HTC: One M8 Boosted As A Feature For Benchmarks

HTC has been accused of boosting their HTC One (M8) when it comes to benchmark performance, as AnTuTu has included a new version of its popular benchmarking site known as AnTuTu X that supposedly eliminates some of the cheating which has been whispered about. AnTuTu X is meant to depict a more authentic and realistic benchmark score. For instance, as the HTC One (M8) went through the pages of the AnTuTu 4 benchmark test, it managed to eke out a phenomenal 38,815 score, which is ahead of the Galaxy S5’s 34,898 score, way ahead of the Sony Xperia Z2 at 32,768 and the LG G Pro 2 at 30,068.

HTC shared, “Thanks for your email about the HTC One (M8). Benchmarking tests look to determine maximum performance of the CPU and GPU and, similar to the engine in a high-performance sports car, our engineers optimize in certain scenarios to produce the best possible performance. If someone would like to get around this benchmarking optimization there are ways to do so, but we think most often this will not be the case.”

Putting the HTC One (M8) through the cheat-proof AnTuTu X benchmark, different results showed up, with the Samsung Galaxy S5 topping the charts with 35,357, while the Sony Xperia Z2 came in second with a benchmark score of 32,508, and the LG G Pro 2 is third at 29,787, with the HTC One (M8) coming in dead last among the quartet with a score of 27,171.

HTC explained their position by calling this a High Performance Mode (HPM), “For those with a need for speed, we’ve provided a simple way to unleash this power by introducing a new High Performance Mode in the developer settings that can be enabled and disabled manually. The HTC One (M8) is optimized to provide the best balance of performance and battery life, but we believe in offering customer choice, as there may be times when the desire for performance outweighs the need for battery longevity.”

I am quite sure that the memory of Samsung’s benchmark “optimization” drama still lingers fresh in our respective memories, where they were accused of placing technology into their high end Android-powered devices that were able to tell whenever a benchmark test was being run, where the frequencies on the CPU were then tweaked internally. Samsung also admitted that “the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 maximizes its CPU/GPU frequencies when running features that demand substantial performance.” Deja vu all over again, and it does make the end user wonder – can benchmarks be trusted, and do we now need to actually make a trip down to the brick and mortar store from now on to test a phone out for ourselves before purchase?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: antutu, HTC, HTC One (M8), htc one m8