Samsung's insistence on shoving ads into its stock apps has detracted from its otherwise stellar phones. If the pop-ups inside Samsung Pay and Music irked you, we have good news: They'll soon be axed for good. “Samsung has made a decision to cease the advertisement on proprietary apps including Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Theme,” the company confirmed in a statement. “The update will be ready by later this year.”
The move to cull in-app ads was first reported by Korean media who attributed it to TM Roh, president and head of mobile communications business, Samsung Electronics. In response to a question by an employee at the company's online town hall, the exec said that ads would go away in future versions of apps like Samsung Pay, Samsung Themes and Samsung Weather. Roh hinted that the reversal was made in response to user and staff feedback.
We were never fans of the in-app ads here at Engadget. In our recent reviews of the flagship S21 Ultra and mid-range A52 5G, we noted that the "lousy" ads in Samsung's Weather and Daily news apps felt "unpleasant and weird." It seems Samsung finally took heed of the criticism, especially from irritated users, and decided to ditch them altogether.