The one cause I do not purchase Samsung ...

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 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 protected to say that for those who’re purchasing for an Android system 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 day by day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, I’ve owned a number of Android telephones previously. I typically take into account making the swap again, significantly after I see the digital camera specs on some newer gadgets. However whereas Samsung is among the corporations main within the specs race, I am steering away from the model for one main cause: bloatware. And sadly, I do not assume it will change course anytime quickly.

The bloatware dilemma

A novel proposition is not all the time a superb one

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

The downside of One UI is that if you need the newest model of Android, it is an impediment. In the intervening time, as an example, the one Samsung gadgets 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 gadgets in September, however for those who’ve received a Galaxy S25 Extremely, all you are able to do till then is envy your good friend with the Pixel 9, who received 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 gadgets, the slower updates are prone to roll out, and loads of what Samsung does feels extraneous. I would a lot relatively have “naked” Android 16 as quickly as doable 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 skill 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 yr to improve to iOS 26, regardless of having completely appropriate {hardware}.

One UI could be simple to forgive if Samsung averted loading every telephone with an arsenal of apps which can be redundant with Google’s, or simply plain pointless. There’s little cause to make use of SmartThings on 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 a substitute 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 telephone all the time seems 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, nevertheless — iOS is its personal working system. With out first-party software program, key features would both be lacking or vulnerable to being taken away at any second. Likewise, Android is already well-stocked with all the things it wants — which is one thing most telephone makers appear to have accepted. The Nothing Cellphone 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 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 cause is that it will 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, regardless of the pliability of Android. Furthermore, Samsung has tied its company identification to the software program — if the Galaxy S26 all of the sudden seemed so much 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 additionally 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 value a whole bunch of billions.

The decoupling problem carries over to a couple key apps. The Galaxy Watch presently 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 definitely the push for ecosystem management. If you happen to’ve received a watch that will not work with out a Samsung telephone, you are in all probability going to stay with Samsung usually for some time. If you happen to’ve received a Samsung equipment, you possibly can safely ignore SmartThings, nevertheless it creates the temptation to take a position extra in that platform to get probably the most out of it. One factor I take pleasure in about my Google TV is the flexibility to set a film evening scene for the whole room with a single voice command.

I truly 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 laborious within the unsuitable path.