Pixelated - The Beta That (Almost) Wasn't

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Welcome to episode 88 of Pixelated, a podcast by 9to5Google. This week, Ben Schoon joins Damien and Will to talk through the announcement — and subsequent unannouncement — of Android 17. The group talks through how and why this launch fell apart before discussing exactly what expectations we all should have for Android updates in 2026. Then they turn to Samsung, which just confirmed an Unpacked announcement for late February for a series of phones that has us scratching our heads when it comes to big year-over-year improvements. This episode was recorded prior to Android 17's eventual release on Friday afternoon. Subscribe YouTube Podcasts Pocket Casts Spotify Apple Podcasts Overcast Timecodes 00:00 – Intro 01:05 - Android 17 Beta 1 delay 14:14 - What we hope for in Android updates 22:52 - Galaxy Unpacked announcement and the S26 trio 46:13 - Wrap-up Hosts Ben Schoon Damien Wilde Will Sattelberg Read more Google cancels today’s Android 17 Beta 1 release Samsung confirms Galaxy S26 launch on February 25, up to $900 off with reservation Galaxy A17 trades performance for Android updates, and I don’t think it’s worth it Listen to more 9to5 Podcasts The Sideload 9to5Mac Happy Hour Electrek Space Explored Feedback? Drop us a line at [e-mail], leave a comment on the post, or reach out to our producer. And for even more Android discussion, dive into the official 9to5Google forums!

Welcome to Pixelated episode 88. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. This week, Damien and I are joined by Ben Shown to talk all about the announcement and subsequent immediate delay of Android 17's first beta. Has this ever happened before? How did it happen? Why did it happen? I'm recording this intro just as Android 17 Beta 1 is finally starting to ship, but I promise

we still deliver a very interesting behind the scenes before discussing what we actually expect out of Android upgrades these days. Then we turn our attention to Samsung for a look at everything we know about the Galaxy S-26 lineup ahead of its now confirmed February 25th announcement date. All that and more starts right now. So we should, guys, be talking about Android 17 today,

Android 17 Beta 1. Google decided to pull the plug on that at the last minute, which is a little bit disappointing, because now we have nothing to talk about in terms of the update. But we have a special guest with us. I want to kind of get your thoughts on this, Ben, because this has kind of happened to us

previously only once before we've had a delayed update. And I think I know which version it is. I'm kind of work out what you think it might be and whether I'm right or wrong on this one as well because I might actually be wrong about it. Oh, version that was delayed at the last minute. Like, I don't think we've ever had it like this where it was, you know, we got the embargo

as, you know, all publications do. And then it just got pulled out at the last minute. I don't think I've ever seen that. At least where it, you know, the time passed. And then we were told it's not coming. There is certainly, and like either of you can stop me if I should, if I should cut this. But there have certainly been times and Google is not the exception here. This is across the entire industry, across every industry, where,

um embargo times have been shifted or delayed like that that is fairly commonplace i'm not saying it happens every product launch but like we're no stranger to and again this is not specific to google i'm making up an example but even as as as late as like 20 minutes before an embargo lifting i have certainly from a company gotten a that shift this embargo thing and so like it was a little it was a little frustrating to see several people, you know, online being like, oh, like all these publications like published too early. They really screwed up. I can't believe they want clicks so bad. So like, you know, peek behind the curtain since this is, this is a, you know, a podcast and we can be a little more free with it. Like, there are lots of times where Google will like set the

embargo time, but then the, for Android beta, whatever. And then, you know, the updates actually go out like 25 minutes later. Like the files are not up when our news posts grow up, which is fine. Obviously, you know, all of us are waiting to download it. So it's usually us in Slack, you know, being like, is it out yet? Refresh, refresh, refresh, is it out yet? With this, it was, you know, dragging on a little bit long until we finally realized it's not happening today.

Like Google has told us it is now no longer happening today. And Ben, to your point, I can't think of another time that's ever happened. I don't think we've had it with, okay, let me get into some specifics here. And I'm trying to rack my brain because I don't know how many iterations I've done of Android like this now. I personally think, and I might, I'm now worried that I'm wrong about this. I'm going to say it anyway. I think it was Android 15 developer preview too, was the last update, which was supposed to come out on a day and it wasn't. And it came out on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday, I think.

Yeah, that sounds familiar. That sounds familiar. And I remember the preamble to that was that there was some code comets that baby basically said it was going to come out and say the two days preceding it and it didn't. So it's not quite the same. But to kind of give a little bit of insight into this one, it's almost like you're gearing up for it and nothing happens and it's a little bit deflating. But at the same time, I can completely understand why Google might have done this.

I mean, let's talk a little bit of background to it. We just had, and I'm going to get this wrong, because I'm really bad with QPR numbers. Is it QPR 2 beta 2.1 or QPR 3? Is it 3 or is it 3? It came out, it came out like the day prior to that. QPR3 beta 2.1. Yeah, yeah, too many numbers.

