The benchmark scores cheating are surely not new in the smartphone space. Even tech giant like Samsung had involved in benchmark scores cheating in the past and now, OnePlus and Meizu have joined the bandwagon. In a new development, these two companies have reportedly been found to be cheating with their benchmark scores to trick critics and users. The benchmark scores of OnePlus 3T and Meizu Pro 6 Plus were reported to be squeezed to show slightly higher scores than they secure.
Samsung was found to be cheating for the elevation of their benchmark scores back in 2013. These wrong practices were criticized and later Samsung rolled back the false practice after a major criticism. Now, XDA Developers claimed that it has found that OnePlus was involved in bilks to get a higher score on benchmarks. Surprisingly, the increase in score was negligible and it is doubtful why the company has indulged in fraudulent practices for achieving such a little bonus.
“Our hypothesis was that OnePlus was targeting these benchmarks by name, and was entering an alternate CPU scaling mode to pump up their benchmark scores,” the XDA Developers’ report said.
When XDA got in touch with the OnePlus, the smartphone maker promised to fix the issue in an OxygenOS update. The OnePlus spokesperson told XDA that it had implemented certain mechanisms which trigger the processor to run more aggressively for providing a better user experience in resource exhaustive apps and games. The trigger mechanism was made in the community and Nougat builds. The company has assured that the trigger process for benchmarking apps will be eliminated in the future OxygenOS builds on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T smartphones.
On the other hand, the Chinese smartphone maker Meizu found to be using a ‘Performance Mode’ in its Meizu Pro 6 Plus smartphone rather than the ‘Standard Mode’ every time it sensed benchmarking apps. Moreover, it tweaked the Performance Mode even more forceful than the normal when going into the benchmark app. Meizu is yet to react to the XDA Developers’ criticism.
This is a fair warning for all smartphone buyers who took the benchmark scores to be the conclusion of smartphone’s performance. The only confident way to explore the performance of any phone is by using it for a while.