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MediaTek accused of cheating in benchmarks, accuses ‘key competitor’ too
August 10, 2025
We’ve seen several smartphone brandscheat benchmarksover the years, ostensibly in a bid to earn some ill-deserved praise among enthusiasts. But a new report suggests chipset manufacturerMediaTekcould be gaming these scores.
Anandtechuncovered evidence of benchmark cheating by MediaTek when it received a Helio P95-powered OPPO Reno 3 Pro (European version) and a standardDimensity 1000L-poweredOPPO Reno 3(Chinese model).
The outlet’s suspicions were raised when the Reno 3 Pro beat the Reno 3 in the PCMark benchmark utility. This was strange, because the Helio P95’sCortex-A75CPU cores are two generations older than the Dimensity 1000L’sCortex-A77CPU cores. Furthermore, the P95 only had two of these cores versus the newer chip’s four heavyweight cores.
A stealth version of the PCMark benchmark utility — which manufacturers can’t identify — was installed on the Reno 3 Pro. This revealed a 30% drop in benchmark score compared to the previous questionable score, withAnandtechsaying some tests in the benchmark dropped by 75%.
The outlet also tested the Chinese version of the Reno 3 Pro, which swaps the Helio P95 for aSnapdragon 765G, and noted the phone ran the benchmark without resorting to cheating.
MediaTek sports mode uncovered?
Anandtechthen dug into the offending device’s firmware files and found references tying benchmark apps to a so-called “sports mode.” It’s believed that this mode ramps up things like the memory controller and scheduler in order to facilitate faster performance.
Further investigation byAnandtechrevealed that this wasn’t limited to OPPO’s devices, as it found these references in devices like therealme C3,Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, and Sony Xperia XA1 as well. The latter device launched in 2017, suggesting this behavior has been going on for a while.
Anandtechwas able to extract the references from the Reno 3 Pro running out-of-the-box firmware, but that a subsequent firmware update hid these references away. Nevertheless, it seems like the MediaTek-powered phone was still cheating in benchmarks.
What MediaTek says about cheating claim
MediaTek preemptively published ablog poston its website ahead of the article’s publication, titled “Why MediaTek stands behind our benchmarking practices.” The firm shared the statement it sent toAnandtechas part of the post, seen below:
The brand also claimed device manufacturers have the final say about optimizations and tweaks for specific APK files. Additionally, MediaTek stated that some brands occasionally give devices in certain regions the ability to enable modes like a “sports mode” or “monster mode” for performance. But it claimed that these modes are disabled in other regions.
MediaTek also criticizedAnandtechfor questioning its “benchmarking optimization” practices, claiming that this is an industry standard. In fact, the firm says devices using chipsets from other companies do the same thing.
“If they were to review other devices, they would see, as we have, that our key competitor has chipsets that operate in the exact same way — whatAnandTechhas deemed cheating on device benchmarking tests.”
We have to assume MediaTek is talking aboutQualcomm, although it’s clearly steered clear of saying so. We’ve asked the company to clarify the practice as well as if it plans to patch out these tweaks in future firmware releases. We’ll update the article when we hear a response.
This would be a disappointing turn of events if MediaTek is indeed cheating benchmarks, especially after launching its first flagship processor in over two years. It would also be disheartening news in light of the firm bringingmore powerful siliconto low-end phones.
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