You didn't expect this from OnePlus. Company accused of slowing down its flagship [Update]

MIRON NURSKI• 6 months ago• 3 comments

OnePlus probably had a good reason for this, however.

OnePlus used to be famous for products with an unbeatable price-quality ratio, but over time prices have increased and marketing has taken a different direction. In recent years, the company has been clearly obsessed with efficiency.

The manufacturer not only used the strongest available components, but also consistently included the word "speed" in the promotional slogans of subsequent flagships. For example, last year's OnePlus 8 was promoted with the slogan "Lead with Speed", OnePlus 7 from 2009 with the slogan "Go Beyond Speed", and in the case of OnePlus 6 it was "The Speed ​​You Need".

The marketing of the latest OnePlus 9 is based on the slogan "Your Best Shot". Could the change to another marketing locomotive have a deeper meaning than the desire to emphasize photographic cooperation with Hasselblad?

Tests show that OnePlus 9 Pro cuts performance in popular applications

AnandTech came to such conclusions, whose editors checked how the Snapdragon 888 behaves after running popular apps on OnePlus 9 Pro.

The testers came to the conclusion that in the case of most proven programs, the software blocks access to the most efficient cores, thus reducing the speed of operation. This translates, among others, to less brisk browser operation.

For example, Chrome on OnePlus 9 Pro dials results that differ from flagship standards. But already Vivaldi (the only proven browser that uses the full power of the smartphone) is doing above average well.

Testers were unable to dig up a complete list of software that activates reduced performance mode from the software. However, when checking popular apps manually, they found 54 such apps. Among them, e.g. Chrome, Facebook, YouTube, Whatsapp, Instagram, Google Photos and even system apps like Camera, Gallery or Settings.

Games, on the other hand, seem to be free of the problem. At least the demanding ones, because simple Candy Crush has reduced performance, but Genshin Impact does not.

Is the problem serious? Not necessarily

AnandTech primarily points out that in the case of OnePlus 9 Pro, benchmark tests do not make much sense, because they do not reflect the actual operation of the phone. Because yes — as you can probably guess, in performance tests, the power of the Snapdragon 888 is not limited.

OnePlus 9 Pro — which I can confirm after many weeks of testing - however, it is still a hellishly fast and smooth smartphone.

It is significant that the problem was publicized only a few months after the premiere, when OnePlus 9 Pro hit the workshop of an exceptionally geeky website.

OnePlus probably had a good reason to take this step

AnandTech speculates that OnePlus deliberately lowers performance in low-power applications to reduce their power consumption. And this is the only plausible hypothesis.

It is further confirmed by the fact that  — as I pointed out in my test of OnePlus 9 Pro — this smartphone has an extremely average battery. In the review I wrote:

If the OnePlus 9 Pro went into full swing even while browsing Facebook, it could only get worse.

OnePlus has proven many times that it takes criticism to heart. So I won't be surprised if in one of the upcoming updates there will be a mode that will unlock the full performance of the phone at the expense of faster energy consumption.

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