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Samsung continues its tired tradition of knocking Apple in TV ads

The joke is getting old.

BY Mark Sullivan1 minute read

The joke is getting old. If you’re going to parody a competitor, it has to be funny, and this latest round of Samsung attack ads on Apple–IMHO–just, uh, aren’t. You may disagree.

The ads, which began running earlier this week, show a number of features where Samsung believes it has an edge over the iPhone. They say that the iPhone X has slower maximum download speeds (this depends a little on the phone and a lot on the network), an inferior camera (according to the iPhone X’s DxOMark score, which is 97 compared to Samsung’s S9+ which scored 99), no fast charging (the next iPhones are expected to contain a Lightning to USB-C cable and new 18W charger), and no headphone jack (this knock is getting a little stale–wireless audio is here, dudes).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTntzNhTTsE

The “Ingenious” ad campaign comes along with a new report showing that Samsung lost some ground to Apple in the June-ending quarter in terms of phone activations in the United States. Apple activated just as many new phones as Samsung, despite the fact that Samsung sells a jillion different phone models at a jillion price points, while Apple sells just a handful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O_MjXbX3VA

At least the current spate of ads don’t mock Apple customers themselves, as they have in the past. After all, those are the people Samsung needs to win over. In fact, it was an attack on the Apple faithful that began Samsung’s tradition of quasi-funny Apple attack ads back in 2011; the first ad featured customers lining up to buy the iPhone 4S.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7trMPJNBV20

Whether you’re a Samsung or Apple fan, these ads are yesterday’s news, and Samsung should either stop doing them or make them funny. Even better, Samsung should just stick to advertising the most competitive features of its own phones, and stop hitting Apple directly, which, I’d argue, makes Samsung look like a challenger in the U.S. market, not a leader.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxi0AtBVRZE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Sullivan is a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. Before coming to Fast Company in January 2016, Sullivan wrote for VentureBeat, Light Reading, CNET, Wired, and PCWorld More


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