This is actually some pretty surprising news, if it is indeed true. According to Re/Code, it appears that Google met with Samsung recently and basically told them to stop producing so many storage-clogging, battery draining apps on their future devices. Samsung is said to be producing smartphones that run something closer to the “pure” Android that Google is offering on their Nexus devices and Google Play Edition devices (also the Moto X and Moto G).
Why is this surprising? Well you may have noticed that Samsung has basically been recreating all the Google apps on their devices lately. And Touchwiz is about as far from “pure” Android as you can get. Although Samsung is reportedly doing a huge overhaul of Touchwiz, but I didn’t really expect it to be close to the “Pure” Android which Google offers. Not that I’m complaining about that though. It’s a great thing for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is faster updates.
Re/Code is also reporting that Google is looking to take more control over Android as more and more no-name Chinese vendors are using Android on their smartphones, but they aren’t using key Google services like Play Store, Gmail, YouTube, etc. Re/Code is also saying that sources are stating “not only will Samsung consider dumping or altering the Magazine UX interface in future devices, but, more importantly, new Samsung devices will spotlight Google’s suite of apps to get movies, music and other content at the expense of its in-house developed software, which was once a proud showcase of Samsung’s evolution as a mobile industry leader.”
Like I stated above, I’m pretty surprise to see this from Samsung. But if the reasoning behind Google doing this is correct, I can understand why Samsung would agree to Google’s terms. As they are one of their biggest partners, and they make a lot more money off of Android than Windows/Windows Phone or Tizen at the moment. This may further cement the fact that they are not dumping Android for Tizen.