Last summer, I bought my Galaxy Z Flip 6. Before that, the Note 20 Ultra. Before that, the S10+, S9+, S8+, S7—I’ve been using Samsung phones since the S II days, when they still used Roman numerals. Every upgrade season, I consider the alternatives. And every time, I end up with another Samsung. It got me thinking about why that keeps happening.
Don’t get me wrong; there are excellent non-Samsung phones out there. The Oppo Find X9 Pro, Pixel series, and OnePlus 15 all pack impressive hardware. But with Samsung, it’s the perfect mix of hardware, software, and features that make it the best phone brand, and every alternative feels like a compromise.
The foldables and flippers
From foldables to flip phones, there’s something for everyone
When I bought my Note 20 Ultra, everything about the phone was great. It looked the best, had a brilliant high-resolution display, and a camera unit that was the best on any phone. The only thing that bugged me was that it was too big for my hands, making it harder to slide in and out of my pockets, and a one-handed operation, despite what One UI offered, was never ideal.
Thankfully, when it was time for an upgrade, Samsung’s foldable display technology had matured enough to be practical. When I tried the Z Flip 6, it had everything I wanted: a compact device that fits in my pocket without sacrificing screen size. The cover screen supported most of what I did during work hours: calls, texts, music, widgets, and to-do apps. Anything not supported was handled by the GoodLock app. Coming from a Note 20 Ultra, I had to make some compromises in camera, battery, and display resolution, but none were deal-breakers.
If I’d wanted a bigger phone instead, Samsung still makes the best foldables. While Google and OnePlus make foldables too, it’s hard to beat Samsung’s combination of hardware and software customizations. The Z Fold 7 features a top-of-the-line chip, great cameras, and a massive tablet-like 8-inch display that’s super bright and supports a stylus.
I think that’s what keeps Samsung ahead of every other Android manufacturer. They weren’t afraid to innovate with foldables, and they didn’t scrap the form factor when early iterations weren’t instant hits. They stuck with it, refined it, and now everyone’s trying to replicate what Samsung proved worked.
Samsung makes the best camera phone
The Ultra series has the best camera on any phone
Samsung has one of the best smartphone cameras. The Ultra lineup has always delivered impressive camera performance in both daylight and low-light photography. With the S25 Ultra, Samsung largely retained the same camera setup as its predecessor, and it continues to work great, producing punchy but slightly over-sharpened images, which is what I prefer over the flatter-looking images from rivals.
Furthermore, Samsung has cleverly implemented an AI feature to further enhance the camera and Gallery app. The Generative Edit features are faster now and run directly on your phone. You can move subjects, remove photobombers, and fill backgrounds with realistic details, all without waiting for uploads. Night mode captures more shadow detail with good stabilization for handheld shots with adequate motion blur.
The S25 Ultra can now record Log video for color grading, and 8K video is supported across three cameras thanks to the upgraded 50MP ultrawide sensor. With One UI 8, Samsung has added Audio filters to help reduce background noise in videos, which works surprisingly well.
And it’s not just the Ultra lineup. Even with my Z Flip 6, the 50MP primary camera takes excellent shots in good light, and night photography holds up well when Night Mode is active. If camera quality is at the top of your list, Samsung’s combination of camera hardware and AI-powered software puts it ahead of the competition.
SmartThings app
Samsung’s own ecosystem of smart devices
The SmartThings app is one thing that I have come to like over recent years. Maybe because I have more Samsung devices in my house now than ever, and the app makes it easy to manage them all from my phone. I use it to control my Samsung refrigerator’s temperature, turn on energy-saving modes, and even alert me if I’ve left the fridge door open. Furthermore, I can control my TV and air conditioner directly from my phone—handy in a home with kids who keep misplacing the remote.
Beyond Samsung devices, SmartThings works with pretty much any smart home gadget—curtains, lights, thermostats, you name it. The app runs most routines locally on your hub rather than in the cloud, making it less dependent on your internet connection. Samsung Routines handles automation well, too. I have my lights dim automatically when I start watching TV, and the air conditioner turns on when I’m heading home.
The Life tab has some great features, but the Find feature is the best of the lot. For example, the SmartThings Find feature can track my phone, watch, tablet, earbuds, or tags down to which building they’re in. Once I’m close, the Search Nearby feature helps me pinpoint exactly where I left something. I’ve also set it up with Android Auto, so I can control smart home devices from my car’s infotainment screen before I even get home.
Once you’re using SmartThings with multiple Samsung devices, it becomes harder to imagine switching to another brand and losing that level of integration.
Samsung Wallet
An innovative payment app
Samsung Wallet does more than store your credit cards. You can use it for contactless payments in over 30 countries, manage gift cards, transit passes, boarding passes, and even gym memberships, all in one place. The app works seamlessly with Samsung watches, too, and lets you pay without pulling out your phone or even having it paired nearby.
What sets it apart is Samsung Money integration through SoFi. Every transaction earns points that you can double-dip with your linked card’s rewards program. The app is protected by Samsung Knox with biometric authentication for every payment, and your actual card number is never shared with merchants thanks to tokenization.
Old Samsung phones also supported MST technology that works with magnetic stripe readers, though this feature is being phased out and is not available on my Z Flip 6. You can also send money to other Samsung Wallet users and make online payments.
There are plenty of reasons to use your digital wallet instead of physically swiping your credit card, and Samsung Wallet just works. Once you have your cards, passes, and rewards all set up here, switching to another platform means rebuilding all of that from scratch.
One UI is the best Android skin
Stable, polished, and feature-rich UI with extra customization
Samsung has come a long way from the early Galaxy S lineup’s gimmicky features, which felt more like party tricks than practical tools. With One UI 8, Samsung now offers a well-polished experience that looks great without feeling overwhelming. Recent updates brought cleaner menus with two-tone blurred effects, redesigned apps like Gallery and My Files with better information density, and a new 90:10 split-screen option for power users.
One UI isn’t just about typical smartphone tasks, either. Samsung DeX lets you turn your phone into a desktop when connected to a monitor. One of our writers works entirely from his phone using DeX, handling everything from writing to research without touching a traditional computer. DeX now supports widgets on the desktop and makes switching between phone and monitor screens seamless.
Then there’s the Good Lock app that lets you tweak almost everything about your phone’s interface. You can change how your recent apps look, customize the lock screen, modify the notification panel, and even adjust how edge panels work. Bixby Routines (part of Modes and Routines) handles automation brilliantly. You can set your phone to silent during meetings, launch specific apps when you connect to your car, or change settings based on your location.
Over the years, One UI has evolved into one of the best Android skins available. Nobody comes close to the sheer number of features it offers, not even Google with its Pixel UI and stock Android feel.
Once you’re in, you’re in
Android has been the best thing to happen to Samsung’s phone business, and the company has made the most of it. The South Korean giant has always tried to deliver something unique with its offerings to distinguish itself from others in a market where every phone could use the same SoC, OS, camera modules, and displays. But it’s not about having the absolute best camera or the fastest processor, though Samsung often has both. It’s about how everything fits together.
Most of my phones connect to my SmartThings devices, all managed through One UI that I’ve customized exactly how I like it. When I need a desktop, DeX is there. When I need to pay, Samsung Wallet handles it. When I want a different form factor, Samsung has options others don’t.
Other manufacturers make excellent phones, too, sometimes with better individual features. But it’ll take something special to unseat Samsung as the go-to Android brand.
