Samsung compares the Galaxy S9 to the... iPhone 6 in a new ad

May 18, 2018

The battle between the two companies does not seem to be over. Samsung, Apple's direct competitor, has published a new advertisement that elicits a light laugh. The reason is that Samsung in this ad wants to attract iPhone users by comparing the Galaxy S9 with the... iPhone 6.

Whether we should comment on the above is probably unnecessary. Simply put, we have a device released in 2018 and a device released in 2014. There is a four-year gap between them. If Samsung wanted to make a fair comparison, it should have juxtaposed the S9 with one of this year's three Apple devices.

The content of the advertisement

As we said above, the comparison is more than misleading. The ad shows a girl who is irritated by the slow performing iPhone 6 she owns, at the moment she is on a plane, travelling to see her sister.

The advertisement begins by showing the girl at airport security, with the employee reminding passengers that they should have their ID and boarding pass ready. The girl taps on the Wallet icon on the iPhone, but a white screen appears which indicates that the device is not responding correctly. The airport employee, looking equally unhappy.

The next scene shows the girl trying to open the TV app to watch a movie during the flight, while another passenger with an S9 is sitting next to her. Miraculously, the iPhone screen turns white and freezes once again.

The ad is clearly misleading as the S9 doesn't appear to open any app anywhere. The iPhone on the other hand, is captured in every app opening process, though not fully, as the scenes are interrupted and we move to another shot, for obvious reasons.

Later in the night, the woman visits an Apple Store and asks the clerk if her late device could be fixed that night. In a monotone, the employee advises her to turn off battery performance management, at the risk of unexpected shutdowns, but does not mention that a battery change would solve her problem.

Exhausted, the woman leaves the store. At the end of the ad, the girl is seen unboxing and using her new Galaxy S9, indicating that she has finally taken the big step of changing her ecosystem.

Closing

Samsung's decision to use a much older iPhone in its advertisement is probably related to the results of the comparison of the iPhone X with the S9, according to which Apple's device was the absolute winner.

Even in reality though, a four-year-old iPhone, under-chronicled by Apple, is not as slow as the ad suggests. If it really is, then there are other reasons.

In general, it makes perfect sense for companies to look for ways to "pull" customers from other smartphone manufacturers. Of course, that doesn't mean that the tactic the South Korean company took in this ad is the most honest one.