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Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 is guilty of GOS throttling (Update: All models removed)
- Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 tablet will be delisted from Geekbench due to GOS throttling issues.
- The Galaxy Tab S8 series sees lower Geekbench scores when the app is disguised as a popular game.
- This applies to all three Galaxy Tab S8 models, including the Tab S8 Ultra.
Update, March 15, 2022 (11:58 AM ET): Geekbench confirmed to Android Authority that it has removed all models of the Galaxy Tab S8 series in response to the controversy described in the original article below. That means the Galaxy Tab S8, Tab S8 Plus, and Tab S8 Ultra no longer have public Geekbench scores.
Original article, March 15, 2022 (02:19 AM ET): Samsung was embroiled in a controversy earlier this month over its so-called Game Optimizing Service (GOS), which throttles games to prevent overheating. A key issue was that benchmark apps weren’t subjected to throttling, leading Geekbench to permanently delist the Galaxy S22 series from its benchmark rankings as a result.
Now, Geekbench has announced that it’s permanently delisting the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 from its benchmark rankings as well. The announcement came after Android Police discovered that the Galaxy Tab S8 Plus and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra throttled the performance of Geekbench when the benchmark app was disguised as Genshin Impact.
More Samsung coverage: Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review — The power user’s best friend
In fact, the outlet reported that single-core scores in the disguised Geekbench app were up to 24% lower than the standard Geekbench app, while multi-core scores could drop by as much as 11%. The Tab S7 series and Tab S5e didn’t record a significant drop in benchmark scores when using the disguised app, suggesting that GOS-related throttling wasn’t happening on these older slates.
We’ve asked Geekbench to confirm whether all three Galaxy Tab S8 models would be removed from its rankings or if the removal would only apply to one or two models. We’ll update the article if/when it gets back to us.
In any event, Samsung is currently pushing out an update to Galaxy S22 series phones that will bring a performance priority option to the Game Launcher suite and will make it easier for apps to bypass GOS. So we’re guessing the Korean manufacturer will bring a similar update to the Galaxy Tab S8 series.