Korea fines Samsung 20bn won ($15.1m) over Galaxy S21, S22 and Tab S8 throttling
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has fined Samsung Electronics 20 billion won, roughly $15.1 million, for advertising the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22 and Galaxy Tab S8 series as the ultimate mobile gaming experience without disclosing that the built-in Game Optimizing Service capped CPU and GPU speeds in demanding games. Samsung argues the throttling is a safety measure that keeps long sessions stable and points to a March 2022 update that lets owners switch the limits off. The company says it will appeal.
Reported, not announced. The details below come from press reports rather than a manufacturer announcement.
The details
- South Korea's Fair Trade Commission has decided to fine Samsung Electronics a provisional 20 billion won, about $15.1 million, over the way it marketed the gaming performance of the Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy S22 series and Galaxy Tab S8 series, in a decision announced on 27 October 2026.
- The regulator said Samsung promoted those devices with claims such as "the ultimate mobile gaming experience" while not disclosing that a preinstalled Game Optimizing Service applied preset performance caps.
- Game Optimizing Service automatically reduces CPU and GPU speeds during demanding gaming sessions to hold the device at safe temperatures, which owners experienced as lag, freezing and reduced graphics quality.
- The Fair Trade Commission concluded that hiding those preset limits stopped consumers from making informed buying decisions, and said Samsung should have disclosed the service whatever its technical reasons.
- Samsung maintains that Game Optimizing Service is a safety feature needed to keep gameplay stable over long sessions, and says a software update released in March 2022 added an option letting users bypass the GOS limits.
- Samsung plans to challenge the penalty, saying: "We will actively present and defend our position through legal procedures going forward."
- Samsung also argued that earlier domestic and international lawsuits over the GOS controversy have already been concluded or withdrawn.
- The dispute began in early 2022, when Galaxy S22 owners found their phones shipped with a Game Optimizing Service that could not be switched off by the user, and Geekbench responded by removing Galaxy S22, S21, S20 and S10 devices from its performance charts.
- The Fair Trade Commission's decision counts 82 games on the Galaxy S21 series, 47 on the Galaxy S22 series and 8 on the Galaxy Tab S8 series whose CPU and GPU maximum clock speeds were cut to preset values, in one case to about 31 percent of the chip's maximum.
- A separate Korean class action brought by 1,882 consumers, each seeking 300,000 won (about $200), ended in early 2026 when the Seoul High Court imposed a final solution ordering Samsung to compensate the plaintiffs after three mediation sessions failed.