Samsung is extending its partnership with Microsoft that puts the latter's suite of productivity apps on the former's flagship handsets. This partnership has even brought Microsoft's productivity apps to Samsung tablets. Microsoft's core productivity apps were pre-installed on the Galaxy S6 last year and it's going to be the same this time around as well. The Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge will both have Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and Skype pre-installed.
The apps will be pre-installed on most versions of the new handsets though the possibility exists that carriers might decide to go in another direction. For example, Verizon's version of the Galaxy S6 didn't come with these apps, so we might see Big Red and possibly other carriers take this same route this year as well. Like it did last year, Microsoft might entice users with the promise of 100GB free cloud storage to get them to use its apps.
