Survey shows you're tired of Samsung's lazy approach to Galaxy S phones

Samsung has offered few hardware upgrades for its Galaxy S phones over the years, and colleague Joe Maring took issue with this in a recent opinion article. Joe questioned how much longer Samsung could get away with copy/paste jobs.

We also included a poll in this article asking readers what they thought of Samsung’s strategy for its Galaxy S phones. Well, the results are in, and here’s how you answered the survey.

Just over 2,100 votes were cast in this poll, and we have a runaway winner here. More than half of all respondents (~56.2%) felt that Samsung was playing it too safe and that it needed to release more innovative Galaxy S phones. This is an understandable result, as phones like the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have the same cameras and charging speeds as 2022’s Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus. Even the Galaxy S25 Ultra drip-feeds upgrades like camera hardware, while maintaining the same battery capacity as 2021’s Galaxy S21 Ultra.

User readermc chimed in to say that his new OnePlus 15 was superior to his Samsung flagship:

I have the Galaxy 24 Ultra which I’ve given to my son. I’m now using the OnePlus 15, it is superior in almost every way. My galaxy ran out of charge by 1pm, my OnePlus keeps going all day. I will never, ever buy another Samsung phone.

Meanwhile, fellow reader kclipper80 criticized Samsung’s lack of innovation:

I had the s23 ultra and upgraded to s24 ultra to get flat screen. Grew bored with phone so tried flip6 now 7. Im thinking of going (to) another vendor next upgrade as s26 ultra is more crap. Just no innovation and too much ai stuff. Lots of hype but no guts.

On the other hand, almost 30% of polled readers (~28.56%) felt that Samsung made solid phones but wanted more changes. These phones indeed offer great software, lengthy update policies, and some premium extras. So it’s easy to see why people would stick with them, even if they’re left wanting in some areas.

Just under 13% of surveyed readers felt that Samsung’s Galaxy S strategy was “perfectly fine” and that these phones were great.

Reader Frank V suggests that Samsung owners at large simply want a familiar experience above all else:

My wife who is not a tech nerd has been using a Note/ultra since the Note 3. She loves the stylus and hates whenever Samsung makes changes to the OS. I suspect most of Samsungs customers, who are not tech nerds and don’t read tech websites, prefer the status quo.

User douglasellice also explained why he’s happy with his Samsung flagships and the company’s strategy:

I think you guys don’t understand us normies. We don’t crave change. We’ll take it when it comes, especially when it means better performance, but we don’t crave it. That my s22 is almost as good as your S25 is for me validation that buying the s22 was a good idea. Sooner or later I’ll buy another phone, but only if there’s a good reason to do so.

Either way, it’s clear that polled Android Authority readers are tired of Samsung’s current Galaxy S strategy. It doesn’t look like things will change in a big way for the Galaxy S26 series, although the base model is tipped to get a larger battery while the S26 Ultra could get cool Privacy Display tech and faster wired charging.