Samsung in the Run to be The Face of Android in 2020

Samsung has been in the smartphone market for ages and has managed to stay on the top for ages. That lead seemed to be under danger as Huawei was rapidly gaining the ranks, until the US backhanded China’s best into obscurity. Samsung isn’t the best in every part of the globe, though, especially in value-oriented regions. But, when it comes to becoming the “face of Android,” no firm, not even Google, is more in the limelight than South Korea’s largest multinational.

Innovative & Cutting Edge

Since the adored Galaxy S2, Samsung has been one of the few manufacturers with the resources and clout to create handsets that compete with Apple’s iPhone. With classic phones like the Galaxy S3, S6 Edge, and much of the Note series showing the greatest hardware that Android has to offer, the brand’s inventive edge has kept it, and Android, in the limelight. Whether it’s curving screens, pioneering the trend in massive handsets, or the inclusion of a small pen, Samsung has had Western media looking over Apple’s shoulder.

In terms of today’s product lineup, Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series continues to provide perhaps the greatest combination of technology, software, and value on the market. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 stand out as the only two foldable smartphones that are actually ready for prime time. Excellent features with updated large file transfer features as well. Oppo and Xiaomi are also exploring, but their devices lack the finesse gathered by Samsung through four generations of commercial goods. Not to mention that they are not available outside of China.

While year-on-year advancements aren’t as thrilling as in previous years, Samsung remains the innovation poster child and is poised to remain a market leader if the industry fully embraces new form factors in the future years. Another thing to consider is that Samsung has more clout than Google when it comes to Android. In recent years, Samsung has been even more important in Android’s development path than Google. Google may own Android, but Samsung is the one who makes the decisions.

The most recent example is foldables and the required development of Android 12L. Experimenting with next-generation form factors has resulted in tight cooperation between the two tech titans, with Samsung driving the pace and Google doing all it can to incorporate folding capabilities into Android. However, the ensuing connection has been a long burn, requiring four years between the release of the original Galaxy Fold and the implementation of a seemingly apparent taskbar feature in the current Z Fold 4.

In addition, the brand single-handedly moved Google’s Android wearables project into the current day. Wear OS languished under Google’s watch for years, so much so that Samsung abandoned the platform in favor of its in-house Tizen operating system. Wear OS 3, developed once again in collaboration with Samsung, has breathed fresh life into Google’s wearable platform, making the current devices more competitive with the Apple Watch ecosystem.

Samsung has contributed to the improvement of Android, but a more contentious viewpoint would be to ponder where Samsung goods would be if it wasn’t bound by Google’s app ecosystem. It’s not difficult to see Samsung inventing at the same rate with software as it does with hardware. However, Google’s Play Store and Play Services are where customers and developers gather, preventing Samsung from breaking away from Mountain View’s steadily changing version of Android.

Final Thoughts

All of this is not to say that Samsung has played a faultless hand over the last decade. There have been a few blunders and even a catastrophic launch or two, most notably the Galaxy Note 7 incident, which did not help its or Android’s reputation.

Other brands, such as Xiaomi’s dramatic expansion in South Asia and Oppo’s ascent to prominence in China, have also had significant influence on more specialized locales. Although Samsung is not the only major participant, it is the most identifiable face of Android in the global and larger ecosystem imagery.