Not at all enough. It's like a phone number at this point. So I do wonder if that update has I, quashed some bugs that were potentially in 17 beta 1, which you don't know because it's not available, or it introduced some bugs that then have to be squashed again because they're like, oh, we're aware of these bugs that have appeared. Like, I'm endlessly fascinated on how Google is managing all of this because technically the team is smaller, but it's more tight-knit, if that makes sense. Like, I don't know. It feels like they could have had a disaster on their

hands if they release this. You wouldn't pull it at the last minute if that was a case, right? If everything's prepared and everything's kind of the road is set and you're going to be driving down the motor, that highway. Yeah. I mean, I mean, this is obviously speculation to a certain degree, but like this, this doesn't happen. This doesn't happen unless there's a bug, right? Like, that, that is like 100% of the reason this would happen is that they're, they, they discover some, some issue that cannot be fixed in time and that they don't feel, despite the fact that It is early software and there are, like, anyone installing it should be aware that there are going to be issues because they've spotted it.

It's obviously high priority enough that they don't want to push this out to users, which is the right decision to be clear. I don't think Google has done anything wrong here other than, you know, like confuse people a little bit because it was, it was so weird where it was like, you know, we got the QPR3, beta 2.1, God, that's a lot of characters. So, so many letters and a lot of syllables. It's words. Exactly. QPR3 beta 2.1. And then like genuinely like an hour later, they were like, by the way, also Android 17 beta 1 is like around the corner. And I think confusion even started there where people were like, oh, but didn't you just push this this update? And then like the next

day we, you know, every Android blog, every tech blog goes live with like Android 17 days. welcome to Android 17 beta one day and then an hour later everybody's like psych just kidding it's not and so I can understand why there was a lot of confusion about like didn't they just push this QPR3 beta like why would they also be launching Android 17 this week and Damien to your point I think your theory

makes a lot of sense and that like perhaps they either fix something or introduced some kind of incompatibility issue between these two versions when they push this QPR3 update which happens. Like, you know, and so now we're kind of left in a waiting game where we know this update exists. We know a little bit about it because we published our embargoed materials at the embargo time.

And we're just waiting for the actual OTA files to eventually appear when Google feels they're ready. Yeah, I mean, let's expand upon that a little bit. Because we've had some leaks, haven't we? We talked about it a little bit on the podcast, but we haven't had Ben's thoughts on it because I think you are one of the people a bit like me who is vehement. I mean, Willis as well when we talked about it in a previous episode. We are vehemently against liquid glass elements being introduced and stuff.

And we know, like I feel, I guess it's system level blows, which is very different. But we can't help draw comparisons with liquid glass because it's almost like, it's almost like we're trying to say, don't do this, please, because you're ruined the goodwill of the Android community. We don't want iOS. We want Android to be Android. Like, what do you think of the stuff that you've seen leaked so far? Because it's been a fair, a little bit, not tons, but a little bit of Android 17 out there. Yeah, I mean, for me personally, transparency and blur is not really a problem.

My issue with iOS and liquid glass is more so that it's such a dominant part of the design language. Yeah. That not only are you, you know, making everything transparent and blurred, but you're also making everything harder to see by doing that. Whereas at least what we've seen from Android 17 so far is like it's blurred, but it's not blurred to a point where it's an issue. It's just a visual change. And it's not necessarily a bad one.

I do feel like Google should not, you know, try to follow that trend because, you know, they actually have their own thing and it's nice, you know, versus Samsung and everyone else to be able to some degree. Let's get into that a little bit because I want to rack your brand about this. I know we spoke about private on Slack, but I want you to get this on the record now. How do you feel that other OEMs, Android OEM specifically, how do you think they're handling the fact that we have, we have Apple's vision of a mobile OS, which right or wrongly has dominated how everybody else does their stuff? And now we have materials very expressive, which is Google's, I think, very unique.

And it's a genuinely fantastic take on what a mobile. LOS should be, why do you think that over the last six months specifically, and I'm doing hand signals, sorry, audio listeners out there, which is all of you, you can't see we're doing this. We're having this mesh. We're having this mesh of ideologies, but iOS is winning out even more so than it probably has done in the past four or five years. Like everybody seems to be looking at Apple more than they have in the five years preceding these.

It's so odd to me. I'm fascinated to hear what you think, Ben. Well, yeah, I mean, at this point, Apple is not just dominant, but like, they are commanding mobile space in general. Last year was the, you know, kind of cemented that, you know, Apple is now the biggest smartphone manufacturer on the planet by a good margin. Yeah, no, it's, they rightly live in every other smartphone manufacturer's heads. So it's important to think about how you compare when you're developing a product, developing new software. And I think Google looked at that and said, how can we do it differently? How can we do it better?

