The many times Samsung mocked Apple

Mocking Apple may be Samsung’s second-biggest task after its smartphone business. How else can one explain the series of ads the South Korean technology giant drops each time a new iPhone model is unveiled?

Such is the rivalry between the two, though Apple has refused to bite back, that tech lovers wait for the ads with as much glee as they’d have a day before an iPhone’s launch. 

Days before Apple was set to unveil the new iPhone 14 model, Samsung released a video showing off fancy deets, like 100x space zoom, and a 108-megapixel camera in the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and Galaxy S22 Ultra models. On who’s the innovation boss, the brand went on to say, “Not coming soon to an iPhone near you.”

What’s funny is Samsung didn’t rest on its laurels with this single jab. Once the iPhone 14 hit the market, the maker of the flip and fold phones made an ad focussing on those folks who’re on the fence and looking to join Samsung because its smartphones include features which its American rival doesn’t have. 

One can trace the origins of this advertising fisticuffs to 2012, when Samsung lost $1 billion to Apple over cellular technology patents and then decided to take the rivalry to adland.

A print ad compared the features of the iPhone 5 with the Samsung Galaxy S III. The copy read, “It doesn’t take a genius.”

“This is a marketing campaign; it’s not a legal campaign. As marketers, we’re focussed on educating the consumers. We feel like they’ve somewhat been led down a blind path, when truly that innovation has stopped a long time ago,” Teri Daley, a Samsung representative, was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

Samsung ads on the iPhone have reached iconic status and become a part of the tech zeitgeist of the last two decades. In 2017, Samsung detailed the transformation of an iPhone user to a Galaxy user, while mocking the long lines of people waiting for an iPhone.

2021 saw the battle of the specs, when Samsung released three ads, comparing the features of its S21 Ultra 5G to that of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. “Your phone upgrade shouldn’t be a downgrade,” said Samsung.

Microsoft, another technology behemoth, didn’t sit on the sidelines all this time. While it was on the receiving end of the Mac versus Windows ads from the last century, it decided to give one back when it mocked both brands with its own spot for Nokia Lumia 920.

Newer models will drop and so will such ads, the only question that remains is when will these smartphones become affordable.