Last year, we reported that Samsung was planning on introducing Ads to its smartphones and tablets. Turns out, the company actually went forward with the terrible plan.
Max Weinbach, condemning the methods Samsung has opted for, has recently published a blog on Android Authority detailing why pushing ads like this is not justified when it comes to OEMs like Samsung.
Got this on my Note9. Not sure if it's because my Note9 thinks it's a Note10 or if it's an ad. pic.twitter.com/CeD2KfmidE
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) August 9, 2019
He writes:
I have been using Samsung phones every day for almost four years. It was because Samsung had fantastic hardware paired with—depending on the year—good software. 2020 is the first year in a while I’m not using a Samsung phone as my daily driver. The reason? Ads.
Recently, Todd Haselton of CNBC tweeted how his $1380 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip was displaying ads from DirectTV in the stock dialer app.
https://twitter.com/robotodd/status/1229768673352724480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1229768673352724480%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.androidpolice.com%2F2020%2F06%2F30%2Fads-are-taking-over-samsungs-galaxy-smartphones-and-im-fed-up%2F
The ads showed up in the ‘Place’ tab that is actually a partnership with Yelp, an American public company and lets users search for business contacts without using Google search. According to Weinbach, he gave Samsung the benefit of the doubt, thinking the ad was a mistake on Yelp’s part. However, it was not. Samsung had placed the ad such that it could blend in.
Are you kidding me… pic.twitter.com/hRV0aU9B3H
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) June 21, 2020
This is not it; other flagship smartphones from the company are also getting tons of ads in different applications. Samsung Music has ads that look like another track in your library. Similarly, Samsung Health and Samsung Pay have banners for promotional ads.
Other applications that display well-blended ads regularly include:
- Samsung Phone
- Galaxy Store
- Samsung Health
- Samsung Pay
- Samsung Weather
- Bixby
- Samsung Music
Companies like Google and Facebook have been using ads as a source of revenue for as long as we remember. However, since these organizations provide billions of people around the world with free services, it is justified. What justifies Samsung’s absurd and terrible advertising on its smartphones when consumers are paying as much as $1400 for the hardware and software they use?
Even Xiaomi having ads in their phones is somewhat justified as not only are the ads optional (easy to turn off), their flagships cost less than half what Samsung’s flagships do.
Android is just pathetic. Admit it.
It takes an intelligent mind to appreciate the genius, that, Android is.
Yeah, more like, a lack of intelligence to appreciate android. :)