It’s been really bad recently on my Fold 3, but didn’t start happening until about a year after I got the phone.
I think they wait for all the reviews and “1 year updates” from the YouTubers to pull this shit.
They honestly can’t make that much off this bullshit on a per-device level. My phone costs more than 2 cars I’ve owned, and I could just buy a Pixel Fold next upgrade, so it wouldn’t take a huge percentage of users jumping ship to mage or more costly than profitable.
If MKBHS, Linus Tech Tips, etc called them out in their reviews of Samsung devices it would stop overnight.
Dear God yes, why the fuck is my Fold trying to install fucking candy crush and a bunch of other games every time it does a software update?! And recently it has a new system app trying to install games as well, that comes back if dismissed in any other way than opening it to get the offers and then clicking on the never option. And apparently never is like 3-6 months according to Samsung, because it does come back.
I really hope the Pixel Fold 2 is a solid phone, because that is where I plan to migrate to after nothing but Samsung phones since the Note 3, which was has been all downhill since TBH (RIP microSD cards).