The one motive I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you recognize, 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 primarily based on the chances, it is secure to say that for those who’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 each day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned just a few Android telephones prior to now. I generally contemplate making the change again, notably after I see the digital camera specs on some newer gadgets. However whereas Samsung is without doubt one of the corporations main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main motive: 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 great one

For me, the main downside is One UI, Samsung’s Android pores and skin. There are literally lots of sensible benefits to it — it allows 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 machine a singular look, stuffed with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, irrespective of my complaints about particular person options just like the Now Transient.

The disadvantage of One UI is that if you would like the most recent model of Android, it is an impediment. For the time being, as an illustration, 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 convey the software program to extra gadgets in September, however for those who’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 time.

Related delays are current with different Android manufacturers, to be truthful. However the extra software program you layer on high of gadgets, the slower updates are more likely to roll out, and lots 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 soar again into Android, it is in all probability going to be with a Pixel, since I have been spoiled by Apple’s potential to replace all its appropriate gadgets 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 simple to forgive if Samsung prevented loading every telephone with an arsenal of apps which are redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little motive to make use of SmartThings to your sensible residence 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 an alternative 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 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 prone 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 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 ought 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 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 unbiased apps, despite the pliability of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 out of the blue regarded loads like a Google or OnePlus telephone, some buyers 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 type of shake-up is usually a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations price a whole lot 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 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. Should you’ve acquired 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. Should you’ve acquired a Samsung equipment, you possibly can safely ignore SmartThings, nevertheless it creates the temptation to speculate extra in that platform to get essentially the most out of it. One factor I take pleasure in about my Google TV is the flexibility to set a film night time 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 arduous within the incorrect course.