I've been an Android user since the beginning with the original T-Mobile G1.I bought the Nexus One the day it came out, but eventually, Samsung won me over.It's no secret Samsung makes some of the best phones, which is why I've been buying and reviewing Galaxy devices for over 14 years.
I loved most of them, but here are what I consider the worst Galaxy phones of all time.It's easy to remember your favorite things, but what about the worst ones? I recently listed out my favorite Galaxy phones ever, and on the opposite end of the spectrum are models with old versions of TouchWiz before it became the polished One UI we all love, the Galaxy Note 7, or even the capable yet ugly Galaxy S5.Regardless of why, these Galaxy phones were a no-go for me.
1 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (2016) Crashed and burned, literally Close Before I begin, I want to note that these are the worst Galaxy phones, ranked by the models I've personally owned.It doesn't include budget Galaxy A models that are $100 or premium folds, as I don't own any of those.Your list will probably differ depending on the design, features, performance, or any other reason you see fit.
Let's go! Starting this list off strong is the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, and that's all I really need to say.For those unaware, Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 was recalled a few weeks after its release due to an unusually high risk of the phone catching fire.Related The 6 best Samsung Galaxy phones of all time, ranked From better to best, these are Samsung's real winners.
Posts 23 By Cory Gunther It had a faulty battery design that Samsung never fixed; several caught on fire, they were banned from planes, and I couldn't even ship mine back because it wasn't allowed in the mail.Wild times.Eventually, Samsung completely canceled the phone and moved on.
Honestly, I loved the Note 5 before switching to the Galaxy Note 7, and it was an absolutely fantastic device that would certainly be in my top 5—but I didn't get to keep it.The Note 7 had a sleek design, a gorgeous (at the time) display, curved edges, and felt great in the hand.Unfortunately, that sleek and curvy design was its downfall.
2 Samsung Galaxy Continuum (2010) A weird Verizon exclusive of a Galaxy S phone The first Samsung Galaxy S phone arrived in 2010.For the first few years, each carrier in the United States offered a slightly different variant rather than a single model for everyone.T-Mobile had the Galaxy Vibrant, AT&T had the Captivate, and Verizon went with an odd model called the Galaxy Continuum.
Man, it was awful.The Continuum had a weird dual-screen design featuring a 3.4-inch primary Super AMOLED display and a secondary 1.8-inch "ticker" display underneath the main screen.In typical Samsung fashion, it was quite gimmicky.
But hey, at least the company was pushing boundaries.Sound familiar? I used it for a few months, hated it, and quickly replaced it with the Samsung Nexus S, which was the first phone to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and it didn't have TouchWiz.I loved my Nexus.
Fun fact: the launch of the Galaxy S III in 2012 marked a major shift and a huge turning point for Samsung, as it forced all carriers to adopt a unified hardware design for the first time.The original Galaxy S and Galaxy S II both came in a slew of variants to appease US carriers.3 Samsung Galaxy S22 series (2022) Hot phones, and not in a good way The Samsung Galaxy S22 lineup isn't necessarily bad, and there are probably tons of people still loving their Galaxy S22 Ultra.
For me, they were too boring, iterative compared to the previous generation, didn't get the best battery life, and were hot.This could also go to the S20 Ultra and all its camera and display problems.The Galaxy S22 family was plagued with overheating and poor thermal efficiency, especially the Exynos models that didn't have a Qualcomm chip inside.
I reviewed the Galaxy S22 and wasn't a fan for the reasons above, but I bought the Galaxy S22 Ultra.It's a big, heavy, unwieldy beast with sharp corners that literally put holes in pants pockets over time.I preferred my Galaxy S21 Ultra, by far.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra had the same problem.No thanks.4 Samsung Galaxy S5 (2014) So many poor design decisions After an absolutely fantastic Galaxy S4 the year prior, Samsung's Galaxy S5 was a very odd phone for a myriad of reasons.
It was a huge success for the company, launched with a beautiful 5.1-inch 1080p screen, and it was one of the first flagship Samsung devices with an IP67 rating and a heart rate sensor on the back.It wasn't a phone, and I enjoyed the replaceable battery, but it had an awful dimpled plastic housing on the back and a silly dual charging port with a cover that broke off too easily.It took everything that made the Galaxy S4 great and ruined it.
Even though it sold millions and helped shape Samsung into what it is today, it's also the last of its kind, as Samsung went back to the drawing board after all the criticism.What followed was the unibody metal beauty that was the Galaxy S6 family.Although it didn't have a removable battery or a microSD slot, it was the push Samsung needed to move into premium materials.
The Galaxy S5 was bad-bad.5 Samsung Galaxy Nexus (2011/2012) A love-hate relationship This last pick was tough.I absolutely loved the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (LTE) model, but looking back, it was such a terrible phone.
This Nexus was co-developed by Samsung and Google and was the first phone to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.It had Samsung's great hardware, but with smooth, fast stock Android and terrible battery life.But hey, no Samsung TouchWiz.
I switched to Verizon for it, and when I did get 4G LTE, the battery got absolutely crushed.In fact, it was so bad that I had two spare battery packs I carried around and tossed in whenever it got too low, and that's all you really need to know.Samsung's Galaxy Nexus had a neat, slightly curved screen, 1GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of storage, and a fancy 5MP rear camera with 1080p video.
It had an extremely active developer community, and I flashed so many custom Android ROMs on this thing.I still have it somewhere in a box, too.All said and done, as fun as everything was, it was a pretty bad phone.
Taking the good with the bad Fortunately for me, I've almost always bought flagship phones, so I haven't had the pleasure of using some of Samsung's lower-end phones, which would probably be all over this list.An honorable mention goes out to the original Galaxy Z Fold and its screen-protector disaster; the Galaxy S20 Ultra was a swing and a miss, and while I enjoyed the Galaxy S6, the lack of a microSD slot or a replaceable battery was a huge bummer.I'm not the biggest fan of the latest Galaxy S26 series, either, but I'm hopeful for the Galaxy S27 next year.
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