Thursday, September 6th 2018
UL Benchmarks Kicks Huawei Devices from its Database over Cheating
UL Benchmarks de-listed several popular Huawei devices from its database over proof of cheating in its benchmarks. Over the month, it was found that several of Huawei's devices, such as P20 Pro, Nova 3, and Play; overclocked their SoCs while ignoring all power and thermal limits, to achieve high benchmark scores, when it detected that a popular benchmark such as 3DMark, was being run. To bust this, UL Benchmarks tested the three devices with "cloaked" benchmarks, or "private benchmarks" as they call it. These apps are identical in almost every way to 3DMark, but lack the identification or branding that lets Huawei devices know when to overclock themselves to cheat the test.
The results were startling. When the devices have no clue that a popular benchmark is being run (or if has no way of telling that 3DMark is being run), it chugs along at its "normal" speed, which is 35% to 36% lower. The rules that bind device manufacturers from advertising UL's 3DMark scores explicitly state that the device must not detect the app and optimize its hardware on the fly to ace the test. Huawei responded to UL by stating that it will unlock a new "performance mode" to users that lets them elevate their SoCs to the same high clocks for any application.
The results were startling. When the devices have no clue that a popular benchmark is being run (or if has no way of telling that 3DMark is being run), it chugs along at its "normal" speed, which is 35% to 36% lower. The rules that bind device manufacturers from advertising UL's 3DMark scores explicitly state that the device must not detect the app and optimize its hardware on the fly to ace the test. Huawei responded to UL by stating that it will unlock a new "performance mode" to users that lets them elevate their SoCs to the same high clocks for any application.
47 Comments on UL Benchmarks Kicks Huawei Devices from its Database over Cheating
Edit: and they have every convenience to do that, because they are the only manufacturer on earth that uses Kirin SoCs. If they decided to cheat, then no single Kirin on the planet would be honest.
Very good reading below:
www.anandtech.com/show/13318/huawei-benchmark-cheating-headache
Also it looks like Huawei are the biggest cheats in the Mobile industry:
www.engadget.com/2018/08/20/huawei-caught-passing-off-dlsr-pictures-as-phone-camera-samples/
Corporate cheating isn't secluded to Asian countries.
TBH, I am not surprised by this. To be able to get ahead, is usually done by unscrupulous activities. The good thing is, after this coming to light, it may force companies to be more honest in their future devices. May also be a good reason to start reducing prices of their products they lied about.
Edit: I am a terrible speller.
Nope, the tax dodgers will always get away with it, one way to keep them in check is to make corporations pay through their noses when caught in a scam or lie. It rarely happens for a domestic company like Apple in US or Huawei in China, but it should & that'll hopefully set a precedent.
This sort of benchmark gaming is going to become a massive thing in the mobile market where heat and power constraints are so much more vital. It's why I don't even bother with mobile "GPUs" (calling them GPUs is an insult to real GPUs that NVIDIA and AMD produce).
And I also know Volkswagen & co. were happily continuing the practice too. All of their subsidiaries fell one after the other. It was so common they even forgot about it. Never mind the fact they tried to lobby their way out first as well. (We 'can't' reduce emissions by thát much, make it half pls!')
Honestly that is a kind of brutality Huawei isn't even coming close to here... It's completely wrong to say 'Oh its another Asian company, see, they do it again'... when Western companies do it, they don't even apologize, they actually take it another step further and find new ways to continue going at it.
Just pointing out hypocrisy. That is all.
UL is just a benchmark software. Samsung and other brands have cheated on benchmarking software before and when the press and public call them out on it, they stop. This is the whole point of reviews and UL banning them from their list. Good job UL.
Before calling a point stupid; it may benefit you to go back and re-read the basis point of what was being discussed. Especially when someone outright goes near racist in trying point out something that is rather hypocritical because it is done by nearly everyone else (corporate cheating and lying).
Think before typing.
On android simply change Simulate color space to monochrome and watch your graphics scores improve by 10-20%. :p
Meanwhile, Toyota was fined and forced to do a recall for a problem THAT NEVER EXISTED. US citizens are so dumb they don't know which pedal is brake/accel. But GM execs are not in prison and morons are still buying junk GMs that can sometimes make it out of warranty before blowing up. USA USA USA