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Samsung recently found itself embroiled in controversy over its Game Optimization Service (GOS). The company was using GOS to artificially limit the performance of its devices in the name of battery efficiency and thermal management. This move unsurprisingly didn’t go down well with consumers. It appears Samsung is now having to pay a big price for this throttling issue. According to the Korean media, the Galaxy S22 sales have taken a hit following the GOS saga.
The extent of this decline is not known but Samsung’s carrier partners in South Korea have significantly raised subsidies for the Galaxy S22 phones to attract more buyers, The Korea Times reports. KT and LG Uplus are now offering subsidies of up to KRW 500,000 (~$412) on the Galaxy S22 and S22+. That’s more than triple the previous subsidies of KRW 150,000 (~$124). The two carriers had raised their subsidies on the Galaxy S22 Ultra to KRW 500,000 last month.
Samsung is paying a big price for the GOS throttling issue
No statistical data are backing the reports that Galaxy S22 sales in South Korea have gone down due to the recent throttling controversy. However, the timing of this subsidy increment strongly suggests so. Consumers have been furious over this issue, with some irked fans even filing a legal complaint against Samsung.
“There is a view that the GOS issue adversely affects the sales of the S22,” The Korea Times quotes an official at a local mobile carrier as saying. Samsung, however, declines to concede this and we aren’t surprised. The company would never admit that the GOS controversy affected Galaxy S22 sales.
“The amount of subsidies that will be provided is something that our company and mobile carriers decided together after a consultation,” a Samsung spokesman said. “Currently, the device market is generally in a difficult situation, so the subsidies were raised starting on April 1.”
The Galaxy S22 series has been seeing a huge demand in the market until the GOS controversy came along. According to a South Korean analyst, Samsung was on track to post an operating profit of 4 trillion won from its mobile devices and network business in the first quarter of the year. That would mark a strong 1.3 trillion won increase from the fourth quarter of 2021. However, the throttling issue may now affect its profit.
“The GOS controversy left a big scar on the credibility of the Galaxy and Samsung brands,” the analyst said. Time will tell how big of a dent it makes in the company’s revenue and profit. The Korean brand will likely publish its earnings report for Q1 2022 later this month.