Samsung Galaxy S22 might soon be as fast as it should always have been - but at a cost

More power, less battery

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

TheSamsung Galaxy S22range are supposed to be among the most powerful phones on the planet, but recently it was discovered thatSamsungwas artificially limiting their performance. Now though, the company seems to be addressing the issue.

Leaker@UniverseIceposted an image of a software update for South Korean models in the Galaxy S22 range, and based on translations in the replies it appears to include a removal of the CPU and GPU performance restriction applied to games.

The patch also mentions adding a ‘Game performance management mode’ to the Game Booster app, which presumably gives you the option of turning those performance restrictions back on if you’d like to.

South Korea has launched the GOS firmware for the S22 series, and the game performance is unblocked. pic.twitter.com/NOc5bAZ1gWMarch 10, 2022

Samsung never officially addressed why those restrictions were in place, but it was likely to extend the battery life, so some users may decide they’d rather take the performance hit if it means a longer lasting phone.

Unrestricted performance could also lead to heat build-up, but from the patch notes it sounds like there will still be controls in place to address this, so if your phone is getting dangerously hot, it might still be slowed down. This is based on a rough translation though.

Interestingly, there’s no mention of performance being unrestricted for non-gaming apps, many of which were also found to be throttled. It’s not clear whether that’s a failure of the translation, an omission from the notes, or whether Samsung actually will still regulate performance on some apps. But then again, most non-gaming apps don’t really need all that power anyway.

It doesn’t seem as though this patch has rolled out to other regions yet, but it’s likely the rest of the world will get it soon, so keep an eye out for it if you have a Galaxy S22 (or aSamsung Galaxy S22 PlusorGalaxy S22 Ultra).

Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.

Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.

Analysis: better performance, worse battery

As noted, the removal of these restrictions could cause a hit on battery life, so it will be interesting to see how much of an impact that has.

In our reviews we found that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and S22 Plus comfortably lasted a full day, but not much more. If this change means they struggle to last a day, then that could be a real issue.

Still, putting the decision of performance or battery life in users’ hands is definitely the way to go – we just might find that restricting the performance actually does provide the best balance.

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

We might have our first look at the long-rumored Samsung tri-fold

Samsung reveals its next-gen Bixby AI – a Galaxy brain to rival ChatGPT and Gemini

Arcane season 2 confirms the hit series isn’t just one of the best Netflix shows ever made – it’s an animated legend that’ll stand the test of time