And they went their own path and created something that's pretty good. And they did it at a good time because Apple released liquid glass. and it is not been super well received. There's a lot of people who like it, but there's a lot of people who don't. Whereas, you know, Maternity Expressive, I think was pretty well received by everyone. I think it's kind of a strange one, isn't it?

Because you would think that the lukewarm response to what Apple has done over the past three or four years, and then now they've gone in with liquid glass with this huge update. And then we then have an issue, with basically every other OEM thinking, okay, that's the right way to do things, even though iOS users don't like liquid glass.

Like, that to me is insane. Like, why would you then, effectively, everyone's doubling down on what someone else is doing, copy their homework. Whereas Google is like, copy our homework, please. We're literally giving you the building blocks to make something your own. And they're like, nah, it's fine.

We'll do our own thing. Because Android 17 could, well, it's going to change things again, isn't it? It's going to change things up again. But yeah, like I said, like Google looked at Apple and said, how can we be different? How can we be better? Samsung, Apple, everyone else said,

we need to do that now. Yeah, it's trend chasing. Yeah, it is very much. They are trying to chase Apple and just chase Apple's customers because they think that works, even though we know it doesn't. Apple sets the trend. It doesn't matter if it's even. going to be unpopular. Like, like, they don't even, I think a lot of these companies, like,

up to and including Samsung, like, just kind of hazard a guess, like, put it on black. This is going to be popular. Like, it doesn't even, like, Apple's track record over the last 20 years in these company's eyes is so flawless that, like, it doesn't matter if they have the occasional lift, like, we'll just, we'll follow their lead. And more times than not, we'll just be right there as an alternative, you know, regardless of where, you know, whether or not this being sold in North America or Europe or China, like, we will be there as a similar alternative with, you know, of slightly different feature set or a slightly different design or a different price, right? Like, like, we'll find our little niche where we can attack Apple from underneath and then be

like, and you get 90% of the same experience, which obviously is it necessarily true and or is not what like an Android shopper would. or should be looking for. Like, it's, it's such a weird, it's, I'm not surprised that some companies do it. I am surprised that essentially everyone, but Google, to a certain degree, have skinned Android to look like modern iOS. You know, it varies based on OEM, but every OEM has at least a little bit of it. Yeah, I mean, I, obviously we don't have Android 17 yet in our hands, but obviously, from what we've seen

already, it does look like Google. was just leaning into their own thing a little bit. Yeah, the blur, I don't think takes away from that at all. No. Like, we talked about it with Abner. It's, it's, it, it, it feels a little bit like change for sake of changes sake. Like, I don't, I don't get anything out of it, but I don't think it takes away anything either, which is fine.

Like, if they want to do that, then I don't, I'm not going to notice it after day two. You know what I mean? Like, it's fine. I mean, in terms of like feature set that you'd love to see from this, I mean, we don't expect major changes in 117 anyway in terms of like functionality but like what would be the dream because I mean I've I've been bullish on like integrating some of it if you're going to have AI then at least let us have tools for like a little bit like what nothing are doing where you can kind of maybe do things like make your own widgets all that kind of stuff I think if anyone's in the

best position to do it surely it's Google with with Gemini leading leading the charge I do wonder what you what you guys think what would be the dream addition to to Android 17 or are you a little bit over it like a lot of people tend to be with smartphones nowadays do you have do you have an answer, Ben? I mean, Damien, I think you're right. I would love to see Google do something like what nothing's doing with the essential apps. I think nothing actually is onto a pretty good idea with that, although I'm not, you know, after playing with it earlier this week, I'm not super sold on their interpretation of it,

but it's also early days and, you know, they don't have the same resources. But, you know, being able to build your own home screen widget. and I guess you can call that an app is a cool idea and I would love to see Google do things like that with AI to where you can build your own functionality for your phone. I think that would be a cool idea

and it's something that Android has weirdly been lacking for a long time even though like with Apple we've seen the what do we call the Siri Automations? Shortcuts. Are they part by Siri? I didn't realize I thought they're a part of, it's a series. Siri shortcuts, I think is the full, technically, the name.

But like, yeah, they're, they're, they're annoying to use, but they are weirdly deep for, for custom. Yeah, that's like the one feature I've seen in mobile for the past, I don't know, five years where I'm like, how does Android not have its own version of this? Yeah. So I would love to see Google, you take that and throw away eyes to it. Samsung has one, right? Yeah, Samsung has like a similar version. I think we have not seen it. Samsung head works.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also through Vixby. Yeah. Oh, my God. Well, that's why nobody talks about it. Sorry, sorry to Dixby fans.

I'll be more of you. Yeah. It's one of those things where it's like the last, the last decade of Android development has really been me being going up to Google and being like, okay, I don't know what I want from this device. Like, can you show me, show me what, or from this operating system? Like, I don't know what's next because this is modern and, and, and, mature, I guess is the word I'm looking for. And so anything that I would request would be like a big swing.

