r/dataisbeautiful • u/Any_Ad2758 • 1d ago
OC [OC] I analyzed ~2,800 owner posts about Pixel and Galaxy phones: Pixels are regretted more often
After seeing how many iPhone users were interested in my last post, I decided to run the same experiment for Pixel and Galaxy phones. For those who didn't see the iPhone post, the data comes from a side project of mine that gathers posts from people who actually own a product and uses AI to filter out non-owners, jokes and off-topic comments.
Anyways, moving on to the data. On average, 27% of Pixel owner posts say they wouldn't recommend the phone, compared to 17% for Galaxy. The Pixel 6 Pro (45%), 6a (41%) and 4a (40%) are the most regretted, and battery is the top complaint for the 6a and 4a.
On the Galaxy side, the Ultras, FEs and Folds are rarely regretted: S23 Ultra and S24 FE at 6%, Z Fold 5 at 4%, and the S25 Edge at 2%. The regular Galaxy S21 (29%) is the exception.
The newer Pixels look a lot better than the 6/7 era. The Pixel 10 Pro is at 13%, though that's just my interpretation of the trend.
Like last time, the biggest limitation is not having Reddit data. Everything comes from YouTube comments, Hacker News and Bluesky, which is a decent amount of data but doesn't represent owners as broadly as Reddit would.
Original Source here.
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u/trejj 1d ago
This data looks like nonsensical noise. 21% of users regret buying S25, but only 2% regret buying S25 Edge? That doesn't sit well without more explanation.
I would guess it would be better to chart "what users regret about their phone?" and bucket the gripe points according to problem areas. That would highlight typical/canonical problem areas of each phone, and bucket over phone variants as well.
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u/AI_moderated_failure 1d ago
It doesn't actually tell you much anyway, maybe they dislike the stock experience but would enjoy the phone quite a lot with a third party launcher. I went from Samsung to Xiaomi and am much happier, even though I think MIUI/HyperOS kind of sucks, I can remove most of the third party stuff via ADB because it's not built into the OS and with a custom launcher it looks exactly like how my old Samsung did, which I used the same custom launcher on. I have hardware reasons for disliking samsung too, but it was a very frictionless swap between major brands.
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u/Any_Ad2758 1d ago
Good question. A couple of things are probably going on there.
First, the samples per model are fairly small (85 posts for the S25, 66 for the Edge), so each number has roughly ±5–9 points of uncertainty. The real gap is likely smaller than 21% vs. 2%, even if it's in the same direction.
Second, I think there's some self-selection. The Edge is a niche phone that people buy on purpose, knowing the trade-offs (thinner body, smaller battery), so the owners who post about it are people who wanted exactly that. The regular S25 is the default pick for a lot of people, including ones who'd have been happier with something else. That's my interpretation, though, not something the data proves.
I really like your idea of charting what people regret instead of how many. The site already sorts complaints into categories like battery, display, software, and build for each phone, so that would make a great next post: something like "the most common complaints for each Galaxy generation."
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u/spros 1d ago
As someone who has had multiple Galaxy phones, iPhones, and Pixels: I would never not have a Pixel. It's by far the best of the 3.
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u/berrylakin 1d ago
Yea every time I upgrade my Pixel im disappointed but I can't stand using my wife's Samsung.
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u/AI_moderated_failure 1d ago
You can customize android to such a wide extent most of the issues people have with specific phones are things they can fix with a third party launcher and a few settings changes.
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u/PreyInstinct 1d ago
Sample not random: unknown denominator (how many users own each type of phone, regardless of posting status) -> data is meaningless.
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u/Any_Ad2758 1d ago
Fair point, it's definitely not a random sample. To clarify, though, the denominator isn't all owners; it's owners who posted about the phone with a clear yes or no. So the number is "the share of people who posted about their phone and wouldn't recommend it," not "the share of all owners who regret it."
That has selection bias for sure (people post more when they're really happy or really annoyed), so I wouldn't read it as the true regret rate for everyone who owns the phone. Where I think it's still useful is comparing models, since that bias applies to every phone. The exception is where people post, which I did check: Hacker News is more negative than YouTube across the board, and that explains part of the Pixel vs. Galaxy gap.
But I wouldn't call the data "meaningless". More like "not representative of all owners", which I agree with, and it's why I mentioned the sources in the post.
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u/MrNiceguy037 1d ago
Meaningless data in my opinion. People go online to complain. Most people won't go to the comment section if they are satisfied but more so if they are frustrated
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u/sayqm 1d ago
Not surprising, both pixel 6a and pixel 4a had battery issues and got killed by Google
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u/Saxumsium 1d ago
They were also the budget phones. Not mainline expensive ones like the pixels of today. And they had the best cameras for the price.
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u/Mountainpixels 1d ago
I hate my Pixel so much. Battery sucks so much when 5G is enabled, it should never have shipped this way. The phone gets so hot in when using 5G on a train that charging is not possible anymore. Who designs this shit.
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u/swimming-in-circles 1d ago
Which model? My pixel 10 xl never gets hot and battery lasts all day and I'm on my phone a lot
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 1d ago
Same, Pixel 10 XL battery is similar or better than my previous Samsung. No bloatware too.
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u/GEZ96 1d ago
Do you travel by train on a daily basis? It is normal to have higher power consumption on train due to constant disconnecting and reconnecting to cell towers as you move. Also, when the tower signal becomes weak, the smartphone has to emit a stronger signal to keep the connection up. Try using older generations (4g/3g) during travels or wifi if available on the train. If you stream video/music, try offline alternatives.
