The one cause I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you recognize, 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 secure to say that for those who’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 a couple of Android telephones prior to now. I typically take into account making the swap again, notably after 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 cause: bloatware. And sadly, I do not suppose it will change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A singular proposition is not all the time a superb one

For me, the main downside is One UI, Samsung’s Android pores and skin. There are literally quite a lot of sensible benefits to it — it allows a couple 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 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’d like the most recent model of Android, it is an impediment. In the meanwhile, as an illustration, 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 for those who’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.

Related 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 quite a lot 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 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 can be simple to forgive if Samsung averted loading every cellphone with an arsenal of apps which are redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little cause to make use of SmartThings in 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 a minimum of, it is potential to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung cellphone all the time seems 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, nonetheless — iOS is its personal working system. With out first-party software program, key capabilities would both be lacking or liable to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with the whole lot it wants — which is one thing most cellphone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Cellphone 3, as an illustration, has little or no bloatware. The worst offenders are Nothing X and Important House, which nonetheless haven’t any 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 cause 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 unbiased apps, regardless of the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 instantly appeared so much like a Google or OnePlus cellphone, some customers could 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 form of shake-up is usually a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations price tons of of billions.

The decoupling situation carries over to a couple 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 nearly actually the push for ecosystem management. Should you’ve bought a watch that will not work and not using a Samsung cellphone, you are most likely going to stay with Samsung usually for some time. Should you’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 essentially 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 your entire 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 laborious within the incorrect route.