Like I would love to see Google or really anybody take a crack at like rethinking the home screen. Like I'm not saying like dramatically different, but like similar to the AI widgets thing, I do think there is space in, I mean, you know, especially in a generative AI landscape where like you could play around a little bit more with the concept of what a home screen is supposed to be, you could probably dig up some of the ideas that, like, Microsoft was playing with, with, you know, what was there? It was Metro at one point, but they're, the live tiles, right? Yeah. Like, I think there's space there to, like, rethink some of, like, not dramatically, but, like, rebuild maybe a more useful, you know, personalized home experience, but, like,

short of big swings like that, which wouldn't be announced as part of this beta anyway, that would be at I.O. I don't know what to ask for from Google because I feel like my smartphone needs are met these days. Yeah, mobile operating systems are mature now. Exactly. You know, we're never going to get back to major changes. It's always going to be based on apps, based on updates.

Yeah, kind of, I think the Google TV model shows us the future of this, which is where we get the updates that matter. through app updates and then we get the system level stuff that just happens in the backgrounds. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I do wonder, I do wonder what the long-term integration is. And I agree with both of you in terms of like the home screen and being it and further to my own point a little bit is that if you if you had the ability to, and I don't like the term

prompt, I don't know what it is. Like you create a menu for yourself or almost if that makes sense. You say, okay, this is how I want this to work. This is how I want this to work. And it does go back to the shortcuts example you gave a little bit. But Ben, I think that if we had opportunities to have automations that run better, rather than having to, and I love Tasker, the application, but the actual threshold for you knowing what you're doing and getting tasks running

automatically or like with a button or with a widget or whatever it is, would be kind of cool to have that at a system level. And I know that Gemini would potentially make it easier for normal people to approach them. I do wonder as well what will happen with customization, because customization feels like one of those things that's been really neglected in general, Android. I know that launchers have done a lot of heavy lifting, but we've seen this like kind of receding of launches over the last few years, haven't we? Like, the biggest players in the space are leaving. Like, there's no development going on for, is it Nova? I think Nova,

or launch has gone. Nova's been sold or, or, yeah, Nova is like, Nova is like on renewed life support because they, it was purchased by another company that wants to kind of revive it, but their idea of reviving it is not changing much and putting ads in the free version. So we'll see. Revive, monetize. It's kind of. Really. It's in my book, it's kind of dead, but we'll see what happens.

Yeah. Like, because there's more of an onus than on the brands to be looking at what they're doing for their default home experiences to give you the tools to kind of, I don't, I guess, not replicate, but at least offer some of them. And we've, I mean, obviously, you can go. and do something like Niagara Launcher, and that's fine. Like, that's completely different to anything that we've already seen before. Well, and that's sort of what I think about when I'm like,

I think there is space to be a little bit more experimental because I actually, I love Niagara. I think Niagara is not something I'm using all the time. And part of that is just that it, you can't really review a device using Niagara. Like, you need to use the like stock software experience that people are going to get out of the box, in my opinion. But like when I'm not reviewing stuff, when I'm, if I'm like, I love going to Niagara. I think it's like, it feels so clean and modern and smart about how it's presenting notifications and apps to you in a way that like a standard grid just kind of can't replicate.

I know it's not for everybody. But when I say like I would love to see some like personalized homescreen experiences that you could kind of use AI to help customize. Like, Niagara's sort of, and not that Niagara has an AI element, but Niagara is sort of what I'm thinking about, about like there is space here to experiment. Yeah, but this is a thing. Like, are we going to see, again, we'll kind of reiterate in the fact that we're not expecting this from under 17. No, no, no, not at all. This is going to be very straightforward changes, like small little visual elements, you know, lots of backend stuff. Like, this is going to be a modern Android update.

Yeah, we are speculating about. something we are making a wish list. Apology to the listeners. I hate wish list. But what else can we really tell you about 117 about from the fact that there's going to be some extra system level blurs here and there. More of the same

is what we're expecting. Google has confirmed as well. I think one of the most interesting things about this is in their announcement before they then didn't push the update is that the Canary Channel is now officially the developer preview. So traditional Android developer previews are done. Canaries the way this is going to be done in future.

It just means they can iterate faster, which I think is a really, really sensible move. I think we've alluded to it before anyway in this pod, that that does make the most sense. Now that they can kind of build out these little features on almost weekly and monthly basis is fantastic for Android. It's going to be great for us. At the same time, it means that when we get these, in-airquotes, big updates,

there's not going to be much there. But it does change the kind of the complexion of how Google does updates for Android moving forward. QPR has probably got more. more to say as well, which is another fascinating aspect. But yeah, it's always a good time when we're talking about Android updates. It's just a shame we don't have one to dive into properly today. But we've had some other news that kind of has been pushed to the side a little bit, but it's still really big news, especially for this industry. We've now have officially

a date for unpacked where we're going to see the Galaxy S-26 series, most likely. It seems as though that is the trio of devices we're expecting, S-26, S-36 plus and S-36 Ultra. Let's get into this a little bit, because I have some really tempered expectations this year. I know that myself and Ben are Samsung users. You're Z-fold, Z-fold, Z-fold. Yeah, that is still my daily driver.

