The main difference I had in mind is that Google devices let you root and erase them to run stuff like Lineage OS or Graphene OS, and Samsung devices don’t.

(Samsung also puts ads on their TVs and deliberately and blatantly designes their appliances to fail just outside warranty. I will never buy anything from that company again, with the possible exception of components like RAM ICs that get incorporated into some other brand’s product. But even then I’ll try to check for and avoid it because that’s the level of petty revenge Samsung deserves!)