If you own a Samsung phone, you might have encountered the “Light performance profile” tucked away in the settings. It is designed to reduce heat generation and extend battery life by optimizing performance. Light Performance Mode differs from Power Saving Mode and subtly changes your phone’s operation. Let’s explore what happens when you enable Light Performance mode on your Samsung Galaxy device.
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How to Enable Light Performance Mode on Samsung Galaxy
Light performance mode is available on Samsung Galaxy Z-series and S-series models released after the Galaxy Z Flip4, Z Fold4, and S23. You can turn on Light performance mode from Device Care Settings, as shown below:
- Open Settings on your Samsung phone.
- Scroll down and tap on Device Care.
- Choose Performance Profile and set it to Light.
Alternatively, you can enable it directly from the Quick Settings panel. If you don’t see the Performance profile icon, tap the Edit button (pencil icon) and add it from the available options.
What Does Enabling Light Performance Mode Do
Here’s what happens once you turn on the Light Performance profile on your Samsung phone:
- Limits processing speed: Light Performance mode lowers the maximum clock speed of your phone’s processor (both CPU and GPU). The processor runs slightly slower but more efficiently which reduces power consumption.
While Samsung doesn’t publicly specify the exact downclocking percentage for Light Performance mode, some estimates suggest it downclocks the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s X3 performance cores on the Galaxy S23 Ultra by 10%, retaining 90% of their performance while using only 60% of the power typically consumed by these cores.
These estimates seem plausible, but they are not official figures from Samsung and may vary depending on the specific device and usage conditions.
- Cools down your phone: By reducing the processing load, Light Performance mode helps keep your phone running cooler. Excessive heat can degrade your battery and shorten its lifespan, so this mode benefits both battery life and overall device longevity.
- No impact on regular activities: Samsung mentions that Light Performance mode does not impact everyday tasks like browsing the web, using social media apps, phone calls, or video playback. However, you might notice slight differences in demanding apps like video editors that require high processing power.
- Automatically turns off while gaming: Light Performance mode automatically disables itself when you start playing games, so you get the best experience without having to lift a finger.
Standard vs. Light Performance Profile
Many of us primarily use our phones for casual tasks like watching videos, texting, scrolling through social media, or occasionally gaming. If this sounds like you, your phone probably doesn’t need to run at full power all the time. In that case, you can switch to Light Performance mode and leave it on.
However, if you’re someone who edits videos on your phone, uses multiple apps at once, or does a lot of heavy browsing, you might want to stick with the Standard profile for the best performance. Oh, and if you notice any of your apps acting sluggish, switching back to Standard might help with that too.
Performance Comparison
Since I didn’t notice a difference in everyday performance, I ran Geekbench 6 on my Galaxy S23 Ultra (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC) in both Standard and Light Performance modes to see how the mode affects raw performance. Here are the results:
Geekbench on S23 Ultra
As you can see, there’s barely any difference. The single-core score falls from 1908 to 1830 when you switch to Light Performance mode, whereas the multi-core score falls from 5083 to 4994. The scores were more or less similar after running the benchmark multiple times in the two modes.
Geekbench on Galaxy S24
I ran the same tests on a Galaxy S24 (Exynos 2400 SoC) in both Standard and Light Performance profiles and here were the results:
Multi-core scores drop from 6340 to 6281, while single-core scores drop from 1969 to 1943. This again shows a marginal decrease in raw performance benchmark results.
Battery Life Comparison
In a battery test conducted by Lover of Tech on YouTube, the Galaxy S24 Ultra in Light performance mode outlasted both another S24 UItra in standard mode and an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Light mode model achieved 6 hours and 24 minutes of battery life, while the standard model lasted 6 hours and 5 minutes, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max reached 6 hours and 13 minutes.
This suggests that Light mode on the Galaxy S24 Ultra can provide an extra 5-15% of battery life, though this may vary based on individual usage patterns. Here’s the full video:
Light Performance Profile vs. Power Saving Mode
Light Performance mode and Power Saving mode are two separate settings on your Samsung phone. Light Performance mode tries to find a good balance between how fast your phone is and how long the battery lasts. Whereas, Power Saving mode makes you battery last longer, but your phone might be a bit slower and some features might be limited.
While both modes can affect CPU performance, they don’t directly overlap. If you enable both, Power Saving mode takes precedence and applies its own settings, typically downclocking the CPU more aggressively (to around 70% of its maximum capacity) than Light Performance mode would on its own.
Power Saving mode also implements additional battery-saving measures, such as turning off Always On Display, reducing maximum screen brightness by 10%, disabling 5G connectivity, limiting background activity, and lowering the screen refresh rate to 60Hz.
Can You Automate Light Performance Profile
Yes, you can set up your Samsung phone to automatically toggle Light Performance mode on and off using Bixby Routines. Open the Modes and Routines app on your phone, create a new routine with the trigger you want (time, location, or battery level), and then choose the action “Set performance profile” and select “Light.”
Besides turning on Light Performance mode for everyday use, you might also consider disabling the RAM Plus feature to reduce lag on your Samsung phone.
Get More Out of Your Charge
Light Performance Mode on your Samsung Galaxy phone is useful to extend battery life without sacrificing everyday usability. It subtly reduces processing power, leading to cooler operation and longer battery life. While demanding apps might see a slight performance dip, the difference is often negligible for most users. I personally keep it enabled all the time on my Galaxy S23 Ultra. Give it a try and see if it improves your battery life.
