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 percentages, it is protected to say that in case you’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 each day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned just a few Android telephones up to now. I generally take into account making the swap again, significantly once I see the digital camera specs on some newer gadgets. However whereas Samsung is among the corporations 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 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 just a few 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 novel look, filled with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, regardless of my complaints about particular person options just like the Now Transient.

The downside of One UI is that if you need the most recent model of Android, it is an impediment. In the intervening 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 carry the software program to extra gadgets 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 time.

Comparable delays are current with different Android manufacturers, to be honest. 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 moderately have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as doable than one thing personalized a number of months later. Certainly, if I ever do bounce 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 gadgets on day one. iPhone 14 house owners 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 simple 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 motive to make use of SmartThings on your sensible dwelling 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 circumstances not less than, it is doable to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung cellphone 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, nevertheless — iOS is its personal working system. With out first-party software program, key capabilities would both be lacking or vulnerable 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 Area, which nonetheless have no direct analogues in Google’s library. If you are going to add to an OS, there needs to be some plain 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 motive is that it will 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 impartial apps, regardless of the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 all of the sudden appeared loads like a Google or OnePlus cellphone, some consumers is likely to 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 commonly a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations price a whole bunch of billions.

The decoupling subject 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. If you happen to’ve obtained a watch that will not work and not using a Samsung cellphone, you are most likely going to stay with Samsung generally for some time. If you happen to’ve obtained a Samsung equipment, you possibly can safely ignore SmartThings, nevertheless it creates the temptation to speculate 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 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 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 improper path.