Insane that you're still using that today, but it's one of their best products the last few years. To be fair, I did also. pay for it. But let's get, yeah, let's get into unpack. Let's get into what we think is going to happen. It's still taking place in San Francisco, take it, Ben? Yep, it'll take place in San Francisco on February 25th at 10 a.m. local time.

Which kind of is part of the course at this point in time, right? That seems to be their home base almost of S-series launches now. I have to say, in terms of like incremental updates, we've seen a lot of those at last few years. is this, we haven't really taught necessarily a huge deal about S-26 here on the podcast, but I feel like with the S-25 Ultra specifically, it belied how little of an upgrade it was of the S-24. So I'm kind of hoping that that that continues with the S-26, but I actually have really, really tempered my own expectations.

There is so little to kind of really get our teeth into. I don't know how you guys, are you excited? I don't know. Do we get excited about product launches nowadays? Well, see, so originally I was kind of excited about the Galaxy S-26 because, you know, the past four generations have been just kind of refining, refining, refining, refining. The S-25, you know, mainly thanks to one UI-8, did feel like quite a big little jump. But ultimately, you know, it was just another refinement. Yeah.

But the initial rumors about the S-26 were exciting. They was going to have new features, big new design changes, a lot of overdue upgrades to the battery, to the charging, to the cameras. It was going to have Che2. It was a very big update. And then it kind of just all went away. And, you know, I put a piece up about this recently about how, you know, Samsung had a bunch of upgrades and planned, and then they killed it because the iPhone was. cheap. And that's really all it came down to. It does feel like, I mean, this is not taken away from anything that Samsung is probably

going to do because they know how to make a good hardware. They know how to make a good device now. The top tier S ultra devices stand toe to toe with the iPhone in almost every single department in lots of ways. But it almost feels like how long can Samsung run on, it's a little bit like borrowed time, isn't it? Like, it's like everybody else in a space is catching them and surpassing them in certain areas. I find it very, very difficult to believe that a phone that is eight out of 10 in every single area, which I have no doubt that every S-series device has been like that for a while can continue. You're going to have to have one standout. Do we think we're going to have a standout this time around? We don't, I mean, no, no, absolutely not. Because the smallest

25, or the S-C, the smallest 26 is essentially going to be what we saw last year. the S-26 plus is, I mean, like, rushed to market, like, literally what we, like, as little change as possible, essentially. And then the, you know, the ultra, like, was looking like the boring one of the three and is now, like, weirdly, like, maybe the most exciting, which is wild. I, you know, I don't, I don't think there's another, like, smartphone manufacturer that is as, uh, resistant to, to, to change as Samsung is. Like, they really, they really coast on the you know legacy of their

of their hardware and certainly the dominance they had in the smartphone market throughout the 2010s and and but you know outside of like when they're really pushed to it you saw this with the Z Fold 7 when they're really pushed by a rival to to

you know they really fall behind the pack which they I think they had infoldables I think we can all agree on that at the very least they were no longer the leader in a in a market that they created that is when samsung finally like snaps back into it and like makes the changes they need to to stay as as just above the like level of competitive they need but like their their smartphone like non-foldable smartphones are so stagnant and i don't know short of everybody switching to pixel or everybody you know every existing Samsung user switching to pixel or or apple or whatever i don't know what would spur them back to

to like really like trying new things. And into their credit, well, to their 25% credit, they sort of tried a new thing with the edge last year, which was, you know, a response to Apple rumors. But they did try it and nobody cared and they didn't really advertise it and it was too expensive. So again, they're getting a small amount of credit. But I just don't know like, it really does come down to like,

I don't even think I'm asking for a new thing. I am really asking for like, just then don't bother making a new phone. Like I would rather see prices reduced and like models held, you know, year over year. And like, obviously that's not going to be good for their bottom line, but it would be good for the consumer. But at the same time, if they're not spending who knows how much R&D on this boring Galaxy S26 lineup, like that savings that they could pass on to the consumer realistically. they won't, but they could. I don't know. I find it very frustrating.

It is weird as a hobbyist and an enthusiast and somebody who's lived in the space since, you know, I was a teenager to be like, stop making phones. But like to a certain extent, like, if changes are going to be so slow, then I would rather them, you know, skip a generation or like maybe do 18th month cycles like we've seen Samsung, not currently, but previously do with their tablets. It's like lean into that, like lean into the slowed down, but like now, you know, these are big changes that you're going to feel generation over generation. Like I think that's good for the end consumer and the environment and so on and so on. I just think it's positive for almost everybody, but perhaps shareholders.

I fully agree. And also, like, this isn't just a problem with their flagships. I've been using the Galaxy A-17 recently, which is, you know, one of those very. truly ridiculous. Yeah, no. So that's like, it's one of their cheapest phones. It is year over year, the A1, whatever, 14, 15, 16 is the most popular Android phone on the planet. Like, bar none.

