Our Android expert Ron Amadeo is currently in sunny Barcelona for this year’s Mobile World Congress, and one of the biggest things coming out of the show so far has been the announcement of Samsung’s Galaxy S6. Ron had a lot of positive things to say about the S6’s all-glass design, saying that the new device "actually feels like it's worth the price tag."

But the new Galaxy flagship is missing a pair of features that have in the past proved pretty popular with Android’s more technical users: the S6 has no removable battery and no MicroSD card slot.

Depending on how you use your smartphone, these changes might not register with you at all—in fact, considering that a certain fruit-related smartphone manufacturer has never included them in its devices and yet commands significant market share, it's clear that a removable battery and a MicroSD card slot aren’t features demanded by a majority of buyers. On the other hand, while cheap Android handsets rule the low-end purely for reasons of price, high-quality Android handsets tend to be sought out by those with a more technical bent who want more features out of their devices. And it’s that set of users that appears to be most let down by Samsung’s change.

Do not want

"No expandable storage and no removable battery means they just lost a customer," wrote Ars commenter CrookedKnight. "Hilariously, the all-glass design makes it that much more fragile, meaning a case is that much more of a necessity," he continued, "meaning even if I bought one I'd never see or touch the 'premium components.'"

Beyond lamenting the loss of a removable battery and expandable storage, no small number of readers derided the switch from plastic to glass. "In my world high quality plastics are premium and metal and glass are inferior materials for a phone's shell," said new poster Crise. "I drop my phones a lot and I don't want to use a protective case because it hides the beauty and comfort. Plastic is premium!"

BraytonAK asked the obvious question: "They didn't have to forego a removable SD card just because they changed materials. Obviously there's a removable SIM tray, so why not buddy it up with an SD card on the same tray?"

"Expandable storage and replaceable battery were the two reasons I've held onto my S3 for 2.5 years," wrote TokamakH3. "I really don't like buying a $600 device that I know will be useless in 2 years when the battery stops holding a charge."

Why, Samsung?

These kinds of responses put Samsung in an odd position. As a smart device OEM, Samsung gives the impression of being stuck in a permanent loop chasing after "premium"—the company has made some weird design decisions in the past (like the fake plastic stitching on the Note 3 and original Galaxy Gear ). The switch to "premium" materials is almost certainly being done to show that Samsung can play at the same level of industrial design as Apple and Xiaomi —and given Apple’s significant sales in China, Samsung has a vested interest in showing as much confidence and panache as possible.

However, at least where it comes to the more technical Android users, designing out expandability might be a step too far. The real question that remains here is whether or not the loss of sales from the technical audience that demands storage expansions and replaceable batteries will have a meaningful impact on Samsung’s bottom line; clearly, the company believes it will not. Now that the S6 has a minimum of 32GB of internal space, removable storage is likely seen as a feature that adds complexity without a great deal of benefit. And while it’s true that a change to glass and metal doesn’t preclude a replaceable battery, it’s possible that designing the phone to accommodate a battery hatch and compartment might have interfered with Samsung’s industrial design goals.

Either way, the Galaxy we’re going to get next won’t be a Galaxy with a removable battery or a MicroSD slot, and while the general phone-buying public likely won’t care, the technical set seems to have spoken: no sir, you don’t like it.