What you need to know
- Samsung has been criticized for including ads in some parts of the Galaxy Z Flip.
- The ads in question were spotted in Samsung's phone app.
- The firm includes these on all phones running its software, not just the Z Flip.
Samsung has been dinged for placing ads in the Galaxy Z Flip's phone app this week. While smartphone OEMs like Xiaomi sometimes use commercial partnerships to subsidize the costs of their phones, the Galaxy Z Flip is an expensive, conceptual smartphone that some buyers feel shouldn't need ads.
It's already spawned some debate on social media.
https://twitter.com/robotodd/status/1229768673352724480?s=20 https://twitter.com/robotodd/status/1229811946746253316?s=20
That is in a hard-to-find secondary tab called "Places" which then requests several layers of permissions. 95% of people will never click on or see that screen with the ads. Not on primary dialer screen. https://t.co/dhUWID8NWsThat is in a hard-to-find secondary tab called "Places" which then requests several layers of permissions. 95% of people will never click on or see that screen with the ads. Not on primary dialer screen. https://t.co/dhUWID8NWs— Sascha C-Band (@saschasegan) February 19, 2020February 19, 2020
It's a little bit of a contentious subject with a few obvious caveats. The ad placement isn't limited to the Z Flip, it appears in all Samsung phones but only become prominently noticeable in the Flip over the weekend. The ad itself is located in the Samsung phone app, a place that not many users will be heading to on a day to day basis. It's also in the Places section, a further sub-panel that even fewer users will be going on a day to day basis.
But then again, the Z Flip does cost over $1400. If there is any phone we shouldn't need to make apologetics for, it's one that costs over a grand. But then again, we've been accepting ad-creep in our software from Microsoft's Windows to Apple's iOS for years now that perhaps it's become hard for manufacturers to know what's acceptable and users to know what to complain about.
Many people won't notice the Z Flip ad, but maybe there's a discussion to be had there about whether Samsung — and other OEMs in general — should be more mindful about ad placement on their devices, especially higher priced ones.
The price is high, the value is undeniable.
The Galaxy Z Flip brings back the flip phone form-factor to 2020, alongside a high price. If you don't mind the ads and potential fragility, it may be worth a look.
