In today’s news, OPPO is the latest smartphone brand to be caught cheating in benchmarks. UL Benchmarks have issued an official statement saying that the Tech2 has worked together with them to extensively test OPPO smartphones and was confirmed to be cheating.
In this official statement by UL Benchmarks, OPPO was found to be cheating the 3DMark benchmarks with the OPPO Find X that was released not long ago, and also with the OPPO F7. As they violated UL Benchmark’s rules and guidelines, these two smartphones have been delisted from the scoreboard.
OPPO caught cheating using the same method that Huawei/Honor used (which we talked about in detail here) – and that’s by detecting what application is being ran and pumped extra juice to achieve higher score without the user knowing.
In UL Benchmark’s website, this particular clause is explicitly mentioned in the rules and guidelines.
Application detection
The platform may not detect the launch of the benchmark executable. The platform must not alter, replace or override any parameters or parts of the test, nor modify the usual functioning of the platform based on the detection of the benchmark.
Of course, Huawei/Honor actually addressed the issue quickly and swiftly and said that they will add a “performance mode” in EMUI 9.0 (which is out in beta for a few Honor smartphones now) and that will enlist those Huawei/Honor smartphones in the scoreboard once again.
While on the subject of why “performance mode” is allowed to be used in the UL Benchmarks scoreboard, there’s another clause in the rules and guidelines page that states this.
So overclocking isn’t allowed now?
Overclocking by manufacturers is allowed provided that it applies equally to all apps, all of the time. Overclocking optimizations that are selectively applied to our benchmarks are forbidden.
The keywords here are “overclocking optimizations that are selectively applied” which is what this method of cheating is actually doing. With that said, ASUS’s “AI Boost” mode that is found in the ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 5z – is supposed to be like an overclocking switch, is allowed to be used in these benchmark apps because it is non-exclusive.
As of now, OPPO has yet to issue any statement about this debacle. Personally speaking, I won’t be surprised if OPPO announced that their next ColorOS will have a “performance mode” as well.
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