Chinese Consumer Protection Agency Files Case Against Samsung And Oppo For Bloatware

Nobody likes bloatware.

It makes an Android phone, no matter what model, no matter how badass the specs, slow. And if a user doesn’t know how to maintain the Android, all the worse for them.

Chinese consumers, apparently, have had enough of bloatware, and are taking Android smartphone makers Samsung and Oppo to task for the way they implement the OS. The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has accepted several cases involving the smartphone makers, and has published some stats regarding their findings. What they allege, in behalf of the consumers, is that these two companies bundle pre-installed apps that not only hamper the use of the devices, these apps also, purportedly, “steal data.”

They sampled 20 smartphones, and among the 20, they found that the Oppo X9007 had 71 pre-installed programs, while Samsung’s SM-N9008S had 44 such bloatware.

According to the consumer commission, both device companies did not inform their consumers of the presence of these apps, and neither did they provide the information on how to remove them.

Tao Ailian, Secretary General of the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission, outlined his goals for the legal moves. He has released a statement that expressed how he hopes that China’s legal action against Samsung and Oppo will force the tech industry to end the “unreasonable, but common” way that pre-installed apps are bundled into new devices. He believes that this practice does nothing to improve the tech industry as a whole.

The consumer rights commission is taking up the cudgels for China’s disenfranchised smartphone users, as an escalation of the commission’s moves to protect consumer rights. While Secretary General Tao did not elaborate on the other measures they took to attempt to take the tech companies to task for their “unfair practices,” the brewing legal battle is their way of ensuring that the Chinese citizens’ consumer rights are being upheld. Secretary General Tao also pointed out that the government-sponsored class legal action seeks to soften the financial blow of such legal measures, as he admitted that for an individual consumer to pursue such cases, the costs might prove to be “prohibitive."

Should the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission win this legal battle against Samsung and Oppo, the rest of the world may well enjoy lighter, bloatware-free smartphones, one lawsuit at a time.