Shanghai Commission Files Case Against Samsung and Oppo for Bloatware

Soon Samsung and Oppo will be under legal inspection, as the Shangai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has filed a case against Samsung and Oppo for pre-installing apps without informing consumers of their existence on their new devices. The commission claimed that those applications were non-removable, and in some cases, used up cellular data.

Shanghai Commission Files Case Against Samsung and Oppo for Bloatware

The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection said that it’ll be taking action against the two over their practice of installing bloatware or pre-installed apps on their smartphones. Bloatware, also known as PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), typically arrives pre-installed on hardware and is often difficult to remove.

The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has filed two cases separate in Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court against Tianjjin Samsung Telecommunications Technology Co Ltd, and Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Co Ltd.

This case is in behalf of numerous complaints received from the public and commission also investigates their new smartphones regarding those pre-installed apps.

Two devices are at the center of the issue, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3(SM-N9008S) and the Oppo Find 7 (X9007) as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has 44 pre-installed apps while the Oppo Find 7 has 71 pre-installed apps.

Moreover the commission studied 20 smartphones and concluded that those devices have many apps which cannot be removed. The most irritating thing is that most of them could not be uninstalled, consuming precious memory or space on devices. The commission hopes that this case will be model for OEMs to stop this practice that may be harmful to the growth of the industry.

Tao Ailian, executive deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission said:

[pull_quote_center]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.[/pull_quote_center]

The companies have two weeks to write up their defense then the trial dates will be announced by the Court. The move by the commission is a wider effort to get China’s Ministry of Information Technology to control the practice of how manufacturers pre-install applications on their smartphones.