While Samsung may be one of Apple’s fiercest competitors when it comes to smartphones, it also clearly follows where the iPhone maker leads, often doing the same things that it once mocked Apple for.
When Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 four years ago, Samsung eventually followed in its footsteps with the Galaxy S10 after years of ridiculing Apple for its decision. Then, when Apple debuted a controversial notch design in the iPhone X three years ago to accommodate the new TrueDepth Face ID camera, Samsung quickly copied that too, along with several other handset makers, ironically helping to normalize the technology that they once showed such disdain for.
So, this week’s revelation that the new Galaxy S21 will omit free chargers and earbuds shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, even though back in October, Samsung began mocking Apple for its decision to omit these accessories only a day after the iPhone 12 was announced.
In true historical revisionism, Samsung naturally deleted the previous ads, since presumably, it didn’t want to look completely hypocritical, but the internet never forgets.
Do Samsung People Prefer iPhones?
Now in another embarrassing moment for the South Korean smartphone maker, it looks like when the “Samsung Mobile US” marketing team sent out the tweet announcing the new Samsung media event, they were using… you guessed it: an iPhone.
While it’s unknown who within Samsung posted the tweet, since it came from a generic account, and the message was fairly innocuous by itself, the fact that it was posted from an iPhone caused quite a stir since it’s inconceivable to many fans that anybody within the ranks of the most prolific Android smartphone maker in the world would be using a product made by Samsung’s arch-nemesis.
It wasn’t just a single tweet either — a whole stream of tweets sent out promoting the Samsung Unpacked event around the same time all came via “Twitter for iPhone.” The tweets have of course since been deleted, although it’s unknown what fate will befall the employee who dared to commit such a heinous crime.
Celebrity ‘Endorsements’
To be fair, this is far from the first time this sort of gaffe has happened, and it’s almost always those who are supposed to be representing Android companies like Samsung getting caught using iPhones instead.
In fact, it’s even more common among celebrities, who we already know widely prefer iPhones to the competition. Hence, even when they’re actually being paid to promote the smartphones from another company, they often do so using their own personal iPhones, and many have obviously failed to realize that, when posting on Twitter, the truth is revealed.
This includes T-Mobile’s former CEO John Legere, who famously tweeted about how much he appreciated his Galaxy Note 3 from his iPhone, along with Spanish tennis legend David Ferrer, who was supposed to be promoting his Galaxy S4, but was instead tweeting about it from his iPhone.
Samsung even went so far as to sue one of its brand ambassadors, Ksenia Sobchak, a Russian journalist, politician, and reality TV host, for being seen using an iPhone X in public during at least one on-air segment, since she was contractually obligated to only appear in public with a Samsung smartphone.
Similarly, supermodel Kate Upton, who was hired by Samsung to help promote the launch of the Galaxy Note 10, was also seen with an iPhone by her side, although it doesn’t appear that she faced any consequences for that.
To be clear, however, it’s not just about celebrities choosing the iPhone over Samsung’s smartphones. It seems that these problems plague every Apple rival who wants to try and get endorsements for their products. Of course, sometimes perhaps they should make better choices. For instance, Microsoft hired Oprah Winfrey, who we already knew is an Apple fangirl, to promote the Surface tablet, except of course she tweeted her love for it from an iPad.
Others who have gotten similarly tripped up include Jessica Alba, Gal Gadot, David Beckham, and even Ellen Degeneres.
Then of course there was soon-to-be-former U.S. President Donald Trump, who once called for a boycott against Apple products due to the company’s unwillingness to assist the FBI in breaking into iPhones, but in the end he just couldn’t maintain his own boycott, since he just needed to Tweet too badly, and the iPhone ended up being the most secure tool for the job.