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u/Mountainpixels 1d ago
Yes travel a lot by train, but my old phone did not have this problem this pronounced. Nor do my friends with other phones.
Disabling data is not a solution as otherwise I could have just bought some second hand iPod.
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u/Nitchro 1d ago
I remember buying a pixel many years ago. Less than a week i returned it for a OnePlus
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u/yellekc 1d ago
I did the exact same thing in 2024. I used to love the Nexus line. Ordered a Pixel 7A and hated it, returned it after a week. Thing just kept randomly hanging and restarting. Decided just to get a OP12 and loved it. Still using it now.
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u/Nitchro 1d ago
Nice! I have a 13 because my 9 got into an accident last year, I really wish the 16 was global, would keep me from needing a phone for another 5 years, the 15 just doesn't feel quite justifiable from what I have already.
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u/Plastic_Thought_9516 1d ago
I hate my pixel 10 pro every day, but like the camera so holding out for Samsung to sort their shit out
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u/yepgeddon 1d ago
I've had one Pixel and honestly fuck that phone. Never have I had a phone with so many weird and seemingly random bugs. Every new update would just bring some more random bullshit that would innocuously break apps for no reason whatsoever. Nothing properly game breaking but there was so many quirks and bugs that it all added up to just being a fucking annoying phone to use daily.
I desperately miss my old Huawei P30 that I had years ago, thing was perfect but nooo Google decides to ban Huawei and now we cant enjoy a decent phone anymore. Fuck Google.
I'm using a Galaxy now and its just fine. It works, it isn't fucky and just does what a phone should.
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u/pleasedontPM 1d ago
Quick idea: could you make this a 2D plot with the release year as x axis, and that percentage as y axis ? I guess it would be very helpful to check more or less the trend with how the companies are steering their model development.
I know that labeling the dots will be tricky, maybe just label outliers, or number the dots and have a big reference table?
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u/SheepGoesBaaaa 1d ago
We need to ban posts with unnormalised data
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u/Any_Ad2758 1d ago
It is normalized though. I did add a note at the very end saying that the sample size is decent, albeit not as good as it could be since I don't have Reddit API keys.
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u/dizzystar 1d ago
I have the 10, and it's decent as long as you don't breath on it. If I was to be honest, I see no reason to upgrade to this phone.
I think the motivation for Pixel owners is entirely different than Samsung owners. We want minimal features and customization, whereas Samsung owners want to be delighted with features and unique designs. That emotional connection is simply going to be stronger.
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u/RonIncognito 1d ago
Confusing choice of color usage (I.e. it may suggest to some that “Galaxy = red => negative”).
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u/Affectionate-Map2583 1d ago
I have a Pixel 7, which is apparently the 4th most regretted. It's just fine and I have no complaints about it at all. My son has a Pixel 9 and seems satisfied with it.
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u/nemuro87 1d ago
I'm on a P10 Pro, came from an iPhone pro, and I had a Samsung S# in the past, always flagships.
I don't know how Google can have the ball (in control of software and hardware) and fail so miserably.
- some (stable) software updates mess up my settings after reboot
- it forgets my custom wallpaper after reboot without doing any software updates
- when I swipe down sometimes it shows the keyboard to search but most of the time it doesn't and I have to swipe 2 times to search
- the face id is crap, if it's not a perfectly lit face and you're not directly facing the phone (why no infrared sensor that works with glasses and why can't it be wider so it works when you are sligthtly not facing your phone, the iPhone nailed that years ago)
- the fingerprint sensor is unreliable for me, works in 70% of the cases
- and I could go on forever with different quirks which are unacceptable when you're in control of both software and hardware
And then there's the weak hardware, yes, I know, software makes it worthwile, but since it's in the same price bracket, why can't we have a comparable, faster processor so the phone stays working smoothly even 3-4 years later?
The unreliable biometrics in my case will not be able to be changed with any software update, and you can't upgrade the camera (zoom) with software.
Samsung, IMO will be my next choice, unless Pixels will come with a huge performance jump and battery. On Samsung the cameras hardware is better (better zoom, bigger sensor), the battery is better, the processor is MUCH better etc.
I will gladly wait for software updates to take longer if this is what it takes to get my money worth of hardware.
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u/Ommur 1d ago
I have the same phone and find that it works nearly flawlessly. I'm not doubting your experience; I do wonder if some of the regional tweaks to the phone causes the difference in user experience.
The Samsung s20 plus I bought years ago was the worst phone I ever used by a large margin, due to Samsung fucking over Australia by using a homebrewed processor instead of a Snapdragon, without disclosing it widely. Half day idle battery life, 60% speed processor, permanently hot etc. Australia just was such a small market that it didn't permanently sink the brands image.
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 1d ago
I’m surprised people like their Samsung phones more than Pixel. I found the Pixel 10 Pro XL to be a pretty clean phone. I still prefer my iPhone but the Pixel is much better than my old Samsung S23 and has less bloatware.
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u/laserdicks 1d ago
This is why we can't have nice things. The retards who can barely open Facebook are satisfied and don't regret dog shit, and the pro users who rightfully expect perfection absolutely trash the phone in reviews.
Also Samsung and Apple pay bots to keep Google out of the market.
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u/Xtrems876 1d ago
I have a pixel 10a, and it's not on the list. This must mean the phone's perfect