Samsung will preinstall Spotify globally on Galaxy S10, Fold and other new devices

Samsung today announced it will preinstall the Spotify app globally on its latest smartphones like Galaxy S10, Galaxy Fold and more. Moreover, new Galaxy customers who subscribe to Spotify on their device will be treated to six free months of Spotify Premium in the US.

From the announcement:

Spotify has been deeply integrated with Bixby, Samsung’s intelligence platform designed to work across Samsung’s ecosystem of devices. Spotify also enhances the Bixby Home screen by providing Spotify content and recommendations tailored for each listener.

The following Samsung smartphones will come with Spotify preloaded:

  • Galaxy S10
  • Galaxy S10+
  • Galaxy S10e
  • Galaxy S10 5G
  • Galaxy Fold
  • Select Galaxy A models

Spotify told investors the new Samsung deal is an extension of its earlier partnership from August 2018 that named the Swedish company Samsung’s go-to music service provider. Samsung is the leading Android maker so the move could boost Spotify’s share of the music-streaming market at a time when Apple Music is slowly but surely catching up to Spotify.

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In fact, it puts Spotify on an equal footing with Apple in terms of iPhone-Galaxy rivalry because Apple Music is preloaded on iOS devices and pushed to users via the stock Music app.

Spotify has nearly 100 million paid customers

According to latest stats from Spotify, the Swedish company had 96 million paid subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, up from 87 million customers in the year-ago quarter for a 36 percent growth in Premium subscriptions on an annual basis.

Apple Music surpassed 50 million paid users during the December 2018 quarter but Spotify has been growing at a faster clip than Apple’s service (which only launched in June 2015).