Pretty much every Android original equipment manufacturer has been reskinning the Android user interface since Google’s open source OS started shipping in smartphones back in 2008 and Samsung is no exception to that trend. In fact, the South Korean tech giant has been one of the most consistent OEMs when it comes to Android user experience seeing how most of its smartphones since mid-2010 were shipping with TouchWiz, the company’s proprietary Android UI. Earlier this month, we had seen some indications that the largest phone maker in the world may be getting ready to rebrand TouchWiz. More specifically, the name “Samsung Experience” has been thrown around a lot, and today, a trademark filing uncovered by Galaxy Club adds some credibility to the theory of a TouchWiz rebranding.
In addition to filing for a Samsung Experience trademark, Samsung also registered a related logo which you can see depicted in the image above. Now, there are several reasons why the South Korean tech giant may be interested in rebranding its signature Android UI. For starters, TouchWiz has faced no shortage of criticism over the last few years. While a significant portion of the company’s customers obviously approves of Samsung’s endeavors, it’s possible that the Seoul-based phone maker is looking to create a more universally appealing Android interface. Secondly, Samsung may also be looking to make this change following the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco seeing how the TouchWiz UX was hailed as one of the main selling points of this flagship. Given how the said phablet turned out to be a fire hazard, it’s possible that Samsung is looking to rebrand all of the features associated with the said phone.
Of course, one also can’t dismiss the possibility that this trademark has nothing to do with Samsung’s Android interface. However, if it does, it’s likely that Samsung Experience will either debut with the Android 7.1.1 Nougat build for the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge or that the Seoul-based company will introduce the new UI with the Galaxy S8, its upcoming flagship that’s slated to be unveiled in a few months. In other words, we’ll hopefully have more details on this mysterious trademark come early 2017.