Despite the fact that manufacturers have already seemed to have given up measuring the computing power of their smartphones, switching to cameras, benchmarks are still an indispensable attribute not only of YouTube observers, but also of ordinary users. For many, not measuring the synthetic performance of the device is considered an even greater sin than not cleaning the accumulating cache files on a constant basis. Of course, this could not go unnoticed by the processor manufacturers, who began to cheat in order to give the maximum result, even if the obtained performance estimate has nothing to do with reality.
MediaTek is the most irresponsible processor supplier
The AnandTech resource has caught the processor manufacturer MediaTek of artificially overestimating their power when running in benchmarks. Every time the chip detects that the smartphone is running a test program, it directs all its resources to produce the best possible result. Moreover, for this, it can even use a hidden mechanism like Turbo Boost, which solutions Intel can boast, when the processor works only for performance without regard to heating and autonomy.
How to overclock a smartphone processor
Qualcomm says it does not overclock its processors in benchmarks
However, there are several nuances here. Firstly, the hidden mechanism for overclocking processors MediaTek leads to an increase in its temperature, which means overheating, and negatively affects the autonomy of the smartphone. Secondly, in no other task, except for benchmarks, this mechanism cannot be activated. That is, in fact, MediaTek simply deceives the users of smartphones based on their processors, giving them completely different results that can be achieved in practice. This misleads users into thinking that the chips MediaTek are more powerful than they really are.
The position MediaTek on this issue is quite interesting. When the company was accused of cheating users, its management was not in the least embarrassed, saying that overclocking processors in benchmarks is completely standard practice in the industry, and their main competitor in this area is doing the same. Despite the fact that MediaTek did not have names, it became clear to everyone that the Chinese meant Qualcomm. Because, after all, who else can we talk about? After all, Samsung with its Exynos and Huawei with their Kirin together occupy less market share than Snapdragon chips.
Snapdragon processor performance
But Huawei have already been caught in overclocking their processors
Of course, such accusations could not go unnoticed by Qualcomm itself. Representatives of the company decided to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of users and said that they had never traded with anything like that, and their processors have always demonstrated only real performance in benchmarks. To prove their point, Qualcomm has filed no cheating charges since the company has been supplying smartphone makers with branded chips, although it is not that difficult to bring a processor supplier to the surface.
How Huawei trick users
Several years ago it became known that Huawei is also cheating with its processors, forcing them to produce inflated results in benchmarks. The Chinese simply optimized the branded chips for testing programs, and did not overclock them, like MediaTek, but nothing changed for the users. However, the management Huawei, when the company was caught in deception, issued a statement and denied all accusations, emphasizing that users themselves want to see high results in benchmarks and they do not care where they come from.
I, as a user Android, have never tried to test my smartphones in benchmarks and – to be honest – I have never even installed any of them. Nevertheless, I know a lot of users who, when buying a new device, first of all test its synthetic performance. It is important for these people that the device produces a record or close to a record result, which means, as it seems to me, they do not care from the high bell tower, where the high marks actually come from.