WORLDTECHKorea Fair Trade Commission fines Samsung over throttled gaming performance
Electronics company Samsung, based in Suwon, has to pay a fine issued by the Korea Fair Trade Commission over the performance of its phones during gaming, according to one outlet's report.
Regulator becomes involved
The Korea Fair Trade Commission has now stepped in, issuing Samsung a penalty that amounts to a fine in the multi-million-dollar range.
The case concerns Samsung's promise of performance it describes as ultimate for gaming. The reporting says the company held phone performance back while certain games were running, so the devices fell short of what was advertised.
Earlier legal challenges
The throttling issue predates the current penalty. The company has already faced legal challenges over it, including a class-action lawsuit.
The report presents the dispute as an example of marketing outpacing what products deliver, something it says often happens with each new generation of devices. It notes that this case ran in the opposite direction from the usual complaint of inflated benchmark figures, because here performance was restrained rather than overstated.
Open questions
- What is the exact amount of the fine the Korea Fair Trade Commission has imposed?
- How will Samsung respond to the penalty and the earlier class-action lawsuit?