Hagens Berman’s consumer rights attorneys filed a lawsuit against Samsung for intentionally installing an app on Galaxy phones that limits everyday device performance while falsely appearing to perform well to benchmark testing apps. Attorneys believe Samsung did this to cheat device speed tests and gain a competitive edge while lying to consumers about the performance they actually get from their devices.
WHERE THE CASE STANDS NOW
In response to our firm’s lawsuit, Samsung argued that consumers who bought affected devices agreed to arbitration clauses, excluding them from pursuing a class action.
The firm fought hard to transfer the case to an arbitration-based approach and has partnered with attorneys at Seeger Weiss to continue handling your claim. Any questions or general correspondence about your case can be sent to David R. Buchanan at Seeger Weiss, your updated counsel, at [email protected] or 973-639-9100. This only changes the attorneys representing you in the mass arbitration against Samsung. Your claims will continue under their direction.
ABOUT SAMSUNG’S PHONE SPEED CHEATING
To remain competitive in the smartphone market, Samsung promised to deliver smartphones capable of faster performance and longer battery life. However, attorneys believe Samsung programmed its Galaxy smartphones with a Game Optimizing Service (GOS) app that allows app device performance tests to run at optimized speeds, while throttling nearly all other applications running on the device, creating false and overstated perceptions of device speed, performance and battery life. According to reports, the affected Samsung smartphones suffer from selectively limited or throttled access to the device’s processing power.
BENCHMARK APPS EXPLAINED
A benchmark app is a performance measuring tool used by technology reviewers and consumers to test and compare the speed and performance of smartphones and tablets. Benchmark apps are a standard way of comparing devices to competing or predecessor devices. By programming its devices to manipulate the benchmark app test results, Samsung intentionally misled the public by misrepresenting the performance and capability of its Galaxy smartphones. If the GOS app identifies a benchmark app being used, it does not throttle the benchmark app, leading to an inaccurate representation of the smartphone’s normal performance, reports say.
POPULAR APPS THROTTLED BY SAMSUNG
In March of 2022, Samsung’s benchmark manipulation scam came to light when a Twitter user published a list of 10,000 apps that are subject to throttling by Samsung’s GOS app. Throttled apps included popular apps like YouTube, SnapChat, Instagram, Netflix, Disney+, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google Keep, TikTok and Microsoft Office.
The list of applications impacted by the GOS app throttling did not include benchmark apps including 3DMark, GeekBench, PCMark, GFXBench, Antutu, CPDT, and Androbench. By not throttling these benchmark apps, the benchmark apps are able to operate at full performance, therefore allowing Samsung to skew customers’ perception of real-world speed and battery life.
SAMSUNG’S HISTORY OF BENCHMARK APP CHEATING
In 2014, a lawsuit was initiated against Samsung for programming its devices to artificially increase speed when they detect certain benchmark apps, creating a false perception regarding the speed and performance of their devices. The lawsuit settled in September 2020. According to reports, though Samsung changed its method of manipulating benchmark app results, the company is once again deceiving the public into believing its devices operate generally at speeds and with battery life far greater than consumers can actually obtain.
YOUR CONSUMER RIGHTS
By programming its smartphones with apps to cheat benchmark app tests, Samsung misled consumers to believe that they were purchasing devices with significant speed, high performance and ample battery life, when that may not have been the case. Hagens Berman believes Samsung Galaxy owners deserve compensation for Samsung’s fraud and deception. Because Samsung has successfully defended class actions in the past by relying on its oppressive arbitration agreement in its terms and conditions, Hagens Berman is deploying a two-track strategy to get consumer compensation for Samsung’s fraud. For all consumers who have successfully opted out of the arbitration agreement, we are pursuing a class action case. For consumers who are subject to the arbitration agreement, if they retain us, we will file thousands of individual arbitration claims on their behalf, forcing Samsung to provide a remedy to all consumers who have been deceived and cheating into paying premium prices for smartphones that did not have the real-world performance that Samsung advertised and promoted..
TOP CONSUMER RIGHTS FIRM
Hagens Berman is one of the most successful consumer litigation law firms in the U.S. and has achieved more than $260 billion in settlements for consumers in lawsuits against consumer electronics manufacturers, big banks and others. Hagens Berman is currently pursuing a similar case against Apple for secretly installing a feature to intentionally slow down the performance of many iPhone models, affecting millions of iPhone users in the US.
NO COST TO YOU
There is no upfront cost or fee whatsoever involved in joining either Track 1 or Track 2. In the event Hagens Berman or any other firm obtains a settlement or judgment in the class action that provides benefits to class members, the court will decide a reasonable fee to be awarded to the legal team. In the arbitration, our fees and costs may be awarded in addition to any damages awarded, or they will be limited to no more than 25% of the damages awarded. In no case will any class member ever be asked to pay any out-of-pocket sum.
