Samsung announced on Monday evening that it will host a livestreamed Galaxy Unpacked event on September 4, strategically positioning itself just five days ahead of Apple’s highly anticipated iPhone 17 event on September 9.
The virtual event, scheduled for 5:30 a.m. ET (2:30 a.m. PT), will stream live on Samsung.com and the company’s YouTube channel, according to an official Samsung announcement. The timing appears deliberate, as Samsung seeks to capture attention before Apple’s traditional fall product launch window
I’d consider switching to a Samsung phone if it didn’t contain a bunch of bloat. Don’t have ads in the operating system, don’t block side loading, don’t be loaded with telemetry. Don’t have software features in the phone that you need to subscribe for, don’t have in app purchases for the default apps that come with the phone.
If they get to this point, then they are on par with iPhone. Google seems to be closer, but they are behind in performance.
I’m happy to get a $700ish iPhone that I will use for 4-5 years.
If a phone has preinstalled apps that can be removed, I’m pretty much not even remotely interested.
This is such a perplexing take. All of your worries apply to Apple even more so and yet you have no problem with that?
Some real fanboyism going on in here.
Every Samsung phone I’ve had came with Facebook, onedrive, bixby, AR Emoj, and a bunch of other stuff. You can remove almost everything from an iPhone except the App Store.
You can also disable these apps and remove them without root too (using magisk). You can’t remove a bunch of stuff from ios too and you can’t even use the phone without apple account. You can’t even use any other web browser that isn’t safari based - isn’t that crazy?
That is completely false. You can setup an iPhone and place a phone call, browse the web, listen to music, etc without an Apple account.
Insane how people get so worked up over other people’s opinions and reply with incorrect conjecture.
Nope you cant download or update a single app without an account because many features like the app store requires and account.
So you paid 1000 usd for a calculator and a phone call machine? Oh wait there’s no actual calculator either.
Bro, what sort of hate-train are you on?
You can dislike the iPhone, that’s totally cool and your prerogative. But making up lies just looks silly.
You can’t install or update a single app on a google play protected phone without an account either, and now that sideloading is getting locked down your options are even fewer. And what’s this nonsense about no calculator? The iPhone has had a calculator since 2007.
You can literally download any apk and install it in seconds. You can also install any app store like f-droid and install free software.
I really dont understand your corporate loyalty - is Apple paying you?
You ARE making shit up though. Is Samsung paying YOU?
You actually can’t anymore. Let it go my dude.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/google-will-block-sideloading-of-unverified-android-apps-starting-next-year/
Other than telemetry, can you point them out as I’m not aware of those in the iPhone.
I guess side loading is sort of possible on an iPhone, but not something an average user is going to do. From my limited Android experience, it seems much easier there, for better or worse.
What software features does Samsung lock behind subscription? The only thing that comes to mind with Apple is Apple One, but that’s for content and cloud storage, not things we’d expect for free.
My understanding was that the s24 had ai features that were free for a year that later turned into a subscription to use. I don’t know if that has changed or not.
If not, I wonder if the photos app has some advertisement to subscribe when you open editing even if not using ai features.
Ios has full telemetry, blocks sideloading to the point it’s literally making news right now for blocking iTorrent on alt store that just got forced out of Apple by EU regulators and a billion other reasons Apple is holding the society hostage for their profits.
I’m not saying Apple is better, but being the same as Apple is not going to get anyone to switch. They have to be better. This regression is a big step back and side loading was the biggest draw to Android for me personally.
But they are objectively better though that’s beside the point tbh. Normal peoppe don’t care that much about these issues unfortunately and thats why Google’s Pixel event was basically a TV shop for house moms rather than highlight on side loading and freedom.
I do agree that regression is awful with the latest Google news that they’ll require developer identification for Google play protect and made me cancel my pixel 10 pre order. It’s incredibly shameful eventhough it can be bypassed with 1 setting toggle for now.
Android or Apple is objectively better? I don’t think anyone can make that claim as people have different needs and preferences.
