updates and availability. 

Which phones handle long gaming sessions best?

Phones with built-in fans usually hold their top speed longest. 

Are MediaTek chips good for gaming now?

Yes. MediaTek’s newest flagship chips compete closely with Snapdragon on speed and efficiency. Our look at phones with the 2nm Dimensity 9600 Pro shows which brands use it.

When will One UI 9.5 reach Galaxy phones?

One UI 9.5 is expected to debut with the Galaxy S27 and then reach older models. Samsung is already testing One UI 9.5 on budget Galaxy phones, which hints that the wider rollout won’t lag far behind.

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