China is suing Samsung over “bloatware” after finding 47 pre-installed apps

China is suing Samsung over “bloatware” after finding 47 pre-installed apps

Samsung and Oppo are accused of abusing the practice of including pre-installed apps that no one wants.

The Chinese government — specifically, the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission — is after mighty Samsung as well as Chinese electronic manufacturer Oppo over so-called “bloatware,” which are pre-installed apps that people don’t ask for and often don’t want.

The commission is investigating complaints that the public is being forced to accept unwanted apps on their smartphones, prompting the commission to take a look at 20 smartphones, finding that several of them had been sold with pre-installed apps that often couldn’t be removed, according to a Shanghai Daily report.

One was the Samsung SM-N9008S, which was found to have had a whopping 47 pre-installed apps — a total that was outstripped by the Oppo X9007, which had 71 pre-installed programs.

These apps included electronic dictionaries and online shopping programs for the Samsung version, whereas the Oppo phone had games and other programs mostly, according to the commission.

Samsung and Oppo failed to let buyers know that these apps were present in their phones, a violation of consumers rights, the commission is claiming.

Tao Ailian, the secretary-general of the commission, said according to the report that the hope was that this litigation would end the practice of pre-installing apps without informing consumers.

The suit would attempt to force Samsung and Oppo to inform customers on the packaging that there would be apps installed on the smartphones, and to also include instructions on removing them.

Beyond being merely annoying, a more serious concern about “bloatware” is that they steal phone data without the consumer’s knowledge, passing that information along to third parties and thus raising privacy concerns.

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