High scores can make money? Why do mobile phone manufacturers cheat on scores?

Many mobile phone users often run benchmarks when they get a new phone. The purpose is to compare and refer to the rankings to see how powerful their phone is. Of course, the benchmark scores of each phone are different. Even the same configuration can get different scores, which is very normal. However, the scores of some models are quite outrageous, and the scores are much higher than those of the same level. Why? The answer is simple, that is cheating.

In fact, cheating on benchmark scores has been around for a long time, such as Samsung's new flagship Galaxy S4, which was criticized that year, and the LG G2 that was later discovered. The cheating scandal in 2013 brought shame to the industry. However, history seems to be repeating itself, because many domestic manufacturers are still doing the same thing. So why do manufacturers insist on such deceptive behavior? How do they cheat?

Why cheat in running scores?

Today's smartphone market is very competitive. Every year, some smartphone manufacturers rise or fall. Many not only lose market share, but also withdraw from the competition. In order to maintain their position or avoid being eliminated, many smartphone manufacturers have begun to do everything they can to sell smartphones. Of course, creating a high-quality smartphone is a prerequisite, but subsequent marketing is obviously equally important.

When consumers buy mobile phones, the most discussed topic is usually the performance of the mobile phone. The benchmark scores seem to be of great reference value to consumers who are not yet purchasing a mobile phone. Based on this, mobile phone manufacturers have begun to use all means to increase the benchmark scores of their devices, using higher scores than those of the same level as a marketing selling point to attract the attention of a large number of consumers who have not yet purchased a new phone.

More specifically, consumers can generally be divided into three types. The first type is those who don’t care much about hardware configuration. For this type of people, if the salesperson says, “This phone is very good and has certain functions,” then when the buyer hears the functions they need, they are very likely to buy it, and such buyers account for the majority. The second type is those who pay a little attention to mobile phone technology and understand what memory, storage, processor and screen specifications are. Such buyers will refer to the running scores and choose from the high-scoring models. The third type is the more experienced ones who know everything, including flashing and in-depth research, and understand the experience of various systems. They often read reviews before buying.

Whether it is the second or third type of buyers, the running score always provides a valuable reference. Although it varies from person to person, most people do not want their device's running score to be lower than others. What's more interesting is that these two types of buyers will also recommend their family and friends to buy the model they like. At this point, the marketing effect of high running scores is reflected.

How to cheat?

There is some common sense that needs to be said up front. The enemy of battery life is performance. It sounds a bit extreme, but it is true. Because the principle of dynamic power consumption of the processor is very simple, the higher the voltage and the higher the frequency, the higher the power used. This has been an unchanging conclusion for decades, at least in the field of desktop PCs.

Of course, smartphones are definitely slightly different from PCs. After all, desktop computers can have a very powerful power supply, coupled with an excellent heat sink or water cooling solution, and the CPU can be increased to the desired frequency by continuously increasing the voltage, but the power consumption can reach 50 to 100 watts. Smartphones do not have so many basic conditions, they are completely powered by batteries, and the cooling solution is also passive, so chip manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers are always trying to balance power consumption and performance to ensure that they can be used longer when powered by batteries.

In fact, the power consumption and performance of processing chips follow a similar pattern. The main improvement of each generation is that the new generation of chips can provide stronger performance than the old generation of chips at the same power. Therefore, whenever a new smartphone is released, manufacturers will adjust various parameters between software and hardware to ensure that performance and battery life can continue to be balanced. Even if the hardware is at the same level, different dynamic performance can be provided by adjusting the software.

Back to the topic, what is the principle of cheating in smartphones in running scores? Simply put, when a smartphone runs a benchmark application, it automatically adjusts the software so that the chip reaches the most extreme performance mode. The key is that this extreme performance is only effective during the running process and returns to normal after the running. Because if the extreme performance is maintained all the time, not only will the battery be exhausted quickly, but the phone will become quite hot. However, there is no problem in maintaining the running score for a few minutes.

Furthermore, each application has a unique ID, which can be used to find the application in stores such as Google Play. For example, AnTuTu's ID is com.antutu.ABenchMark. With this unique ID, mobile phone manufacturers can quickly detect the running application ID by simply adding a few lines of code to the system firmware, thereby turning on the chip's extreme performance mode.

However, software like Primate Labs created by Geekbench now provides anti-cheating measures by providing different IDs to prevent firmware identification. Therefore, during the running process, the performance of the chip belongs to the level of normal parameter settings rather than extreme mode, and the results are relatively real and objective.

Summary: What do you think about cheating in running scores?

Many manufacturers' mobile phones have extremely high scores after running the test, so many users think that they must have cheated. To be honest, whether the score is true or false, it fully reflects the performance of the device. After all, the system firmware cannot modify the application to give a false score. However, we can say that this is an artificial score, a result under extreme performance. It is impossible for the device to maintain such a performance level for a long time, and cheating in the test is meaningless.

If a device can provide several different performance modes in fixed settings, such as "peak performance" mode and "daily mode", to run benchmark applications, the results obtained will inevitably be more transparent and more valuable for reference.

In short, the running score is always just a reference. Now many manufacturers do not recommend users to use the running score to select a device. Some manufacturers even think that lowering the running score is to tell you that the running score is not very meaningful and cannot be fair and just, and should pay more attention to the actual experience. Of course, there are still manufacturers who cheat in the running score, which is quite shameful. I will not name them one by one, because too many users have begun to regard the running score as an entertainment project.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.