The one purpose I do not purchase Samsung telephones is bloatware

As you realize, 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 based mostly on the chances, it is protected to say that for those who’re searching for an Android gadget as an alternative of an iPhone 16, you are most likely going to decide on a Galaxy S25 over a Pixel 9.

Whereas my day by day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned a couple of Android telephones prior 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 without doubt one of the corporations main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main purpose: bloatware. And sadly, I do not assume it should change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not at all times 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 permits 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 offers each Samsung gadget a novel look, stuffed with rounded icons and signature fonts. I am largely onboard, irrespective 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. In the mean time, as an 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 for those who’ve received a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your buddy with the Pixel 9, who received 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 units, the slower updates are more likely to roll out, and lots of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I would a lot slightly have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as doable 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 capability to replace all its suitable 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 suitable {hardware}.

One UI can be straightforward to forgive if Samsung prevented loading every cellphone with an arsenal of apps which can be redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little purpose to make use of SmartThings in your good dwelling 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 doable to disregard these apps, however utilizing a Samsung cellphone 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 all the things it wants — which is one thing most cellphone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Telephone 3, as an 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 needs to 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 purpose is that it could 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 instantly appeared loads like a Google or OnePlus cellphone, some buyers is perhaps 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 form of shake-up is commonly a non-starter for smaller companies, not to mention megacorporations value tons of of billions.

The decoupling challenge 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 good home equipment. Transitioning to different apps is doable, although, so the overriding issue is nearly definitely the push for ecosystem management. In case you’ve received a watch that will not work with out a Samsung cellphone, you are most likely going to stay with Samsung typically for some time. In case you’ve received a Samsung equipment, you may safely ignore SmartThings, but it surely creates the temptation to take a position 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 all the room with a single voice command.

I really do not begrudge Samsung an excessive amount of for what it is doing. That will 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 fallacious path.