The one purpose I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As , Samsung is a juggernaut of the smartphone business. Even in North America, the place Apple’s iPhone reigns supreme, it controls slightly 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 when you’re purchasing for an Android machine as an alternative 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 previously. I typically take into account making the swap again, notably after I see the digicam specs on some newer gadgets. However whereas Samsung is among the firms main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main purpose: bloatware. And sadly, I do not suppose it may change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A singular proposition is not all the time one

For me, the main downside is One UI, Samsung’s Android pores and skin. There are literally numerous 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 machine a singular look, filled with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, regardless of my complaints about particular person options just like the Now Temporary.

The disadvantage of One UI is that if you would like the most recent model of Android, it is an impediment. In the mean time, as an example, the one Samsung gadgets 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 gadgets in September, however when you’ve bought a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your buddy 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 high of gadgets, the slower updates are prone to roll out, and numerous what Samsung does feels extraneous. I would a lot fairly have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as attainable than one thing personalized 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 means 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 can be straightforward to forgive if Samsung averted 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 in your sensible residence 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 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 attainable to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung cellphone all the time appears 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 prone to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with every part 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 Area, 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 purpose is that it might take an incredible quantity of effort and time to decouple the options Galaxy house owners genuinely need, and a few of them may not survive the transition to unbiased apps, despite the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company id to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 out of the blue seemed so much like a Google or OnePlus cellphone, some customers 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 type of shake-up is usually a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations price a whole bunch of billions.

The decoupling difficulty carries over to a couple key apps. The Galaxy Watch at the moment 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 bought a watch that will not work with no Samsung cellphone, you are in all probability going to stay with Samsung basically for some time. For those who’ve bought a Samsung equipment, you possibly can safely ignore SmartThings, but it surely creates the temptation to take a position extra in that platform to get essentially the most out of it. One factor I get pleasure from about my Google TV is the power to set a film evening scene for the whole room with a single voice command.

I really do not begrudge Samsung an excessive amount of for what it is doing. That will 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 fallacious course.