The Shanghai Consumer Council, a consumer protection group in China, has filed a lawsuit against mobile companies Samsung and Oppo. The group believes that the two companies have installed many unnecessary apps in their gadgets.
The group said it filed the lawsuit after hearing complaints from users. The group has not given parameters as to what kinds of apps are unnecessary in their standards.
But since the number of preloaded apps in Samsung and Oppo phones are said to affect the convenience of users, the consumer watchdog decided to bring the issue to court.
The group performed a study on over 20 smartphone models. It tested and saw Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has 44 preloaded apps. Oppo's Find 7A, on the other hand, has 71.
The apps consume large amounts of mobile data, making the device slower. Uninstalling them also takes time and is sometimes problematic, some complaints say. The SCC has reached out to the two companies regarding the issue.
"We hope it will force other companies in the sector to end the unreasonable, but common, practice of pre-installing apps without telling consumers. This is something that is very much necessary for the healthy development of the whole industry." Secretary-general of Shanghai Consumers Council, Tao Ailian, said on The Daily Monitor.
The group suggested that the smartphone companies should be more informative with their packaging. This means that the presence of the apps should be indicated.
The pre-installed apps, termed 'bloatware', are found to be mostly user guides and other smartphone features like, for instance, email. Samsung, for example, has email pre-installed as android OS is tied up with Gmail.
It is important to note that mobile networks may also add to the number of preloaded apps in the device. It is unclear whether the group has taken into account this factor in its study.
Samsung and Oppo are expected to respond within fifteen days since the lawsuit was filed. The two companies have not yet released any statement as of this writing.
