Congratulations, Samsung, you did it. You checked the last box after making some of the best Android phones for many years and have become the Apple of Android. In the early days of Android, Samsung was accused, officially and by tech enthusiasts, of copying Apple in many ways. At the time, mostly in software. However, Samsung has innovated and tried out new ideas in hardware and software, at least when it wasn’t emulating iOS.
No Thanks, Keep Reading
I’m not the first person to say this. I’ve written it before, but Samsung’s phones are boring. Across the board, the brand has become boring. However, boring doesn’t mean bad. The company makes excellent products and services, or it wouldn’t be successful. This is much like Apple. But it isn’t this homogenized, stagnant progression that made Android fans fall for Samsung. I’m at the point where, as a fan, I don’t look forward to Samsung announcements.
Historically impressive
Recently bland
The last Samsung flagship phone I used was the Galaxy S23 Ultra. I really liked that phone. However, it seems that it was with the Galaxy S23 series the company decided to stop trying fully. The designs have mostly stayed the same since then. Take a look at the Galaxy S25 and the S23. The review of the S25 is titled “a small phone without any big ideas.”
Before the Galaxy S23 series hit, and Samsung became boring and minimal with its design language, the Galaxy S21 series brought a unique design where the phone’s frame melted into the housing for the rear cameras. It was a great way to make the cameras feel like part of the phone rather than an afterthought. Have you seen that look where it seems the designer forgot to add the cameras to the phone and it looks stuck on there? It’s like the little circles that look like stickers on the latest Galaxy devices.
Samsung hasn’t always made great design choices. The Galaxy S5 and the back of the phone were called the “Band-Aid design” or the terrible software skin known as TouchWiz. However, instead of quitting, going to a static design, sticking with it for years, and being complacent, early Samsung mobile devices pushed the limits of what was thought possible for smartphones.
Samsung was willing to see what stuck by testing wacky ideas. The Galaxy Camera combined a smartphone with a full-sized digital camera, the Galaxy Nexus curved the phone, eye-tracking features for scrolling your phone without touching it, and more. But the tech behemoth got too cool somewhere along the way to innovate in more ways than slapping AI into everything or an incremental update and calling it “revolutionary.”
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Too much imitation
Has put a limitation in place
Slow-to-change and rehashing designs have been a staple of Apple. While the company had innovations in the past, Apple deserves plenty of criticism for keeping things the same year after year and telling everyone it’s the best yet. This was the last box Samsung checked: the same design for the third year in a row, uninspired designs, and ecosystem-locked features. The last one mostly applies to its wearables.
Along with designs becoming a secondary thought, so has innovation in other areas. It’s like taking multiple photocopies of a picture, which becomes lower quality with each copy. That’s what Samsung has been doing. The Galaxy S23 Ultra was considered a great device. However, each model has been a bit worse since then, to the point where the latest Galaxy S25 Ultra “no longer lives up to its name.”
Samsung isn’t the only phone maker that has gotten stale in its mobile device efforts. But it’s more glaring because Samsung used to be an innovator. Some of this is because there is no competition in the US. For Android users, it’s Samsung and Google, which work closely together that they are almost the same. Without any outside push from other brands that offer competitive products at competitive prices and exciting differences, there’s no reason for any company to spend resources on changing.
OnePlus has been doing great things in the last few years, but it won’t be able to make a dent in the US if the company isn’t in carrier stores. Apple gets away with it because it is the only company that offers iOS, macOS, and watchOS. While that has benefits, Samsung is going down the same path. But it isn’t the only brand with access to Android. Samsung has the most leverage.
There is still hope
I believe
I want Samsung to push the envelope. I want it to get back in the game of innovation outside of slapping AI into every aspect of a phone, and I don’t mean by giving us a thin slab phone. I’m glad a tri-fold phone could be in the works. However, Samsung needs to do more than find different shapes for its phones. Software is beginning to be stale and bloated. Cameras are stalling or degrading. Exciting isn’t a word to describe a company once known for doing things that others wouldn’t dare. Instead, Samsung has become something no true Android fan wanted: an Apple clone. Please come back, Samsung.
