Samsung is the new Apple

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By Victor Hristov

Published: Dec 04, 2025, 10:00 AM

This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

In the past year or so, you can see this comment from more and more people: Samsung has become what Apple was once known for — a company that innovates very slowly, giving us the same phone under a different name every year.

With same-ish Galaxy S series models and features that get carried over without a meaningful upgrade, has Samsung become the new Apple?

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.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra may or may not get a battery upgrade — the rumors are split — but even if it does, whispers mention a 5,400 mAh battery size, which is a very modest improvement.

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.

And even if you look at the design changes, the S24 looks like the S23, which looks like S22. Boring!

On the display side, there have been only a few changes as well. A minor bump in brightness every year or so, but the coolest technologies like the anti-reflective screens were left for the Ultra series only.

In many ways, these non-Ultra phones bring back memories of Apple's "S-year" bumps.

Same 3X telephoto camera

This is particularly upsetting for camera enthusiasts. At $800, the base Galaxy S model was previously one of very few phones in this price range to feature a telephoto camera, but the market has changed and Samsung has not adapted.

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?

Not exactly. But it has become the company that upgrades your phone the way you upgrade your laptop, with so few changes you just start ignoring the new generations.

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.

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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.

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