With both the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 sporting expandable storage, and Google adding great SD support to Android 6.0, this year it seemed like storage enthusiasts would get everything they could ever want. Apparently that's not the case though, as both OEMs have shunned Google's new "Adoptable Storage" feature.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow added an adoptable storage feature, which allows you to format a microSD card as internal storage. Android will then merge the microSD card and internal storage into a single storage pool, allowing you to seamlessly install as many apps as you want, or load it with media. Samsung and LG don't appear to be a fans of the feature, though. Android Central tried the feature on G5 at MWC, and it didn't support adoptable storage, and when we asked Samsung about the feature, the company laid out its thoughts about the feature:

Samsung decided not to use the Android Marshmallow “adoptable storage” model. We believe that our users want a microSD card to transfer files between their phone and other devices (laptop, tablet, etc), especially the photos and videos they shoot with the camera. With adoptable storage, first of all the card may be erased the first time it is inserted into the device. This behavior may be unexpected by many users and we don’t want our users to lose their files. Second, once Marshmallow starts using a card for adoptable storage, it cannot be read by other devices, so it loses this ability to be used for file transfer. Adoptable Storage is also primarily targeted towards emerging markets where devices with only 4-8GB of onboard storage are common. We think that our model of using microSD for mass storage is more in-line with our owner’s desires and expectations for how microSD should behave.

Before OEMs changed the feature, users could pick which mode they wanted the storage to be in and format it appropriately. There was both "Portable" mode, which treated an SD card like normal removable storage, and the new "Internal storage" mode. With "Internal" mode disabled for both devices, the SD cards will only be able to be used for media—no apps allowed.

Taking choice away from users is definitely a bummer (would just hiding it somewhere for advanced users have been too much to ask?), but with Android being Android, we'll start the countdown clock for when hackers re-enable this feature.