Background information
Hasselblad could be key partner for Oppo Find X5 Pro
by Dominik Bärlocher
OnePlus to throttle Series 9 phones: a good performance without consuming too much power
8.7.2021
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
The OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro are artificially getting throttled by their operating systems. Some of the phone’s «most popular apps, including Chrome» won’t make use of the lightning-fast Snapdragon 888 processor.
OnePlus has admitted that the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro will be throttled by their software. Or were. The company is officially passing the buck to its users. This according to the industry portal xdadevelopers.
In short: users complained about high temperatures and power consumption in their phones. In response, OnePlus fixed the problem on the software side. They throttled the current Series 9 flagships whenever «many of the most popular apps, including Chrome» are in use.
OnePlus isn’t alone in its approach of putting experience above performance, yet they did run into some trouble with it this year.
AnandTech discovers throttling
OnePlus mainly advertises its cameras – featuring Hasselblad software in its latest configuration – and its displays. Nevertheless, the phones also feature some other impressive bits: a Snapdragon 888 and 12 GB of RAM, for starters. Both of these specs alone allow for massive performance. Except, of course, when this performance is throttled by the operating system.
- Chrome: 61.5 runs per minute during the first test.
- Vivaldi: 105 runs per minute during the first test.
Further attempts produced a lower number, as by that time the smartphone has warmed up from use, throttling its power so the phone wouldn’t overheat.
At the end of his tests, Andrei had a series of results that showed one clear conclusion: there’s definitely something wrong.
A look into the code present in the phones then proved what he suspected.
I/OPPerf: perfAcquire # SPerfInfo{com.android.chrome 160 cpu_bouncing_02 0}
cpubouncing02
- us.zoom.videomeetings
- com.whatsapp
- com.facebook.katana
- com.zhiliaoapp.musically (TikTok)
- com.instagram.android
- com.snapchat.android
- com.google.android.youtube
- com.chrome.beta
- com.android.chrome
cpubouncing01
Andrei concludes; «What’s evident here, is that this is not a mechanism solely applying to a handful of apps, but applies to pretty much everything that has any level of popularity in the Play Store[…]»
OnePlus replies
Andrei posed a philosophical question later in his investigation: how is subjective performance measured? The OnePlus 9 series has been on the market for a few months now, and according to him, no one has complained publicly. Obviously, users are satisfied with the phone and its performance.
Nevertheless, such an artificial performance limitation is upsetting. If you were the owner of a OnePlus 9 Pro, wouldn’t you want to exploit the full performance of your 1000-franc phone?
Most importantly, Andrei publicly asked for reasons to justify the throttling. Why did OnePlus bother to artificially slow down apps? OnePlus provided the answer itself. In a statement on xdadevelopers, OnePlus writes:
The statement, awkwardly phrased, implies a few things:
- The users are to blame.
- Throttling was introduced after the launch of the phones.
- OnePlus doesn’t prioritise performance, but the experience.
OnePlus isn’t alone with this last point. Apple has been doing this successfully for years. In those cases, it seems that specs are only as good as the performance of an overall product in the end. Which is why iPhones are never technologically top of the line while still running smoothly for years. However, we don’t know whether this philosophy has led to active app throttling at Apple.
OnePlus hasn’t announced what they’ll do in the future. Will throttling be removed again? Or is the group sticking to their guns?
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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