Re: They could always
Bloatware, Bixby, ludicruous pricing. I haven't really liked any since Note 7, which was forcibly recalled.
Given what you can get from Huawei/Honor and Xiaomi for half, or a quarter, of the price I couldn't possibly justify a Samsung. Yes hardware is nice, but software isn't. And the bloatware is silly.
Besides I'm quite happy with the ~200 quid Nokia 8 with no-bloat Android Pie.