Lol sure thing - nothing is objective and I’m never wrong!
Its posts like these that make me uninterested in Android. It just seems like there is so much sketchy stuff under the hood.
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/52131706
Huh?
I was an anti Apple hater too before I learned tech tribalism is dumb.
Saying Apple is bad is not tech tribalism. Even in this shitty duolopoly competition is good and reflecting on platform differences is what pushes them to compromise. If android didn’t have side loading Apple would have never been forced to open up in europe and if Apple didn’t have magsafe we would never have qi2 etc.
It’s objectively good to have conflict here unless you believe in some twisted form of accelerationism where both platforms should burn in a fire and which clearly will never happen.
Ads in the settings app (for example Try iCloud!), ads and bloat on the home screen (for example Apple Watch app preinstalled even though you don’t have one), side loading blocked.
iCloud is a fair point, but the Apple watch app can be deleted. Can Facebook be deleted from a Samsung phone if it’s preinstalled? Level 1 techs podcast occasionally mentions apps being downloaded to the phone automatically.
Does that stuff really happen on Samsung?
Idk if it’s a fair point, they’re advertising their service where it lives in their settings.
Like, they aren’t pushing ads down your throat they’re showing the service in its home.
It’s not like a Samsung tv pushing ads on your Home Screen.
Does Google not advertise their services in the settings menu where you’d login to the cloud provider?
I agree with you, I just said it was a fair point to move the conversation forward. I genuinely have not used a Samsung device and don’t know anyone with one.
So, I was hoping the response would lead to more information about them. I was hoping I was wrong about it as they make cool phones.
Not going to shill for Samsung, it has it’s problems, but to answer your question I happen to use one and I don’t have a Facebook app. I don’t remember if it was not preinstalled or if it was able to be uninstalled and I did when I got the phone, but I don’t have the app. Either way there is definitely no unremovable third-party bloat. But there is a bunch of first-party bloat though, like Samsung Cloud, Samsung Checkout, Samsung Keyboard, etc, and it can’t be completely uninstalled. I haven’t seen any apps being downloaded to my phone automatically, but I’m not logged in to a Samsung account so maybe that’s why.
I don’t mind the vendor stuff to much as long as it gets out of your way. I just would be so annoyed to see random 3rd party stuff on the phone especially if it automatically installed.
It’s obvious how you haven’t even touched a Samsung phone in the past 10 years and are just repeating misinformation. Carrier phones with preinstalled bloatware is a thing, but Samsung mostly did it in the heyday if Facebook and Twitter integration with data plans in the US circa 2015. Newer phones and international versions have never had preinstalled social media apps, let alone installed at system level. This was a widespread issue at the time with all phones, from Motorola to ASUS, and yes, even Apple. Not a Samsung exclusive issue.
Currently, even Samsung applications can be uninstalled. There’s ads, on the Galaxy store, where you are supposed to have ads. They are no more intrusive than looking at recommended apps on the Play store or the AppStore.
There’s one bit of dark pattern left, and it is after major upgrades, Samsung will show a notification suggesting to install recommended apps. But you can touch “don’t show this again” and it goes away forever. I’ve never seen an ad on my s24 phone ever.
So, my suggestion is to not blindly trust everything you hear on the internet. No matter how geeky and knowledgeable the people may seem. Just find variety and diversity of POVs to form a more complex and nuanced opinion, even seek personal experience. Not just stay with a single person’s biased opinion. And definitely don’t parrot loudly something that you have no first hand experience with.
Your right, I have not touched a Samsung phone and the only person I know with one lives in a different country.
I’m only repeating what I’ve heard from multiple places, I’ve never heard the opposite. Didn’t the most recent release come with tons of preinstalled apps taking up a decent percentage of of the hard drive?
If that’s not true, it makes the news and that’s what iPhone users see and believe. There is not really news to the contrary.
On my Samsung, all the Samsung apps are not uninstallable, they can only be disabled in settings but not uninstalled.