Yeah. The 5G one that they sell in the U.S. is like unchanged in the past three generations. They have very subtly tweaked the design. They've, you know, swapped out some camera sensors. but like it's still running the same chip as it was three years ago. It's still running the same amount of running as it was three years ago. It wasn't very good three years ago. Yeah, it wasn't very good three years ago.

Now it's like I'm going back and forth to Samsung about this thing. Like it is borderline unusable. Like I think Will you were talking about reels and shorts and stuff on one of the side load recently. But like that's what most people do on their phones now. And like I opened Instagram on this thing. And I'm trying to scroll through reels and the Wi-Fi keeps disconnecting and the video keeps lagging. And it's like it's unusable. And that's their most popular phone.

That's the one people are buying. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's what I mean. Like, yeah. They're going to, they do need to like as much as worth like, well, what's left to change in phones? They need to innovate a little bit or or bring something to the table because like I do think Samsung in particular is at risk of like damaging its reputation. If they do this long enough or they're like, we don't.

don't need to change anything. Like we can just relaunch the same galaxy A phone over and over and over again. And like people will walk into, you know, either a prepaid carrier or Walmart or Target or whatever, wherever it's being sold because usually these are sold in prepaid markets. Like they will just buy it. And it's kind of the same for the S series. Like your average like flagship Android user is just going to walk into Verizon and they have an S23

and they're going to be like, my battery is bad and buy an S26. but eventually I do think that people are going to be like consumers are fickle right like they're they're gonna be like well why am I paying $1,200 for the thing I had before like I don't I don't need to like shell out this money for an experience that is essentially the same as what I bought three years ago that doesn't and like I do think that's when you get wandering eyes to like well then I don't know I guess at least the iPhone is a little different or at least the pixel is a little different like that's a danger for Samsung and I don't know if it will hit them this year, but like, they do need to pay attention to it. Yeah, I think just looking at the A-17 again, that is the baseline for

most people's introduction to Android, and that is rightly or wrongly how people view the platform. If it's your entry into it and it's laggy and it's not a good experience, it does tarnish the entire industry. Every single phone that is powered by Android is affected by the cheapest phones in the market because they are the most popular. If that is the same, single most popular phone, Android phone on the planet, then whether or not Samsung think that they do, they genuinely have a duty to make sure that that product is as good as it can be at that price point, because effectively what you're saying is to the consumer, you need to put money down to get a better experience. Yes, you can get that, but they won't trust Samsung

to do so because they've had a bad experience with their cheapest device in the market, lineups, sorry, and then the market everywhere else is significantly effective because nobody wants to be associated with an Android phone. And at the top end of the market, it comes full circle really because when we look at the S-26 and the S-26 plus, based upon

the leak specifications we have for those now, those phones have not changed since the S-22 series. All that they've done is put a new chip in there, which is fine if you just want a new chip, but if you don't get camera improvements, your display doesn't change all that drastically, the experience is still the same. Like, there is no

reason for anyone to be looking at it. And I'm kind of the opposite with some people say that you want to see a big visual change from the hardware. I don't mind that Samsung stuck to a kind of a, I wouldn't say stand out. It kind of blends into the background a bit more, but it is a significantly Samsung look that they have. It's clean. It's consistent. They have the camera bar at the back. That's great. I don't have a problem with that. But not making the changes internally just because you think that, well, yeah. They could make change. The camera. I agree. I agree. Just the camera alone, I think, would be enough if they were just pushing on hardware, because processing is not Samsung's strong suit. I think the three of us can agree on that, right?

Like, it's, it is, you know, as far as, you know, the big three in the U.S., I think they're processing is the one I like the least out of Samsung, Google and Apple. And I've, and I fault they're processing for lots of the motion issues I've had with taking, you know, the shutter speed issues have had with taking photos on Samsung devices in the past. I mean, I've literally watched clear images post-processing become blurry because like whatever happened behind the scenes that got screwed up. And so, yeah, if they were just pushing all in on hardware and being like, okay, sometimes our processing is a little wonky, but like we've got the first one-inch sensor in the US or whatever because they make a one-inch sensor or their, you know,

their camera arm makes a one-inch sensor. I think, you know, larger batteries, like all of this stuff they could kind of chase and be like, sure, it looks like the phone, you're up. from, but it's a 1500 million per hour battery higher, like the capacity is that much higher. And it's got faster charging and it's got a much better camera sensor in it. Like they could do this while keeping the same design. They don't want to do any of it. They don't want to change any, like bare minimum on every front, hardware designs, like all of it. Which it's, it's going to be a problem.

