Update (March 16): Added statement from Realme
Reports of smartphone makers misrepresenting information to create a hype over a new device isn't new. Numerous cases involving the likes of Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi trying to pass off images shot from a DSLR as the handiwork of their phone's shooters have come to light.
There have also been reports of brands like OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi trying to rig benchmark scores but were called out when users found discrepancies in the overall performance of the device.
Now the Chinese smartphone maker Realme seems to be in the eye of this storm with Antutu, a benchmarking tool owned by Chinese device maker Cheetah Mobile, calling out the brand for allegedly posting incorrect benchmark scores for its flagship phone Realme GT.
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As readers would know, Antutu is a benchmarking platform that evaluates devices based on their hardware specifications. Though these scores do not always reflect real-world performance, however, brands often highlight them to show the prowess of their devices.
According to a report from Gizmochina, Realme’s Vice President Xu Qi had posted a screenshot showing an impressive Antutu score of 770,000 points boasting about Realme GT’s raw power. The phone in question comes powered with the Snapdragon 888 chipset which is Qualcomm’s flagship chipset and is one of the most powerful mobile phone SoCs available in the market.
This post, however, didn’t go well with Antutu and according to a Weibo post, Antutu has stated that the score of 777,000 seems to have been fabricated with the help of other means. The phone in question – Realme GT scored 688,602 in Antutu’s own benchmarking runs.
Since the variance in scores was way too high, Antutu has barred Realme GT’s scores from the platform for three months. Antutu has further warned that it will ban the phone permanently from the platform after three months if Realme doesn’t take corrective measures.
Realme refuted the claims and has posted another benchmark score. However, Realme’s VP Xu Qi has now stated that the company will not officially post the benchmark scores for the upcoming models in the Chinese market and will let the product’s performance speak on its own.
In the end, while it is the brands that have been highlighting high specs count and benchmark scores to one-up the competition, the onus is on the users to not fall for these marketing gimmicks and instead judge the device based on its real-world performance.
In response to this incident, Realme shared a statement with TechRadar: "Realme GT is equipped with the latest Snapdragon 888 platform, bringing users high performance. Benchmark scores of Realme GT are all accurate data under the current versions of the Antutu benchmark. Realme has always been committed to bringing users excellent performance, the actual user experience is the top priority for Realme. On the other hand, regarding the test issues doubted by both sides, we are in touch with Antutu to sort it out positively".
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