Samsung may have just lost $120 million in its legal battle with Apple, but that hasn’t stopped it from releasing a fiendishly clever new ad that mocks the iPhone’s shortcomings with rapier-like precision. Samsung (and practically every other smartphone maker) has a long history of creating ads that make fun of iPhones. And this new ad does a particularly effective job of it.
The ad, dubbed “Growing Up,” opens in 2007 with its young protagonist, Erik, on his way to stand in line for the new iPhone. “Guess what I just got?” he says excitedly into the phone after unboxing it.
Cut to 2010, when Erik wants to take a picture but can’t because the low-storage iPhone is already filled to capacity. Then it’s 2013 and Erik is in college where he meets a girl he likes. He laboriously types her contact info into his 4-inch screen while she quickly writes his on her Galaxy Note with a stylus.
In 2016, the pair are standing on a dock taking pictures of a lake when, due to a bit of horseplay, they both fall in. At home, his iPhone goes right into a bowl of rice to dry out, while her waterproof Samsung phone, and her pictures of the lake, are both safe and sound.
A year later, Erik has bought the iPhone X. He and his lady are relaxing at home while she watches TV and he listens to music on his iPhone–using the dongle that’s needed if you want to listen to music and charge your iPhone X at the same time. He glances over at her Samsung phone on its wireless charger.
He’s had enough. He turns off the iPhone X, tosses it in a drawer, and gets himself a Galaxy Note. “Guess what I just got?” he writes with his stylus. Out on the street, he walks by a line of Apple fans waiting patiently for their iPhones and the camera lingers on one man with a haircut that perfectly matches the unpopular black “notch” at the top of the iPhone X. (Thanks, Adweek for pointing this out.)
It’s pretty easy for me to turn up my nose at any iPhone. I decided years ago to go with Android devices and have never looked back. But the iPhone X seems particularly non-tempting. With every cool new iPhone X feature already available on Android phones, and with frustration over the lack of Touch ID and a headphone jack (not to mention its hefty price tag) I’m not sure I’ll ever see a reason to switch.