> Samsung’s S series secured a spot in the list for the second consecutive year, reflecting the brand’s continued focus on its flagship lineup.

I'm kind of surprised the latest S series phone isn't on there every year. I've always thought of it as the premium non-Apple phone.

Samsung annoy me with all the bloatware etc but the hardware is decent. I am in, I think, my seventh year with my S10 and it's going strong.

Samsung has really been dropping the ball and has basically reduced themselves to a "No kids, we have Apple at home" clones outside of their fold line ups. Their OneUI updates have borrowed heavily from liquid glass.

The S series have had the same camera hardware since the S22, and the upcoming S26 is no different. That's 5 years of the same exact hardware, and borderline the same display since the S21.

People like to give Apple shit for releasing the same phone year after year, but Samsung has literally been releasing the same exact phone for 4+ years now.

Now, they scrapped the edge late, brought back the plus, delayed the S26 because Apple forced them to put 256GB as the base storage instead of 128, and there's rumours of a wider aspect ratio fold on top of the regular fold. They're just throwing spaghetti at the wall trying to see what sticks.

Samsung has no vision.

I personally don't see the appeal of a premium product that includes bloatware when you can now get premium products without bloatware. I tolerated it in the early days of smartphones when there were fewer options and even fewer good options, but their "improvements" always felt gimmicky.

I've owned the SII, Note 4 (and a few Pixels in between) and now the S24. The S24 is by far the worst Android phone I've used. Massive battery drain on stand-by, even with AOD off. It has about half the battery live of a Pixel 5. Many accidental touches when in your pocket which will screw up all sorts of settings. Annoying push for their AI. Sub-par fingerprint sensor. The only reason I bought this phone was because it is one of the last compact phones around.

Samsung had been kind of side grading their flagships and offering worse SOCs depending on location, paired with there plainly being more options for Android there'll be more variety spread out over the different manufacturers

Samsung has really fallen behind the last couple years IMO. They use very different chips in different regions, and refuse for some reason to embrace bigger batteries.

Phones out of China these days are all sporting ~7000mah batteries, even in smaller form factors. Samsung's biggest phone only has 5000, and that's not a small difference in battery life.

Maybe they're still reeling from the Note 7 fiasco?

To this day my S6 was the phone I was actually happiest with. Mostly just because of its durability, fit and feel (and the screen of course) rather than any particular tech spec.

That "bloatware" is just alternatives to Google's software and systems, and much of it isn't bad, if not better.

I prefer the Gallery app over Google Photos, the Samsung My Files app is cleaner than Google Files, Studio is a decent video editor, Samsung Notes is a capable rich text editor with pen support, Dex is a usable desktop shell, and more. Anything I don't like - like Bixby, Store, Keyboard, Wallet, Pass and Internet - I can easily replace and even hide them in the Settings. Combined they take up minimal storage.

I'm not sure what people expect Samsung to do, just use whatever Google says to use and not try to innovate?

>>Samsung annoy me with all the bloatware etc but the hardware is decent

I used to buy every S Ultra phone every year, thinking the same - this year I bought the latest Oppo instead and wow, what a bubble I used to live in. The battery alone blows the Ultras out of the water, the chip is just as fast but stays cool, the camera and the screen are just better. The only thing that Samsung had over this was the anti reflective coating. Oh and it actually charges like a modern phone not something from 2015.

>Samsung annoy me with all the bloatware etc

This is why it never has been and will never be considered a premium android phone. Samsung's apps are awful.