The company is finally paying heed to consumer feedback.
Despite charging a premium for its smartphones, Samsung shows ads in many of the system apps. This has not gone down well with Samsung smartphone owners who have constantly criticized the company about it.
It looks like Samsung is finally paying heed to consumer feedback and has decided to remove ads from system apps on its devices.
Samsung to Stop Showing Ads In Pre-Loaded System Apps
Responding to a question from an employee in an internal town hall meeting, TM Roh, the head of Samsung’s mobile business, said that the company would remove ads from system apps on its smartphones in the future.
This includes the ads that Samsung shows in the Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Themes apps. Samsung’s mobile head did not mention Samsung Health in his answer, so it’s unclear if ads would be removed from this app or not.
Samsung started showing ads in pre-loaded system apps on its devices over the last two years. Initially, the ads were limited to Samsung Health and Samsung Pay before the company expanded it to include the Weather app as well. This did not go down well with Samsung Galaxy device owners who were forced to view ads in stock apps despite paying a premium for their phones.
As Maeli Business News reports, Samsung plans to remove the ads from system apps on its devices through a One UI update. However, it is unclear if this will be a part of a monthly security update or if consumers would have to wait for a significant One UI update.
Chinese OEMs Also Shows Ads in Their Smartphones
Samsung is not the only one that shows ads in system apps of its devices, Xiaomi also does the same. However, unlike Samsung, Xiaomi smartphones offer more value for money, so consumers are more forgiving to a certain extent. The company has also reduced the number of ads it shows on its devices over the last year following user criticism.
On the other hand, Samsung shows ads in the Weather app, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Health even in its premium $1,000 flagship phones like the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 3. This obviously leaves a bad taste in the mouth of customers who did not pay a premium to view ads in pre-loaded system apps on their phones.
The move could help Samsung win back customers who were turned off by the ads in the system apps.
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