The one cause I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you realize, Samsung is a juggernaut of the smartphone trade. Even in North America, the place Apple’s iPhone reigns supreme, it controls just below 1 / 4 of the market, relegating manufacturers like Google and Motorola to also-ran standing. Simply based mostly on the chances, it is protected to say that for those who’re purchasing for an Android system as a substitute of an iPhone 16, you are most likely going to decide on a Galaxy S25 over a Pixel 9.

Whereas my day by day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned a number of Android telephones prior to now. I generally take into account making the change again, notably once I see the digicam specs on some newer gadgets. However whereas Samsung is likely one of the firms main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main cause: bloatware. And sadly, I do not assume it should change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not all the time a superb one

For me, the main downside is One UI, Samsung’s Android pores and skin. There are literally a number of sensible benefits to it — it permits a number of issues that are not but constructed into Android, such because the Now Bar, which mimics Apple’s Smart Stack. On some gadgets, it is important for Samsung’s multitasking and AI capabilities. And naturally, it provides each Samsung system a singular look, stuffed with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, irrespective of my complaints about particular person options just like the Now Temporary.

The disadvantage of One UI is that in order for you the newest model of Android, it is an impediment. In the mean time, for example, the one Samsung gadgets with the non-beta model of One UI 8 — based mostly on Android 16 — are the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7. Samsung is planning to carry the software program to extra gadgets in September, however for those who’ve acquired a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your buddy with the Pixel 9, who acquired Android 16 earlier this summer season.

Comparable delays are current with different Android manufacturers, to be truthful. However the extra software program you layer on high of gadgets, the slower updates are prone to roll out, and a number of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I might a lot relatively have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as attainable than one thing custom-made a number of months later. Certainly, if I ever do leap again into Android, it is most likely going to be with a Pixel, since I have been spoiled by Apple’s skill to replace all its suitable gadgets on day one. iPhone 14 house owners would naturally be irritated in the event that they needed to wait till subsequent yr to improve to iOS 26, regardless of having completely suitable {hardware}.

One UI could be simple to forgive if Samsung averted loading every telephone with an arsenal of apps which can be redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little cause to make use of SmartThings in your sensible house when Amazon Alexa and Google House are much better supported. For well being and health, Google Match and Well being Join cowl sufficient of the identical floor as Samsung Well being. You get Samsung Pockets as a substitute of Google Pockets, and do not even get me began on fluff like Samsung Free and Samsung TV Plus.

In some instances at the least, it is attainable to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung telephone all the time looks like I am indulging in a CEO’s deep want to repeat Apple’s walled backyard. Apple has an excuse to fill its telephones with proprietary apps, nonetheless — iOS is its personal working system. With out first-party software program, key features would both be lacking or vulnerable to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with every thing it wants — which is one thing most telephone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Cellphone 3, for example, has little or no bloatware. The worst offenders are Nothing X and Important House, which nonetheless have no direct analogues in Google’s library. If you are going to add to an OS, there must be some simple worth to doing it.

Will Samsung ever ditch the bloat?

By no means say by no means, however…

Wanting a disaster, Samsung is unlikely to jettison One UI. The obvious cause is that it will take an amazing quantity of effort and time to decouple the options Galaxy house owners genuinely need, and a few of them won’t survive the transition to unbiased apps, despite the pliability of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 all of the sudden seemed so much like a Google or OnePlus telephone, some consumers may be extra inclined to see these different merchandise as equal alternate options (gasp). To be constant, Samsung may additionally have to revamp the interfaces of non-Android merchandise. That type of shake-up is commonly a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations value a whole bunch of billions.

The decoupling subject carries over to some key apps. The Galaxy Watch at present requires Samsung Well being, and dropping SmartThings for Alexa or Google House would wreak havoc with the corporate’s sensible home equipment. Transitioning to different apps is doable, although, so the overriding issue is sort of definitely the push for ecosystem management. For those who’ve acquired a watch that will not work with no Samsung telephone, you are most likely going to stay with Samsung normally for some time. For those who’ve acquired a Samsung equipment, you’ll be able to safely ignore SmartThings, nevertheless it creates the temptation to speculate extra in that platform to get essentially the most out of it. One factor I get pleasure from about my Google TV is the flexibility to set a film evening scene for all the room with a single voice command.

I truly do not begrudge Samsung an excessive amount of for what it is doing. That might be hypocritical, given the variety of Apple merchandise I personal that successfully demand an iPhone or an iPad. However one of many strengths of Android is meant to be the liberty from lock-in, and Samsung continues to lean too onerous within the incorrect path.