The Samsung Galaxy S23 has been released to the public and is drawing attention for its massive system partition, which reportedly takes up an astonishing 60GB of storage space (Ars Technica report). This stands in stark contrast to the lightweight ethos of the Android operating system, which has always aimed to minimize its resource utilization.
There are several reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S23’s system partition is so large. Firstly, Samsung is known for its subpar software division, which produces code that is often of low quality. Additionally, Samsung may be trying to create its own ecosystem that is separate from Google, and in doing so, it includes both Google and Samsung versions of various apps, such as two app stores, two browsers, and two voice assistants, among others. This further bloats the system partition and these apps are often not removable.
Furthermore, Samsung is known to sell space in its devices to the highest bidder, with pre-installed apps from companies like Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft Office, and Spotify. Users also report additional bloatware from carriers like Verizon. The size of the system partition can vary depending on the carrier and country, but the average reported size is 60GB.
However, this issue goes beyond just the size of the system partition. Unlike the Pixel 7 Pro, which has a 15GB system partition, the Samsung Galaxy S23 does not utilize the A/B partition feature, which allows for seamless updates and prevents downtime during reboots. This feature has been available in Android since version 7.0, and its usage has been suggested by Google, but Samsung has yet to adopt it.
The Samsung Galaxy S23’s massive system partition is indicative of the company’s subpar software division and its tendency to include bloatware and duplicate apps. The lack of an A/B partition feature further exacerbates this issue, and the system partition is likely to only grow with each update. The high-end models of the Samsung Galaxy S23, such as the Ultra, may have ample storage for all the bloatware, but it is a disappointing trend for the Android operating system as a whole.