And Damien, to your point about like them doing this in the low end too, like, I, I pretty much, I, the low end Android experience of the early 2010s is one of the, like, one of the things I hold responsible for Apple's dominance in the U.S. It basically like people bought low-end Android phones as their first smartphone, especially teenagers in the early 2010s. Their first smartphone was some low-in Motorola thing. And this is before the G-series got kind of good. This is before the G-series in general.

Low-in, you know, Motorola, Samsung, whatever. They use it. It's bad. They're like, this sucks. They switch to iOS. because they hear the iPhone's good. It doesn't matter that they're paying three times the price and there are comparable Android phones.

That's just what they've heard and they've experienced bad Android. And then you get IMessage lock in. They get locked into IMessage and we're done, right? Like that's how that goes. You know, versus in Europe where at the very least, you know, WhatsApp made it easier to switch back to Android if you decided to get a flagship Android phone.

I just worried that Samsung is like falling into this trap again where we're making really bad low in Android phones now because we don't want to upgrade the hardware. And it's just, it's going to be a problem, I think. No, and to pull this back to Google, I think that's where Google is really far ahead right now, which is one on the flagship side.

They're like, they're not necessarily reinventing their phone every year, like some people expect. But they're making quality improvements each generation. Pixel 9 to pixel 10, there were actual meaningful improvements. Yeah, I mean, we haven't even mentioned that like the new rumor, like one of the only things we could grasp onto with the S-26 was like,

well, at least it's getting G2. Yeah, and that's just not happening. I mean, it has Chi-2 speeds. So it has, so it is, from what I've seen, it is Chi-2.2.1 certified, which is the same spec level as the Pixel 10 Pro XL. So it can do 25 watt or 20 watt on the smaller ones. But it requires a case to do it. There are no magnets built in.

So it has the faster speeds. it just can't do that. And I'm much more about the magnets. I don't really care about the speeds. I want it for magnetic accessories. I agree. Yeah. I mean, you could argue,

I'm guessing you could argue that people put their phone in a case anyway, but the downside to that is that you are then putting the choice on the consumer to do so. As in, right, I cannot imagine that putting the magnets in the back of the phone would have made too much difference in terms of thickness and all that kind of stuff. The pixel 10 has proven that.

It can be done. it's really disappointing when Samsung does this because you could hear the complaints last year there was lots of devices, sorry, lots of people complained about the devices not having it then. And they still had Chee 2 in the S-25 series, am I right?

They were also cheap-rated, still requiring the case. You know, so they were planning on doing that. That's what the original leak showed us. Yeah. But because the iPhone was cheaper than they thought, they just threw everything out that they thought was going to add cost. Yeah, no, it's ridiculous.

But that's what it is. But like I said, Google, I think, is making better choices there because, you know, they're making these meaningful improvements. And then on the low end, they're also not making phones that are so dirt cheap that they have to compromise to this level. And like, to Samsung's credit, it's a $200 phone. Like, I'm going to circle back to that. It's $200 phone. I don't expect it to be good. But I also expect it to be.

Yeah, but you should. There's a level of quality. right. I think in 2026. I think a $200 phone should be usable for basic day-to-day stuff and should not feel like a drag to do that. I think the MotoG

does that. I used a MotoG power recently. It's $100 more expensive. It has double the RAM, which is a big difference. But it also has a new update chip. That phone gets rid of Android updates. It gets like, I think, one OS update.

But it's a usable phone. for a very cheap amount of money. The A-17 is, we're going to update this thing for six OS updates, but it's unusable. If it's this bad now, and it's not running Android 16

out of the box, by the way. It was Android 15 when I pulled it out and then I updated it. I think. Either way, if it's bad now on Android 16, what is it going to be

like on Android 20? Yeah, I think there's a lot to ponder with how Samsung are handling those kind of updates as well, because, like, there has to be, there has to come a point. There must be a clash internally with the people developing the software and the people running it on the hardware, because they will have to do some level of QA and testing on it. They must know, like, you've alluded to it there. Like, if it's borderline unusable now, yeah, by Android 20, if they even get that, even if they even bother updating it, like they might wait four months, five, months, six months, whatever it is down the line. Those updates take a while.

It's the heel dragging that I think has been the most frustrating. And it kind of led me to write a piece about it and why I'm still, I think maybe being an idealist a little bit. I'm optimistic for the S-26, but I'm also, I know I'm already disappointed. I know that, but then again, to contradict myself entirely, I complained about something last year. and the S-25 Ultra, I was obsessed with it. It's one of the best.

I don't know why. It is. I think it's the biggest thing. It carries it. It was much, I found it much more comfortable to hold than the S-24. Again, it's not like these are bad phones. And I don't really think anybody makes a bad flagship anymore. I think the worst you can be is like a little mediocre.

