Getting a new phone is usually a pretty exciting moment, but Samsung doesn't let Apple's customers take much time to enjoy it. For years now, it's almost instantly swooped in with mocking ads that criticize Apple's latest announcements for being behind the curve. They've been effective to various degrees: no one's very jealous of a bump-to-share feature, but it's all too obvious that Samsung had it right about how jealousy-inducing screen size can be.
This year is no exception, and arguably, Samsung has even kicked things up a notch. It released a flurry of ads both before and after the iPhone 6's announcement — and as usual, some are more more effective than others.
Rather than mocking iPhone customers, the ad above released this weekend now mocks the press for complaining about how ridiculous it looked to use the huge Galaxy Note back in the days when people used phones to make phone calls. I'm not so sure that those jokes and complaints have entirely gone away (or will go away for the iPhone 6 Plus), but Samsung definitely earned this one — even if the ad isn't too clever.
If you want to see just how successful Samsung has been when it comes to poking fun at Apple's latest, you can see its track record below with our roundup of its ads. This isn't every mocking ad that it's made — and there are some truly great ones that aren't included — but this includes Samsung's first shots for each new announcement.
This may not look like much now, but at the time it was a solid response to the iPhone 4. The redesigned iPhone was being widely criticized for antenna issues that caused it to drop bars — and Samsung's ad plays off of that even without directly mentioning its competitor. (July 2010)
Samsung's first big burn mocked Apple customers lining up for the iPhone 4S. The ad's success doesn't come from the comparison of any features: it's all about the satirical take on those who buy Apple. (November 2011)
The iPhone 5 had been around for just a few days when Samsung began attacking it for a supposed lack of features. I'm sure we all remember the Galaxy S III's revolutionary Shake to Update feature. (September 2012)
Another line waiting ad for the iPhone 5 announcement. This time, Samsung doesn't just paint iPhone users as behind the curve — it straight up says this is the phone your out-of-date parents are excited about. (September 2012)
In a set of ads, Samsung took on both the iPhone 5S and the iPad Air. For the iPhone 5S, Samsung took to its classic tactic of poking fun at screen size — something that stood out pretty dramatically when placed beside the Galaxy Note 3. For the iPad Air, Samsung actually parodied Apple's own ad comparing its thinness to a pencil, then called out the iPad for various features it couldn't compete with. (February 2014)
The iPhone 6 hadn't even been announced yet, and Samsung had already started poking fun at it. (July 2014)
Oh dear. Samsung created a long series of ads to parody Apple's iPhone 6 and Apple Watch announcement, but it's hard to imagine what on earth is actually happening in most of them. (September 2014)
Big improvements and innovation come with change - even they thought so. #MoreThanBig http://t.co/MN89YMdFMn pic.twitter.com/wubl1QhSEJ
— Samsung Mobile PH (@SamsungMobilePH) September 9, 2014
Yes, Samsung was right — but with little tact, it decided to reference a Steve Jobs quote while boasting about Apple following its lead. (September 2014)