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OnePlus has e'er prided itself on producing fast phones with the latest silicon. That's how it made a name for itself: by packing more power into its phones for less money. The company's electric current flagship phone, the OnePlus ix Pro, is fast, but how fast is information technology, really? Information technology's a surprisingly difficult question to respond, based on an investigation by Anandtech. Despite having ample power, the OnePlus 9 is aggressively throttling operation for most apps while allowing benchmarks full power. As a effect, its phones have been pulled from the Geekbench charts.

The OnePlus nine Pro packs a Snapdragon 888 system-on-a-flake (SoC), which is a powerful processor with eight CPU cores. Ane of those cores, known as the prime core (a Cortex-X1 design), can run at almost 3GHz. That'due south pretty amazing for a smartphone processor, and the 888 is very speedy as a result. Even so, Anandtech noticed some unevenness in its diverse tests of the phone. Information technology at present reports that OnePlus has a "blacklist" of applications that volition cause the CPU to throttle the clock speed. Unsurprisingly, benchmarking apps are not on the listing.

This flips the script on most previous criterion adulterous scandals. Usually, the offending OEM has specifically boosted clock speeds on whitelisted apps, which included benchmarks. If the goal is to take metrics that depict what the device is capable of in daily employ, this behavior is clearly deceptive. OnePlus went the other manner, slowing down almost all pop apps like Twitter, Chrome, and Uber. The benchmarks are even so stellar, though.

Performance difference based on app bundle name, via Anandtech

As y'all can see in the graph higher up, an app that is not on the blacklist gets the total speed of the SoC. If the app masquerades as Twitter, the clock speed drops considerably. When it pretends to exist Chrome, the clock drops fifty-fifty more. The workloads are oftentimes pushed off to the slower CPU cores, bypassing the X1 altogether. System performance should change based on conditions non on which app you're running.

Anandtech speculates that OnePlus implemented this ham-handed throttling government to boost battery life, which is a identify the OnePlus 9 Pro really struggles. Although, it'due south not even clear this volition aid. The prime cadre is intended to respond to transient, high-functioning workloads to make the organization more efficient. Even so, it can't exercise that here.

After communicable air current of this, Geekbench has opted to remove the OnePlus ix Pro from its pop benchmark charts. The developers have pledged to investigate and meet if other OnePlus phones are doing similarly shady things. If this proves to exist more than an isolated incident, OnePlus could exist in trouble.

At present read:

  • Tests Announced to Testify the OnePlus 5 Cheats on Benchmark Tests
  • UL Delists Huawei Benchmark Scores After Cheating Discovered
  • MediaTek Tried to Refute Benchmark Cheating Allegations Before They Were Fifty-fifty Published