On October 27, 2026, South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ordered corrective action and announced a provisional fine against Samsung Electronics over gaming-performance advertising for specified Galaxy devices. ETNews reports the fine at 20.114 billion won. The KFTC said the advertising did not disclose game-specific limits on maximum processor performance. The agency’s release names the Galaxy series and games within the action’s scope.
Which Galaxy devices and games were covered?
The KFTC identified Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Galaxy Tab S8 series devices, with different game counts and advertising periods for each family.
| Galaxy series | Games with CPU/GPU maximum-clock restrictions | KFTC-stated advertising period |
| Galaxy S21 | 82 | January 15, 2021–March 21, 2022 |
| Galaxy S22 | 47 | February 10–March 10, 2022 |
| Galaxy Tab S8 | 8 | February 10–March 10, 2022 |
The counts and dates come from the KFTC’s release. They describe the product families, games, and advertising periods named in this action.
What GOS policy did the KFTC challenge?
Game Optimizing Service (GOS) manages a device’s performance during games. The KFTC distinguished its general policy, which adjusts performance in response to conditions such as temperature, from a game-specific policy that applied preset limits as certain demanding games launched, regardless of the device’s condition.
For a Galaxy S22 example involving PUBG: New State, the KFTC said the CPU’s stated maximum clock of 2.99 GHz was capped at 0.94 GHz, while the GPU’s 818 MHz maximum was capped at 220 MHz. Those figures describe clock-frequency ceilings, not measured frame-rate reductions.
A game-specific performance cap and temperature-responsive management are different policies; the KFTC’s action concerned disclosure of the former in specified Galaxy advertising.
Samsung’s response and the software change
ETNews reported the 20.114-billion-won provisional fine and said Samsung disputed the deception finding. Through its legal representative, the company argued that managing short processing-speed spikes could reduce heat and help sustain stable gameplay over longer sessions. ETNews also reported Samsung’s intention to challenge the decision administratively. The outlet said the amount was reduced from an investigator-proposed maximum of 66 billion won, with Samsung’s voluntary software correction taken into account. ETNews reported the amount and Samsung’s position.
Newsis reported that a March 2022 software update removed the specified maximum CPU and GPU clock restrictions and introduced a game performance mode. That is a report about a historical update to the disputed limits.
What one Galaxy S22 Ultra test measured
In a separate test published in March 2022, creator Golden ran Genshin Impact for 10 minutes on an Exynos 2200 Galaxy S22 Ultra. Golden reported a peak temperature of about 42°C with GOS enabled and up to 47°C with it disabled. Those readings are specific to that device and test.
