Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Public money, private plans: MPs demand Post Office transparency

      13 June 2025

      Coal to cash: South Africa gets major boost for energy shift

      13 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      10 red flags for Apple investors

      13 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Electronics and hardware » Samsung’s reputation hit as prices slashed at home for Galaxy S22

    Samsung’s reputation hit as prices slashed at home for Galaxy S22

    By Agency Staff8 April 2022
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Samsung Electronics’ flagship Galaxy S22 smartphone has taken a battering from reports of hobbled performance and has seen its price halved at home in South Korea just weeks since its launch, hurting its image as an iPhone rival.

    Consumers have complained — and even filed a class-action lawsuit — about the handset maker advertising what it called its most powerful smartphone yet with scant detail about performance management software that they say drastically slows the premium device when using processor-intensive applications.

    Such are the complaints that the Korea Fair Trade Commission last month began investigating the world’s biggest phone vendor.

    The dispute will inevitably be a big hit to Samsung’s credibility

    The controversy represents a blow to Samsung’s reputation for high-end handsets — and potentially its finances — as it tries to make up for two years of premium sales that missed analyst estimates and reverse a decline in market share. “The dispute will inevitably be a big hit to Samsung’s credibility,” said analyst Lee Seung-woo at Eugene Investment & Securities.

    At the heart of complaints is Samsung’s Game Optimising Service (GOS) which manages device performance during gaming to prevent overheating and preserve battery life. The manufacturer introduced the software in 2016, just months before it pulled its premium Galaxy Note7 following a series of battery fires.

    GOS automatically limits handset performance during gaming but also during use of other performance-intense applications, said Geekbench, a widely used performance scorer, which found the software slowed the S22’s processor by as much as 46%. The extent to which GOS slows the S22, lack of details about the software in marketing materials, and the inability to disable it set social media alight.

    ‘Unprecedented’

    “This is an unprecedented, crazy issue that can’t be excused in any way,” ITSub, a YouTuber with 2.1 million subscribers who specialises in gadgets, said in a YouTube post.

    Samsung said it issued an update to allow users to disable the software with no risk to safety. It also said it would continue to invest to innovate in both hardware and software.

    The S22 series hit sales of a million handsets in South Korea within six weeks of release, reaching the mark two weeks faster than its predecessor, Samsung said.

    “The intentional performance downgrade surely had a negative effect, but its actual impact on Samsung’s sales seems limited. Data shows that sales are not much affected,” said analyst Kim Ji-san at Kiwoom Securities.

    Still, South Korea’s three major telecommunications providers have nearly doubled subsidies for the S22, pushing its price as low as ₩549 000 won (R6 700) from a launch of ₩999 000. Apple’s iPhone 13, released in October, starts at W1.09-million with carriers offering smaller subsidies of around ₩150 000.

    “When subsidies go up simultaneously at all three telcos, it’s typically the manufacturer making up the contributions,” said an official at carrier LG Uplus, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

    Samsung’s 2021 market share in devices over US$400 shrank three percentage points to 17% from a year prior, while Apple’s rose five percentage points to 60%, showed data from market researcher Counterpoint. The data also showed sales of both the S20 and S21 fell short of the S series’ first-year norm of 30 million units.

    Early shipments of the S22, launched late February, indicate Samsung will move over six million handsets by March-end, broadly in line with expectations, said Counterpoint Associate Director Sujeong Lim.

    Still, Lee at Eugene Investment & Securities, expects the GOS furore to combine with increased component costs to leave April-June operating profit at Samsung’s mobile arm at ₩3-trillion, down from a previous forecast of ₩3.4-trillion.

    IBK Investment & Securities analyst Kim Un-ho also downgraded his forecast to ₩3-trillion from ₩3.5-trillion.

    Samsung is putting too much emphasis on cutting costs, which led to this unfortunate case

    Samsung on Thursday said it expects to report an estimated 50% jump in overall January-March operating profit on 28 April, as demand for its memory chips remained solid.

    Teardowns of the lowest-priced S22 showed the handset lacked a cooling component called a vapour chamber, implying increased reliance on software to manage overheating, reviewers said. Analysts said the lean towards software solutions stems from a renewed policy to cut costs — a strategy they said erodes a reputation as an innovator based on hardware strength.

    Lee said Samsung “is putting too much emphasis on cutting costs, which led to this unfortunate case”.

    One consequence of the switch is a class-action lawsuit from 1 885 consumers arguing Samsung’s marketing inflates the S22’s performance. “If Porsche has a speed limit of 100km/h, would you still buy it?” said Kim Hoon-chan, the lawyer representing the consumers, adding that some 1 500 people have joined to file a second class-action suit.  — Byungwook Kim, with Joyce Lee, (c) 2022 Reuters



    Apple Galaxy S22 Samsung Samsung Galaxy S22
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleEU targets crypto wallets in latest round of Russia sanctions
    Next Article TSMC sales hit record on demand for smartphone, car chips

    Related Posts

    10 red flags for Apple investors

    13 June 2025

    Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

    11 June 2025

    Apple throws shade, not code, as it falls behind in AI

    10 June 2025
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.