According to an in-depth review by Anandtech, OnePlus 9 Pro throttles performance in many applications. The source writes that there is surprising behavior in the border region between battery optimization, performance fraud, and incorrect hardware representation.
Many popular apps have been blacklisted for using the fastest processor cores, while standard apps and apps that are not on the list can use the full power of the processor. In Speedometer 2.0’s web benchmark software, the OnePlus 9 Pro performed on par with a budget mobile phone from 2010, according to Anandtech.
The behavior also applies to OnePlus’ own apps, as well as popular titles like Chrome, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The most plausible explanation is the battery optimization, but the drop in performance seems to have gotten out of hand.
Geekbench has chosen to remove both the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro from their benchmark scores, seeing the behavior as a kind of benchmark manipulation. We’ll come back if OnePlus comments on Anandtech’s analysis.
Update: OnePlus says in a comment that action was taken post-launch to improve battery life and reduce heat generation (via XDA).
Our top priority has always been to provide a great user experience with our products, based in part on acting quickly based on critical user feedback. After the launch of the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro in March, some users told us about some of the areas where we can improve the devices battery life and heat management.
As a result of this feedback, our R&D team has been working over the past few months to improve hardware performance when using many of the most popular applications, including Chrome, by matching the application processor requirements to the most appropriate power. This helped provide a smooth experience while reducing power consumption. While this may affect hardware performance in some benchmarking applications, our focus as always is to do what we can to improve device performance for our users.
It’s disappointing to see OnePlus phones make performance decisions based on app identifiers rather than app behavior. We consider this a form of normative manipulation. We have removed the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro from the Android Benchmark. https://t.co/G40wmWeg7o
– Geekbench (@geekbench) 6 July 2021
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