There will be less bloatware on the Galaxy S6 – report

A new report gives us hope that Samsung is finally going to do something about the bloatware on its devices.

Earlier this month, a Business Korea story claimed Samsung is working to optimize the software on the upcoming Galaxy S6 so it can compete with Nexus devices in terms of performance. It looks like this optimization is extending to the amount of apps preloaded on the Galaxy S6, if this report from SamMobile is accurate.

The website claims Samsung is going to remove every piece of add-on software that can be downloaded as an application. While light on details, the report suggests Samsung will make these apps available for download, presumably through the Play Store and/or the Samsung Apps store.

Features that are built-in the operating system, like Multi Window, are likely to stay put. But there’s a good chance the number of pre-loaded standalone apps will drop significantly. With that said, Samsung is likely to keep the most prominent and successful ones.

Samsung has shut down or scaled back some of its services that didn’t really take off, like WatchOn and ChatOn, and the company reportedly reassigned some of its mobile software workforce to other divisions. These are all signs that Samsung has been rethinking its software strategy, following years of developing apps and services without a clear direction.

Making some apps optional is a good step towards a better Galaxy S6 user experience, but Samsung still needs to improve the design and performance of TouchWiz itself. We haven’t heard anything about a major redesign coming, though preventing software from leaking is much simpler than keeping physical devices under wraps.

With hardware design including metal – and potentially glass, as well as a de-bloated TouchWiz, the Galaxy S6 could be the clean break from the past that Samsung needs right now. The company just announced mixed results for Q4 2014, and an outlook that includes a focus on “new materials, innovative design and differentiated features” to drive smartphone sales.

There’s still no official word out, but pretty much everyone expects Samsung to introduce the Galaxy S6 at MWC in the first week of March.

Would de-bloating TouchWiz make you consider the Galaxy S6 as your next phone?