And I fear that Samsung is trending into that space just out of sheer repetition, you know? I think it's a lot of fear behind something in the last few years. I think every smartphone to a certain degree feels, you know, maybe not the pixel, but for the most part, every smartphone these days feels designed by committee, but no one is more guilty of that than Samsung,

in part because all of their non-foldable devices share the same exact design. Like from the A17 up to the upcoming Galaxy S-26, they all kind of look the same. Do you think it's a bad thing, though? I'm unsure. I think it's a bad thing when you don't have something striking like the pixel. Like I think the pixel's camera bar and like the iPhone's camera bar now, like everybody's

as a camera bar really helps bring about. And, you know, Opo I think is really good at that. Lots of the Chinese brains are also really good at that. And Samsung is just like, we've got this triple lens that we think is kind of iconic. I mean, they've used the triple lens as their like teaser so many times. They really find it to be their iconic design, but I just, to me, it's, it is the most generic representation of a 2020 smartphone is three vertically aligned camera lenses. Yeah, it does feel generic, but it also does feel like them.

I personally don't have an issue with them keeping the same design across everything. Again, my issue is that like they refuse to do meaningful improvements. And again, that's where I think Google is, you know, really stepping ahead is that they're showing the rest of the Android space, hey, you can make meaningful improvements without reinventing your phone every year. Yeah, we do say after myself, Damien and Abner spent like 30 minutes ranting about the base of NAP. That is fair.

That is fair. Yeah. At least he's not looking like the same phone, you know, like who knows what that spec sheet's is going to be. But certainly us looking at those teasers and being like, oh, they removed the camera ring. I think, I think, yeah, it kind of at the moment, there was a lot of things going on, and we talked about it briefly

when we were discussing iPhone 17 earlier, if you can remember that half an hour ago. It definitely feels as though as though Samsung is reverting to bad habits. I think they're definitely looking at what Apple is doing more so than they ever have done in the last few years. And it's like, like, I think it was you will who said that they used to,

they've experimented with devices, S26 Edge to get ahead of Apple. But in years gone by, they would have just made it. And if it didn't work, it didn't work. And then that could be you to, the mistakes that they made or the progress that they made can be then utilized to make the S series bigger.

It feels like the S series is not the tip of the spear that it once was. It's almost like the actual, the spear itself has dulled. There's maybe a bit of rust there. And it's like when you don't have as many competitors that truly at the top end in global markets, it does feel as though Samsung a little bit frozen in time. And maybe that's why they're looking at what Apple is doing more broadly

than they have done in the last four, at least in the four or five years. and the S series always felt like a huge deal. It is still a huge deal and that's what we're talking about it. Yeah, I feel like I've ranted a lot. So I'll leave it at this, maybe a slag. The only reason I'm, I'm, you know, maybe sounding like I'm complaining a lot about this

is because I know there are a lot of like very talented, very intelligent, you know, designers and engineers and just employees in general across Samsung. Like I, it is out of a place of love. an expectation that I am complaining about the current track that they're on because I know they're capable of more innovation than this. I think they showed it throughout the tail end, you know, the back half of the 2010s and a little bit into the into the 2020s. And every now and then, you still see it. I think the trifold was a smart play by them. I think it's an interesting device.

I think the Z Fold 7 was like an excellent year over year upgrade. And if you upgraded from like a Z Fold 4, You had an incredible experience. Like, it's there. I just, I just want to see it more often. Yeah, just tying everything together and making sure it's all aligned at the same time. Yeah, I think that kind of covers unpacked. February 25th, is it? February 25th, a couple of weeks time.

We will be all over that when the event is held in San Francisco. We'll give you our thoughts on devices when we get to have an opportunity to have a play with them. we've been a bit negative, but I'm always excited by new hardware. It is what it is, even if it isn't much of a change. I just hope that they can they can maybe take a little bit of a battering that they've had recently and maybe utilise that for the next generation because it feels like, obviously, we're not going to see any changes now, like a couple of weeks out ahead of launch. But yeah, at least based on leaks, it isn't all that promising if you're looking for a huge upgrade.

But no phone has really done that in the last few years, apart from the fallible space. but just want to say thanks guys for joining me. It's always fantastic. Abner will be back next week as usual, but it's been a pleasure to have you, Ben. You're always welcome back on the podcast. It was fun. Make sure you go check out Ben on his socials.

I'll get Will to leave that in the show notes. Of course. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you want to tell everyone where you can find you, Ben, if that makes it any easier. I mean, the easy one is the homepage of that home. Yeah, I sat there. Okay, right, you can have that home run. Yes, thanks guys for joining us.

It's been a fantastic episode again, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to Pixelated, a 9 to 5 Google podcast. If you enjoyed the show, we ask that you rate and review it on the podcast platform of your choice and help spread the word by sharing the show with friends or on social media. I don't remember the last time I, like, had a clear vision for what I wanted changed on Android. Like, you know, the last probably at least decade has mostly been me being like, okay, go, tell me what you.

Oh, I shouldn't have said that. I'm going to cut that. I shouldn't have said that. And like genuinely two devices on my desk just lit up. So like I got myself with that one. I'm going to mark that. Hold on a second. You have to leave it and just bleep it.