Samsung’s latest dig at the iPhone lacks wit, but it has a cat at least

If you ever comb through the internet for phone brands poking fun at each other, you’re highly likely to find Samsung attempting to ridicule Apple. Some of its videos are hilarious, while some are outright cringe. That hasn’t stopped it from ever conceiving new ways to make fun of Apple. And now comes another ad film that sneers at Apple for being late at bringing its first foldable, even after rumors piling up for several years. And its timing, just days after Apple confirmed the iPhone 17 launch date, couldn’t be better.

Who doesn’t love a good video about cats knocking things down? That’s exactly what Samsung leverages in the latest ad it posted on X, featuring a tagline: “Can your phone do that?” The video shows a person struggling to keep their phone upright on a kitchen counter, and a cat repeatedly knocking it over. The Apple logo on the back of the phone is very apparent, and so is the triple camera of a Pro iPhone. Guessing by the size and the shiny frame, the phone in the video is an iPhone 16 Pro.

In walks Dylan Efron, YouTuber and the younger brother of Hollywood star Zac Efron, who replaces the iPhone with a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. Samsung’s newest $2,000 flagship, folded perfectly in half, sits on top of the table. The phone is proclaimed to run two videos in a multiwindow view on the inner screen, which is enough to hypnotize and eventually pacify the cat. This is notably the second ad featuring Efron, and the previous one mocked Apple Intelligence — or, rather, its lack.

Unless you’re a devout iPhone user, the ad could be amusing — at least, adorable because of the cat. But, objectively, it feels forced and poorly thought through. Hear me out!

This is a Samsung ad, so it has to turn in Samsung’s favor, obviously. And we get that instead of simply stressing that the Fold 7 can stand by itself, Samsung is likely teasing Apple for being late to the foldables party, which isn’t happening until next year, though, considering the rumors, Samsung might revisit this ad next year when Apple launches a folding iPhone for less than the Fold’s price.

Or, it could be highlighting the fact that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is better at multitasking, which shouldn’t really be contentious, given the larger tablet-like screen. But apart from that, the ad doesn’t account for the fact that all Samsung phones, except for the Fold series, also fall into the category of phones, alongside the iPhone, that cannot do that.

So, is it calling all Samsung flagships, even the Galaxy S25 Ultra, less capable than the Fold 7? In some sense, it is. But for most people, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a fine phone — but so is the iPhone 16 Pro.

This is literally a case of comparing apples to oranges, and Samsung could have chosen a better point to prove its superiority — perhaps by discussing the Fold’s 200MP camera. Or maybe it could have been more cheeky, like Google has occasionally been with its ‘Best Friends Forever’ campaign, in which an animated Pixel takes a dig at a rather witless iPhone. But those ads, at least, pivot on a valid comparison.

Notably, Samsung’s ad also comes at a time when Samsung has reportedly sued Xiaomi (interestingly, Apple has, too!) in India for “disparaging” its products in print media ads. That’s some spoilsport behavior from Samsung, especially when it has been so jovial about highlighting the iPhone’s flaws.