The one cause I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you already know, 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 protected to say that in the event you’re searching 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 up to now. I typically take into account making the change again, notably once I see the digital camera specs on some newer units. However whereas Samsung is likely one of the corporations main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main cause: bloatware. And sadly, I do not suppose it may change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not at all times a great 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 machine a singular look, stuffed with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, regardless of my complaints about particular person options just like the Now Temporary.

The disadvantage of One UI is that if you need the newest model of Android, it is an impediment. For the time being, 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 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 time.

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 might a lot reasonably have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as attainable than one thing custom-made 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 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 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 might be redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little cause to make use of SmartThings on your sensible house 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 a minimum of, it is attainable to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung cellphone at all times seems 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 features 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 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 have no direct analogues in Google’s library. If you are going to add to an OS, there needs to be some plain 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 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, regardless of the flexibleness of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company id to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 abruptly seemed loads like a Google or OnePlus cellphone, some buyers may be extra inclined to see these different merchandise as equal alternate 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 lots of of billions.

The decoupling concern carries over to a couple key apps. The Galaxy Watch presently 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 actually the push for ecosystem management. In case you’ve acquired a watch that will not work with out a Samsung cellphone, you are in all probability going to stay with Samsung usually for some time. In case you’ve acquired a Samsung equipment, you may safely ignore SmartThings, however it creates the temptation to speculate extra in that platform to get probably the most out of it. One factor I get pleasure from about my Google TV is the power to set a film night time scene for the whole room with a single voice command.

I really 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 exhausting within the improper course.