The one cause I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you understand, Samsung is a juggernaut of the smartphone business. 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 based mostly on the percentages, it is secure to say that in the event you’re purchasing for an Android machine 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 every day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned a number of Android telephones previously. I typically think about making the swap again, notably once I see the digicam specs on some newer units. However whereas Samsung is without doubt 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 assume it’ll change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not at all times an excellent 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 allows a number 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 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 Transient.

The disadvantage of One UI is that if you’d like the newest model of Android, it is an impediment. For the time being, for example, the one Samsung units with the non-beta model of One UI 8 — based mostly on Android 16 — are the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7. Samsung is planning to carry the software program to extra units in September, however in the event you’ve acquired a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your good friend with the Pixel 9, who acquired 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 high of units, the slower updates are more likely to roll out, and a number of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I would a lot fairly have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as potential than one thing personalized a number of months later. Certainly, if I ever do bounce again into Android, it is in all probability going to be with a Pixel, since I have been spoiled by Apple’s skill 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 12 months to improve to iOS 26, regardless of having completely appropriate {hardware}.

One UI can be straightforward to forgive if Samsung averted loading every telephone 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 sensible house 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 at the very least, it is potential to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung telephone at all times looks 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 susceptible 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, for example, 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…

In need of a disaster, Samsung is unlikely to jettison One UI. The obvious cause is that it could take an incredible 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, despite the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 instantly seemed lots like a Google or OnePlus telephone, some consumers is perhaps 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 lot of billions.

The decoupling challenge 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 sensible home equipment. Transitioning to different apps is doable, although, so the overriding issue is sort of definitely the push for ecosystem management. In the event you’ve acquired a watch that will not work with out a Samsung telephone, you are in all probability going to stay with Samsung on the whole for some time. In the event you’ve acquired 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 take pleasure in about my Google TV is the power to set a film evening scene for the complete room with a single voice command.

I truly 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 arduous within the unsuitable route.