Samsung is distancing itself from Android

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

Oh I can't see Samsung pulling away from Android. They have a really good thing going with Android.

They can't even if they want to.

The Google ecosystem is already huge at this point.

 

[trenmost]

imo samsung probably wants to distance itself from other android competitors by software, as hardware wise all phones tend to be the same.

 

[ronin_cse]

Arstechnica wrote an opinion piece on this subject years ago (I tried looking for it with no luck, there are a LOT of Samsung related articles ).

IMO you're right to an extent. It is more of a safety net, and more of a result from Samsung's relationship with google a few years ago as it was fairly rocky for a time. Over time they have developed replacements of basically every major google app and service (not great ones, although much better in the last year or so). If something broke down between Samsung and Google they could basically migrate all their phones over to Tizen since most Galaxy users probably use the default Samsung apps anyways. As others have said many customers still don't understand that they have an Android phone, they think it's a Samsung phone.

That being said it probably won't happen at this point. As I said relationships between Samsung and google were very rocky a few years ago and this seemed like a legit concern. AFAIK at this point things are much better now as google realized how important Samsung is, and after suffering major sales losses for awhile Samsung because much less self-assured.

 

[pbike908]

It will be interesting to see what Samsung does with their new processors. I am fairly new to Android, but one thing that stands out as an engineering problem with my Android Phone (Droid Turbo 2) is that it always gets warm when I use it for awhile and/or I am charging. I suspect that it's the Qualcom processor. Stands to reason that this shouldn't happen as I'm only web browsing -- meaning I'm not watching video nor gaming.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I personally think they'd get slaughtered. The problem isn't that Samsung couldn't pull it off in a technical sense, but the support would not exist. Google has a massive ecosystem.... all those apps, all those services, that massive infrastructure. If you want to see the challenge that Samsung would have, look no further than Microsoft. If there was any company that had the capabilities to take on either Google or Apple in that space, it was them. But they came too late to the game... and even though they could tempt OEMs and users with tight integration to the most dominant desktop platform in the world. Windows mobile fizzled and went nowhere.

And Samsung doesn't really have those built-in relationships that Redmond had....

Samsung might be the dominant Android player at the moment, but there are plenty of players itching to take them out. If they tried to play funny and break off on their own, I think we'd see a company like Huawei (well, most likely them) move rapidly to fill that void. So all those people would go into their carrier store and hear about how all their stuff most likely wouldn't be available if they stuck with Samsung... but hey... get the Huawei P12 and you'll not miss a beat.

I think you are right about Huawei filling the gap with the least amount of effort. LG and HTC are having enough trouble to stay afloat that to expect them to fill that void would be a near insurmountable task.

MS should have been the one to be the ruling OS, but like Leo said....it just didn't happen. They missed the ship. I think they could possibly make a small come back if they could integrate the Play Store, but I'm guessing it will be a very cold day in Hades before that happens.

 

[Morty2264]

I personally think they'd get slaughtered. The problem isn't that Samsung couldn't pull it off in a technical sense, but the support would not exist. Google has a massive ecosystem.... all those apps, all those services, that massive infrastructure. If you want to see the challenge that Samsung would have, look no further than Microsoft. If there was any company that had the capabilities to take on either Google or Apple in that space, it was them. But they came too late to the game... and even though they could tempt OEMs and users with tight integration to the most dominant desktop platform in the world. Windows mobile fizzled and went nowhere.

And Samsung doesn't really have those built-in relationships that Redmond had....

Samsung might be the dominant Android player at the moment, but there are plenty of players itching to take them out. If they tried to play funny and break off on their own, I think we'd see a company like Huawei (well, most likely them) move rapidly to fill that void. So all those people would go into their carrier store and hear about how all their stuff most likely wouldn't be available if they stuck with Samsung... but hey... get the Huawei P12 and you'll not miss a beat.

I definitely get where you're coming from. It would be an uphill battle for Samsung, for sure; regardless of their popularity. And you're right about Google and all of the apps' loyalties to the company... Samsung would be in a tight spot there.

 

[LeoRex]

I think you are right about Huawei filling the gap with the least amount of effort.

I don't think there is any coincidence that Samsung started working more closely with Google while Huawei rose as a major player in the market. Before that, Samsung could look at its position as really the only big hitter... And use that as leverage. LG and HTC faltered, Sony's well, Sony... So they had all the chips. Wasn't too long along that Samsung was really the only viable Android OEM. Everyone else was losing money.

The equation has changed though. Huawei and Xiaomi are growing rapidly, snatching up market share in developing markets and looking to make some headway in the established markets.

So now, Samsung needs Google more than Google needs Samsung. No way they are going to burn that bridge.