@tooltime2009 Both Google and Samsung have been working toward breaking out independently updatable chunks of the OS and UI into standalone apps. This allows Google and Samsung to update those apps (code) without waiting for a major OS update and subsequent carrier testing.
I don't think that the number you reported is high. I don't have a lot of apps installed and still the Play store reports more than 300. If you add in the ones in the Samsung store there are probably more than 500 apps in total.
