The one purpose I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you already know, Samsung is a juggernaut of the smartphone business. 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 percentages, it is secure to say that when you’re looking for an Android gadget as a substitute of an iPhone 16, you are in all probability going to decide on a Galaxy S25 over a Pixel 9.

Whereas my every day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned a number of Android telephones prior to now. I generally contemplate making the change again, notably after I see the digital camera specs on some newer units. However whereas Samsung is without doubt one of the corporations main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main purpose: bloatware. And sadly, I do not assume it may change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not at all times an excellent one

For me, the main drawback is One UI, Samsung’s Android pores and skin. There are literally lots 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 gadget 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 in order for you the newest model of Android, it is an impediment. In the meanwhile, as an 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 convey the software program to extra units in September, however when you’ve bought a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your good friend with the Pixel 9, who bought Android 16 earlier this summer time.

Comparable delays are current with different Android manufacturers, to be truthful. However the extra software program you layer on prime of units, the slower updates are more likely to roll out, and lots of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I would a lot quite 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 in all probability going to be with a Pixel, since I have been spoiled by Apple’s capability 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 can be simple to forgive if Samsung prevented loading every cellphone with an arsenal of apps which can be redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little purpose to make use of SmartThings to your good dwelling 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 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 very least, it is attainable to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung cellphone at all times appears like I am indulging in a CEO’s deep need 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 capabilities would both be lacking or prone to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with all the things it wants — which is one thing most cellphone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Telephone 3, as an 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 needs to be some simple worth to doing it.

Will Samsung ever ditch the bloat?

By no means say by no means, however…

In need of a disaster, Samsung is unlikely to jettison One UI. The obvious purpose is that it might take an amazing 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, despite the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company id to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 immediately seemed so much like a Google or OnePlus cellphone, some customers is perhaps extra inclined to see these different merchandise as equal options (gasp). To be constant, Samsung may additionally have to revamp the interfaces of non-Android merchandise. That type of shake-up is usually a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations price a whole lot of billions.

The decoupling difficulty carries over to some key apps. The Galaxy Watch at the moment 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. If you happen to’ve bought a watch that will not work with no Samsung cellphone, you are in all probability going to stay with Samsung typically for some time. If you happen to’ve bought a Samsung equipment, you’ll be able to 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 power to set a film night time scene for your complete room with a single voice command.

I truly do not begrudge Samsung an excessive amount of for what it is doing. That may 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 flawed route.