Earlier this week it emerged that Samsung and Google had signed a deal to share patents over the next 10 years. It’s now being suggested that the collaboration could go well beyond that.
According to a report from Re/code, both the two companies are working on plan to reign in some of Samsung’s recent UI excess and restore it to something resembling stock Android.
Apparently, Google executives were dismayed at the reveal of the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro at CES earlier this month. It was here that Samsung revealed its new Windows 8-like Magazine UX, which represented a massive divergence from basic Android functionality.
Following this show, it’s claimed by multiple sources that Samsung and Google began to hammer out an agreement on a better way forward for both companies.
The report claims that Samsung would consider dramatically altering or even ditching its new Magazine UX altogether in future devices. More important than that, however, is the suggestion that Samsung has agreed to feature Google’s default multimedia apps at the expense of its own in-house efforts.
Of course, the South Korean giant, as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, is in a position to demand something considerable in return, but it’s not yet known what that might be. Perhaps Google will agree to handing over the rights to the next Nexus smartphone and beyond.
It’s unclear. What seems to be certain is that the previously shaky relationship between these two tech titans has undergone "a sea change in the last few weeks."
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