I’m a fan of Samsung Galaxy phones. My frustrations with the Galaxy S25 Ultra come from disappointment because I know the company has a rich history of innovating with its smartphones. The Galaxy Note 4 and Note 9 are some of my favorite devices, and the Galaxy S10+ is still peak Samsung design.
However, when Samsung releases as many phones as it does, a few duds will make it to store shelves. You’ll notice a prominent exclusion from this list: I’m not including the Galaxy Note 7. While its battery had a fatal flaw, the Note 7 was a monster and probably would rank alongside the Note 4 and Note 9 if not for the recall debacle. As for the rest, these are 5 phones I felt Samsung should’ve never released or needed much more time in development.
5
Samsung Galaxy A53 5G
Lag monster for $450
In my career of reviewing devices, I’ve only hated a few phones, but the Galaxy A53 is one of them. I usually try to find the positives in each phone I review, but I wanted to throw the Galaxy A53 against a wall. When I saw the spec sheet, I thought the phone had a lot of promise. I looked forward to its fantastic display and big battery, expecting it to be a midrange winner and a cheaper entry point to enjoy Samsung’s One UI software. I was wrong.
Unfortunately, the Galaxy A53’s problems can be traced to its chipset. The Galaxy A52 5G used a Snapdragon 750G chipset, which provided excellent midrange performance. The A52 was successful, and we expected more of the same with the Galaxy A53. Instead, we got the Exynos 1280 chipset from Samsung. I’m not a blanket Exynos hater, and the more recent 1480 featured in the Galaxy A55 is excellent. However, the Exynos 1280 could not multitask smoothly, with constant lags and slowdowns. Even receiving several notifications at once was enough to bottleneck the Galaxy A53, and I couldn’t pull my SIM out of it fast enough once the review period was over.
4
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold
The first one wasn’t ready
Samsung deserves credit for releasing the first Galaxy Z Fold, and we know the company is starved for hardware innovation in 2025. However, several aspects and design flaws on the first Galaxy Fold suggest it should’ve been left in the oven a little longer to bake. Unfortunately, the hinge let in dust and particles too easily, leading to multiple screen failures on the review units sent out for testing. Pictures started popping up within days of the phones being sent out, showing ruined displays with noticeable bumps from debris underneath.
Samsung recalled the early units and delayed the launch until it found a solution. Eventually, the company used a cap to block off the top parts of the inner folding display, preventing items from getting underneath. The solution worked, and I had no issues with my Galaxy Z Fold 2, which was released the following year.
Malfunctioning displays weren’t the only issue with the original Galaxy Z Fold. Its outer display was small and barely usable, and the internal screen was mushy and easily damaged by a fingernail. The Galaxy Z Fold was necessary as a proof of concept, and I loved some of the phones that followed, but the original left much to be desired for its hefty price tag.
3
Samsung Galaxy S5
The ugliest flagship I can remember
I don’t have enough space in this list to cover the Galaxy S5’s shortcomings. Its design didn’t live up to its price tag, as for the same $650, Apple and HTC were offering aluminium builds on their phones. The Galaxy S5’s plastic construction made it feel cheap, and the now-infamous bandaid pattern on the back didn’t help. It was an ugly phone, but that wasn’t its only downfall.
The Galaxy S5 didn’t perform well. Although it had flagship specs, Samsung’s TouchWiz software lagged horribly for users. The phone featured Samsung’s first fingerprint reader in the home button, but the implementation was wonky. Users were required to swipe across the sensor like they would on a laptop. Between the awkward motion and unreliable function, the fingerprint reader wasn’t a hit on the Galaxy S5, leading to its place on my list.
2
Samsung Galaxy J1
Budget users didn’t deserve this
Until the Galaxy A series gained popularity, Samsung users on a budget usually had a Galaxy J phone in their pocket. Despite their inexpensive price, most became reliable workhorses, doing just well enough that users didn’t need much more. However, it didn’t start that way. The original Galaxy J1 was a disaster, and Samsung learned that you can go too low on performance, especially since Samsung’s software wasn’t well optimized in 2015.
The Galaxy J1 featured a low-end chipset with only 512MB (yes, MB) of RAM, leading to awful performance. TouchWiz didn’t run well on flagship devices with much more RAM, so you can imagine how painful it was to fire up a Galaxy J1 with the TouchWiz of the era. It didn’t help that the Galaxy J1 never got a software update, leaving it stuck on Android 4.4 forever.
1
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
An ugly, expensive mistake
The Galaxy S20 Ultra was a disappointing style downgrade from the fantastic Galaxy S10+. The S10+ was sleek, light, and powerful, but Samsung didn’t continue that trend in 2020 with the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The device was huge and looked like someone had put a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in the microwave, as the design lacked definition. Samsung also raised the price, with a base model S20 Ultra running you $1,400, and if you wanted upgraded storage or more RAM, your wallet would be punished for $1,600.
The high price aside, the Galaxy S20 Ultra had other issues. Samsung’s advertised 100x Space Zoom was a blurry mess, and the phone had numerous autofocus problems that led to awful photos until the company finally devised a fix. The phone’s battery life wasn’t good, despite its massive 5,000mAh battery, and customers were left unhappy.
At least Samsung was trying
While these devices drew my ire, I’d still take this period of Samsung over the company we currently have. Any company will make mistakes along the way; it means they’re trying. And while today’s Samsung is focused on Galaxy AI and unoffensive designs like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Samsung of the mid-2010s was all about hardware innovation and throwing as many phones into the marketplace as possible to see what would stick. I didn’t always agree with the results, but I miss the dedication to progress.
