Samsung pushing ads to smartphone notification centers

This is how the notifications appear to customers.

Samsung has followed in HTC's footsteps; some users are finding advertisements in their notification centers.

Joseph Lambert, Published 08/22/2015

Smartphone manufacturers today are always trying to find new ways to make money. Currently, Apple is taking about 92% of profit in the mobile phone industry, and competing companies are now left to seek out other ways to make up for razor-thin profit margins. Samsung's latest attempt is to push advertisements to users in notification center, and they are often disguised as reminders.

The ads in question could remind users to watch a certain TV show or buy a new car, and all of this comes through Samsung's Push Service. Clicking the ad would allow the user to set a reminder normally with the Peel app. Some of the ads are from Samsung directly, such as one for the latest Galaxy S6 Plus. Clicking the ad led straight to the device's website where an order can be placed. Those who purchase expensive smartphones from Samsung are rightfully upset by this move, as the devices bought are already very pricey and should not be littered with advertisements that can get in the way of regular use.

Moreover, many who purchase Android smartphones do so for the freedom of the operating system, and by forcing users to view ads front-and-center alongside their notifications is somewhat contradictory. HTC began doing this at the beginning of this year, and it seems as though Samsung will follow suit. Now that two manufacturers have begun this practice, it is likely that it may continue to plague mobile device owners henceforth.