The one motive 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 primarily based on the chances, it is protected to say that in case you’re purchasing for an Android machine as an alternative 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 up to now. I typically think about making the swap again, notably after I see the digital camera specs on some newer units. However whereas Samsung is among the firms main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main motive: bloatware. And sadly, I do not assume it will change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A singular proposition is not at all times a superb one

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

The downside of One UI is that if you’d like the most recent model of Android, it is an impediment. For the time being, for example, the one Samsung units with the non-beta model of One UI 8 — primarily based on Android 16 — are the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7. Samsung is planning to deliver the software program to extra units in September, however in case you’ve obtained a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your pal with the Pixel 9, who obtained Android 16 earlier this summer season.

Comparable delays are current with different Android manufacturers, to be honest. However the extra software program you layer on prime of units, the slower updates are prone to roll out, and plenty of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I might a lot somewhat have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as potential than one thing personalized a number of months later. Certainly, if I ever do soar again into Android, it is most likely going to be with a Pixel, since I have been spoiled by Apple’s potential to replace all its suitable units on day one. iPhone 14 homeowners would naturally be irritated in the event that they needed to wait till subsequent 12 months to improve to iOS 26, regardless of having completely suitable {hardware}.

One UI could be straightforward to forgive if Samsung averted loading every telephone with an arsenal of apps which are redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little motive to make use of SmartThings in your good residence when Amazon Alexa and Google Residence 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 an alternative of Google Pockets, and do not even get me began on fluff like Samsung Free and Samsung TV Plus.

In some circumstances no less than, it is potential to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung telephone at all times seems 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, nevertheless — iOS is its personal working system. With out first-party software program, key features would both be lacking or susceptible to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with the whole lot it wants — which is one thing most telephone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Telephone 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 plain 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 motive is that it might take an incredible quantity of effort and time to decouple the options Galaxy homeowners genuinely need, and a few of them may not survive the transition to impartial apps, regardless of the pliability of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company id to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 all of a sudden seemed lots like a Google or OnePlus telephone, some consumers may be extra inclined to see these different merchandise as equal options (gasp). To be constant, Samsung may also have to revamp the interfaces of non-Android merchandise. That kind of shake-up is usually a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations price lots of of billions.

The decoupling problem carries over to some key apps. The Galaxy Watch at present requires Samsung Well being, and dropping SmartThings for Alexa or Google Residence would wreak havoc with the corporate’s good home equipment. Transitioning to different apps is doable, although, so the overriding issue is sort of actually the push for ecosystem management. For those who’ve obtained a watch that will not work and not using a Samsung telephone, you are most likely going to stay with Samsung normally for some time. For those who’ve obtained a Samsung equipment, you may safely ignore SmartThings, nevertheless it creates the temptation to take a position extra in that platform to get probably the most out of it. One factor I get pleasure from about my Google TV is the flexibility to set a film night time scene for the whole 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 exhausting within the improper path.