My Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 was unlike anything I had ever used before—a fully capable PC that fit in my pocket, unfolded into a tablet, and became a desktop when connected to a monitor. Unfortunately, Samsung has made a series of decisions that have increasingly put me off from using the phone and inspired me to seek out something else.

Samsung and Google are far too close

If I wanted Google slop, I’d buy a Pixel

Credit: Samsung

I have an uncomfortable relationship with Google. I do my best to avoid ads, and Google is one of the largest ad-tech companies in the world. I deleted my Google account and went years without one until required again by work. I don’t actually like most Google apps. Yet, I love Android.

I like Samsung hardware as an alternative to Google, but there is increasingly less daylight between the two companies. At this year’s Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung actually had genuinely new hardware innovation to show off in the form of the Galaxy 526 Ultra’s privacy display, but most of the event was dedicated to ever more showcases of the same Gemini-powered AI slop we’ve seen before. Samsung and Google were proud to show off the ability to generate fake images, inserting people and animals into places they never were, at a time when conspiracy theories are all the rage.

Sometimes this closeness yields great results. One UI looks much more like stock Android than TouchWiz ever did, and I’m glad the two companies have settled on QuickShare as Android’s take on AirDrop. Other times, not so much.

Samsung is replacing more of its apps with Google’s

RIP Samsung Messages

When I unbox a new Galaxy device, it increasingly prioritizes Google apps over Samsung’s own. Samsung Messages is dying in favor of Google Messages, an app I dislike and only use because it has become the only way I can reliably take part in many group chats.

Meanwhile, Samsung is also in the process of upgrading Bixby, but Galaxy phones still default to Gemini. I also see little point to Samsung even bothering to continue shipping the Galaxy Store when even the company’s most niche software, Good Look, is now available in the Play Store as well.

Samsung wants Galaxy phones to be AI phones

A company too large to ignore pressure from investors

I didn’t become a Samsung fan until after Galaxy phones became boring. I love Samsung’s modern design, but during this same period, Samsung’s focus has been on Galaxy AI, not pushing the hardware.

I do genuinely appreciate some of these Galaxy AI features. I like that I can quickly transcribe my voice recordings. It’s helpful being able to remove dust and scratches from device photos without needing to retake them (though even this most mundane use of Object Eraser still leaves me feeling a bit icky). I deeply value being able to write in cursive and have it converted into print text. That said, until recently, most of these features weren’t branded as AI.

Samsung is, first and foremost, a hardware company. I’d like to see the company flex its strengths rather than lean into areas where it is overwhelmingly reliant on Google.

There are plenty of non-AI features I’d love to see Samsung work on

Legacy functionality that is largely going ignored

Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek 

Foldable phones suffer from a lack of foldable-specific software. I wrote early on about how I could move apps around on my phone like a PC, but seven inches is a bit cramped for that. Other companies have come up with solutions. OpenCanvas was one of my favorite things about the OnePlus Open, and other Chinese foldables like the Oppo Find N6 all have similar multitasking solutions.

Likewise, there were actually times when I appreciated Flex Mode, the set of features that appear when a foldable is half-folded like a laptop. That feature set has also gone largely ignored. Edge panels and the S Pen are some of the best things about Samsung phones, but the company doesn’t boast about them. All the money is to be found in talking about AI.

Other companies are doing more interesting things

There are a few companies that sell phones in the US with the size to do what Samsung does—modify Android with a distinct interface and apps alike. So instead, I’m seeking out companies that are small enough that their business model is simply trying to sell me a good phone.

I’ve bought a Murena Fairphone 6, a privacy-respecting and repairable phone whose ethos better matches my own. I’ve reviewed the Unihertz Titan 2 Elite, a QWERTY keyboard phone that is a night and day makeover of last year’s model, which shows Unihertz clearly listened to customer feedback. I’m even looking into the Bigme Hibreak Pro Color, a color E Ink smartphone from a company that specializes in E Ink devices. The software is a buggy hot mess, and there is more preinstalled AI bloat than I’d like to see, but I appreciate a company that has found a way to provide a niche audience with better hardware specs than we E Ink fans generally get.

Big tech can do what big tech does. There are other brands out there that aren’t making the same mistakes.

Display

6.31 inch P-OLED LTPO

RAM

8GB

Powered by /e/OS operating system, the Murena Fairphone (Gen. 6) protects your data at all times, while at the same time protecting the planet. Made by 50% fair and recycled materials, in fair conditions and with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the market.