Abstract:
Samsung launched a new marketing campaign this week, taking direct aim at the recent screen failures of Apple’s first foldable screen phone, the iPhone Duo. The advertisement was released through Samsung Canada's official Instagram account. Several promotional images deliberately showed a bright line running through the center of the screen to allude to the internal screen damage experienced by some iPhone Duo users.
Samsung prepared three different slogans in the advertisement, namely "Folding is nothing new to us", "Folding, we know more than a little bit" and "Switch to Galaxy Z Fold8". The overall promotion clearly revolves around Samsung's long experience in the field of folding screens, while taking the opportunity to tease early problems with Apple's new products.
A Samsung spokesperson said that this is a "lighthearted and humorous new marketing campaign" designed to respond to the increasing competition in the current folding screen market and emphasize the importance of industry experience in this product category.
As a pioneer in the folding screen market, Samsung launched the first Galaxy Fold folding phone as early as September 2019. The latest Galaxy Z Fold8 was launched about three months earlier than the iPhone Duo, bringing Samsung to the eighth generation of products in the folding screen field.
Not long after the iPhone Duo was launched, some users reported that there was a problem with the hinge of the device, which caused cracks in the internal OLED display. Related failures usually occur at the same location close to the folding area, and obvious bright lines will appear on the screen and affect the display effect. Although the actual number of affected devices is not large, related cases quickly attracted widespread attention on social media and the technology community.
In response to this issue, Apple previously responded that the company was aware of the situation and that only a small number of iPhone Duo devices were affected. Apple said that defective products usually show problems in the early stages of use, and users who encounter related faults can contact AppleCare to apply for a replacement device.
Apple also emphasized that iPhone Duo has received a lot of positive feedback since its release, and developers are quickly adapting applications to take full advantage of the product's unique folding design. The company believes that the screen problem only affects a very small number of devices and will not change the overall market performance.
Despite the controversy, market demand for iPhone Duo remains strong. Currently, the delivery time for Apple's online orders has been scheduled until January next year, and some offline stores will replenish inventory from time to time. In contrast, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 currently does not experience obvious supply pressure, and most color and storage versions can still be shipped in a short time.
In terms of price, the iPhone Duo with 256GB storage starts at US$1,999, while the Galaxy Z Fold8 with the same capacity is priced at US$1,899. As Apple officially enters the folding screen market, the competition between the two major manufacturers around product maturity, reliability and user experience is further escalating.
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