The one motive 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 protected to say that if you happen to’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 just a few Android telephones up to now. I typically think about making the swap again, notably once I see the digital camera specs on some newer units. However whereas Samsung is among the firms main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main motive: bloatware. And sadly, I do not suppose it should change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not all the time a very good one

For me, the main downside 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 offers each Samsung machine a novel look, stuffed with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, regardless of my complaints about particular person options just like the Now Transient.

The disadvantage of One UI is that if you’d like the newest 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 deliver the software program to extra units in September, however if you happen to’ve bought a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your pal with the Pixel 9, who bought Android 16 earlier this summer season.

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 a number of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I might a lot slightly have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as potential than one thing custom-made a number of months later. Certainly, if I ever do soar 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 appropriate 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 appropriate {hardware}.

One UI could be straightforward to forgive if Samsung prevented loading every telephone 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 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 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 potential to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung telephone 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 capabilities would both be lacking or vulnerable to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with the whole lot it wants — which is one thing most telephone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Telephone 3, as an illustration, 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 motive is that it might take an incredible 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 identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 abruptly regarded lots like a Google or OnePlus telephone, some buyers is likely to be extra inclined to see these different merchandise as equal alternate 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 value tons of of billions.

The decoupling situation carries over to some 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. If you happen to’ve bought a watch that will not work with no Samsung telephone, 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 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 exhausting within the unsuitable course.