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Same battery size on Galaxy Ultra phones since… forever?
The one thing that might upset loyal Samsung users the most is the lack of battery upgrades to the Galaxy Ultra series. This is especially noticeable now, when silicon-carbon batteries have taken over and companies like OnePlus, Honor, Oppo and Vivo have adopted 7,000 mAh cells and bigger.
Let me remind you that it was the Galaxy S20 Ultra in 2020 that launched with a 5,000 mAh battery, which seemed like a big size for the time. That size has not changed once ever since.
Base models especially feel the same every year
And while you can still argue that the Galaxy Ultra models have gotten some upgrades, the base models have suffered from even more neglect.
The only thing that seems to change in the Galaxy S and S Plus models every year is the design style and the chip.
Same 3X telephoto camera
A quick look at history: the Galaxy S20 and S21 had a 64MP sensor with digital zoom that could reach 3X. Then, the Galaxy S22 made the jump to a native 3X camera, and again — no updates ever since. And disappointingly, the latest rumors claim the Galaxy S26 might stick around with the very same tiny sensor that performs sub-par in low light once again.
Compare this to many Chinese phones that have adopted much bigger sensors and offer a superior photo quality, and you start to understand the disappointment.
Software features often feel recycled
One UI is one of the Android skins that I like the most. It has its own style and doesn't just blindly copy everything Apple does.
Still, the pace of innovation in One UI has slowed down significantly in the last few years. There have been no breakthrough new features, and most of the hype has been around AI features.
Let's be honest: we like having Gemini on Galaxies, but that's Google's innovation — not Samsung's.
It took every other company to make a good foldable, until Samsung finally followed
There is no better example of just how stubborn Samsung has been in the past few years than the Galaxy Fold series.
For six iterations, the phone has kept roughly the same form factor, with a cover screen that was too narrow for comfortable use. It kind of forced you to open it — inconvenient for small daily tasks.
Only after Oppo, Honor, Vivo, Huawei and everyone else had made multiple generations of a proper foldable, Samsung finally decided that it had to change course and adopt a wider cover screen.
Ignoring the wishes of its core users
Finally, I have to bring up something that's a bit forgotten but still very relevant. A microSD card is something that so many Samsung fans love, and with recent improvements in SD card speeds, it makes sense to include it. However, in a very Apple-like move, Samsung does not, preferring to cash in on storage upgrades instead.
So… has Samsung become the new Apple?
Meanwhile, competitors are faster with new features. They give users bigger batteries, bigger sensors, proper foldables!
Galaxy phones used to feel like a glimpse of the future. Today, they feel a bit settled into a comfortable (and boring) present.
A little chaos wouldn't hurt.
