Huawei and UL statement regarding benchmark tests

Huawei and UL have provided statements regarding the recent scuffle of benchmark tampering that lead to a few Huawei devices to be removed from 3D Mark.

Earlier reports suggest that Huawei’s devices, most notably the P20, P20 Pro, Nova 3, and Honor Play tampered with 3D Mark benchmark results. The tampering was discovered when UL, the creators of 3D Mark, privately tested the aforementioned phones on a private version of the benchmarking tool. It showed results that are about 40% lower than what was available publicly.

According to UL, the increased results was due to Huawei devices prompting a hidden “Performance Mode” when running the benchmark. Basically, the phone overrides the usual profile of 3D Mark, rendering higher than usual results.

Huawei explained that its smartphones use an artificial intelligent resource scheduling mechanism. Because different scenarios have different resource needs, the latest Huawei handsets leverage innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence to optimize resource allocation in a way so that the hardware can demonstrate its capabilities to the fullest extent, while fulfilling user demands across all scenarios. — Huawei Statement

UL acknowledged Huawei response, although they were opposed to the use of a “Performance Mode” by default. Their rules state that a device is to run a benchmark as if it were any other application rather than a benchmark application that requires a forced mode.

After a lengthy discussion with UL, Huawei has decided to let users activate or deactivate performance mode in EMUI 9.0. Huawei has also agreed on removing affected devices from the benchmark until they grant performance mode access to all users.