Video: Samsung's new advert mocks the Apple iPhone 6's performance.
Source: Samsung/YouTube
Samsung has released a new ad poking fun at the iPhone ahead of the launch of 128GB and 256GB editions of the Galaxy S9[1].
Samsung's marketers appear to figure that the most likely group of iPhone owners to upgrade to a Galaxy S9 instead of an iPhone X are iPhone 6 owners, who feel cheated by Apple's iPhone slowdown controversy.
The ad, which uses the same music as last year's creepy Notch guy ad[2], homes in on the performance of the iPhone 6, which constantly lets its owner down, causing her stress, suffering, and envy.
The first 40 seconds of the ad show the iPhone 6 owner, Carmen, gradually broken down by the device's slow performance, setting the stage for a scene at an Apple Store where Carmen realizes it's that darn "battery throttling" issue that's behind her misery.
It's understandable why Samsung focused on this issue, even if the ad is filled with cheap shots at an iPhone from 2014.
Apple is facing dozens of class action lawsuits[3] from customers who feel wronged by the performance-management feature Apple secretly slipped into iOS. And it drove suspicions[4] that Apple was artificially degrading iPhone performance to boost upgrades.
Samsung probably hopes this group -- and iPhone owners holding back on an iPhone X upgrade[5] for Apple's 2018 lineup -- recognize themselves in its latest ad.
At the airport security gates, Carmen is forced to apologize to an unsympathetic TSA officer because she's waiting for the device to load her boarding pass.