Last week, Samsung Electronics found itself in trouble for a crime it committed a long time ago. The company agreed to pay millions of Galaxy S4 owners for allegedly cheating on benchmark tests.
In a long-running class-action suit, Samsung had been caught cheating on benchmark tests by the installation of additional source code. The source code worked by detecting whether a benchmarking app was being run on the device, and if so, ran the phone at a faster speed (532MHz rather than 480MHz).
So, the company used this practice to dupe customers and marketed the phone as a fast-performing smartphone. Although the company has never denied these charges in the long-running legal process – their main concern was that they are not legally obligated to tell consumers whether they have included a cheating code.
Instead, Samsung argues that only security related issues have to be aired out to the public.
The South Korean tech giant agreed to settle the lawsuit for $13.4m. From this sum, $2.8m will be designated to cover a settlement fund and $10.6m in injunctive relief with the lawyers walking away with $1.5 million for their years of work.
A total of 10 million people who bought the Galaxy S4 in 2013 will be compensated with $10 each. The company will be sending emails to users liable to receive the money about the settlement with a link on how to apply for it. If you’re one of them, keep an eye on your email, you might just getting $10 from Samsung
Follow us on Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates.
