The one motive I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As , Samsung is a juggernaut of the smartphone trade. 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 secure to say that in case 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 day by day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned just a few Android telephones prior to now. I generally contemplate making the swap again, significantly once I see the digicam specs on some newer units. However whereas Samsung is likely one of 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’ll change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not all the time a superb one

For me, the main drawback is One UI, Samsung’s Android pores and skin. There are literally a number of 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 units, it is important for Samsung’s multitasking and AI capabilities. And naturally, it provides each Samsung gadget a singular look, filled with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, irrespective 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 mean time, 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 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 more likely to roll out, and a number of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I would a lot reasonably have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as potential 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 capacity to replace all its appropriate units 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 appropriate {hardware}.

One UI could be straightforward to forgive if Samsung averted loading every telephone with an arsenal of apps which might be redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little motive to make use of SmartThings to your good house when Amazon Alexa and Google Dwelling 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 at the very least, it is potential to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung telephone all the time 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 features would both be lacking or prone to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with every little thing it wants — which is one thing most telephone 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 ought 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 motive is that it could 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 impartial apps, despite the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company id to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 instantly appeared quite a bit like a Google or OnePlus telephone, some buyers may be 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 kind of shake-up is commonly a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations value a whole lot 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 Dwelling would wreak havoc with the corporate’s good home equipment. Transitioning to different apps is doable, although, so the overriding issue is sort of definitely the push for ecosystem management. In case you’ve obtained a watch that will not work and not using a Samsung telephone, you are in all probability going to stay with Samsung on the whole for some time. In case you’ve obtained a Samsung equipment, you possibly can safely ignore SmartThings, however 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 evening scene for the complete room with a single voice command.

I really 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 exhausting within the fallacious route.