FollowAt present, the Galaxy S4 is undoubtedly the numero uno smartphone in the market. No other smartphone in the market can surpass the quality and features offered by Galaxy S4. However, recently many tech analysts have pointed out that Samsung may have resorted to using performance enhancing hardware to perform faster in certain benchmarking apps to reap favorable reviews.
According to the tests conducted by tech site called AnandTech, the GPU present in different editions of Galaxy S4 produced faster speeds in specific performance gauging apps. It was found that the recorded speed was higher as compared to the speeds achieved by users. Samsung rejected the claims of the tech site and said they have not done anything on Galaxy S4 to produce better performance on benchmark tests.
Talking about the frequency of the display, the South Korean tech giant stated that Galaxy S4 has been manufactured to use a max of 533MHz of GPU frequency. This frequency is brought low to 480MHz when users play games for longer period on full-screen. The 533MHz frequency of GPU comes into play for launching apps that occupy full-screen mode like Gallery, Camera, Video Player and so on.
According to AnandTech, the Galaxy S4 has recorded a GPU frequency of 532MHz on benchmarking tests like GLBenchmark 2.5.1, Quadrant and AnTuTu. The international edition of Galaxy S4 has recorded of 480MHz. So, here we can see vast difference between the tests. The tests conducted by popular benchmarking tools indicate 11 percent increase in performance.
AnandTech claims it is because of this reason the Galaxy S4 has managed to perform well on many benchmarking tests. The site goes on to say that this has helped the Galaxy S4 to earn unfair advantage over its competitors. Samsung commented on the current issue by saying the max GPU frequencies were not aimed at enhancing specific benchmark test results but only for providing optimized user experience to its customers.
Benchmarking apps are mainly used for checking the performance of GPU, CPU, internet browsing, and various features by comparing it with other devices. The tests do not indicate how fast the device is for regular users.
Within a month of its launch, 10 million handsets of Galaxy S4 were sold. Even though Samsung managed to achieve huge sales, they failed to sell enough handsets according to their operating income estimate.
