Samsung scores a win in Galaxy S22 throttling saga, but it still deceived customers

Samsung made headlines for all the wrong reasons in early 2022 when it turned out that the company was throttling its Galaxy S22 phones as part of its Game Optimizing Service (GOS) software. Now, a Korean court has largely ruled in Samsung’s favor in a class-action lawsuit.

A Seoul court found (via Yonhap News) that Samsung engaged in “deceptive labeling and advertising that was likely to mislead consumers” by throttling the gaming performance of Galaxy S22 series phones. However, the court also ruled that Samsung wasn’t liable for damages as plaintiffs presented “insufficient evidence” to prove damages.

According to ZDNet Korea, the court also said there were no restrictions on the S22 line’s general performance, adding that the throttling only applied to some “high-spec” games. Therefore, the court found it difficult to see this throttling as a factor that “significantly” influences the purchasing decisions of general customers.

The class-action lawsuit was filed by a group of just over 1,800 smartphone owners who claimed damages of 300,000 won (~$221) per person.

Samsung used its GOS software to throttle Galaxy S22 phones in a bid to reduce heating when playing games. This throttling also applied to previous Galaxy phones, but Samsung made it mandatory on the Galaxy S22 devices and didn’t disclose this fact at first. What was also particularly controversial was that this throttling applied to games but didn’t apply to benchmark apps. The company would later release an update that allowed users to reduce this throttling.