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Samsung Electronics fined 20 billion won for deceptive gaming performance ads
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has imposed a fine of approximately 20.14 billion won on Samsung Electronics for deceptive advertising regarding the gaming performance of its mobile devices.
Between January 2021 and March 2022, Samsung promoted the high-speed performance of the Galaxy S21, S22, and Tab S8 series through various media, including product launches and official websites. However, the company failed to disclose that its Game Optimizing Service (GOS) would intentionally limit the maximum performance of the CPU and GPU when running specific high-end games to manage device heat.
In some instances, such as when running ‘Battlegrounds: New State’ on the Galaxy S22 series, the CPU's maximum operating speed was reduced from 2.99GHz to 0.94GHz, and the GPU was limited from 818MHz to 220MHz. These restrictions, which can lead to screen stuttering and degraded graphics, affected dozens of games across the specified device lines. The FTC ruled that omitting these critical limitations prevented consumers from making informed purchasing decisions.
Entities
Fair Trade Commission · Galaxy S21 · Galaxy S22 · Galaxy Tab S8 · Samsung Electronics
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 2 SOURCES] Samsung advertised high gaming performance for Galaxy S21, S22, and Tab S8 series between January 2021 and March 2022. www.newstomato.com
- [● 2 SOURCES] The FTC determined Samsung's actions constituted deceptive advertising under the Fair Labeling and Advertising Act. www.newstomato.com
- [● 2 SOURCES] The Fair Trade Commission imposed a fine of approximately 20.14 billion won on Samsung Electronics. www.newstomato.com
- [● 2 SOURCES] The Game Optimizing Service (GOS) limited CPU and GPU speeds regardless of device temperature during specific games. www.newstomato.com
- [● 2 SOURCES] The GPU speed for ‘Battlegrounds: New State’ on the Galaxy S22 was limited from 818MHz to 220MHz. www.newstomato.com
- [● 2 SOURCES] On the Galaxy S22, the CPU speed for ‘Battlegrounds: New State’ was limited from 2.99GHz to 0.94GHz. www.newstomato.com