UK Advertising Board Rules for Apple in Dispute over Thinnest Smartphone

[MacRumors]

As noted by TechCrunch, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favor Apple in a dispute with Samsung over which manufacturer offers the world's thinnest smartphone. The dispute over which company could lay claim to the title for marketing purposes arose because of the Samsung Galaxy S II's form factor, which includes a sizable hump.

Samsung's svelte new model is indeed thinner at certain points, measuring in at 8.71mm at its thinnest. It's a considerable enough difference from the iPhone 4?s 9.3mm depth that it would've been a clear victory were it not for the Galaxy S II's 9.91mm thick hump.

The ASA ruled that since the iPhone's thickest point is thinner than the Galaxy S II's thickest, Apple has the right to continue claiming the title.

Apple and Samsung are of course also locked in a series of much more important legal disputes centered around claims of patent and design infringement.

Article Link: UK Advertising Board Rules for Apple in Dispute over Thinnest Smartphone

[slrandall]

Seems a little arbitrary. Why not just average the thickness of the entire device, and use that?

[dethmaShine]

Originally Posted by slrandall

Seems a little arbitrary. Why not just average the thickness of the entire device, and use that?

Is that a joke?

[AAPLDroid]

Well the Board has a point. Still, it's amazing the amount of hardware and features they've managed to cram in that phone which debuted six months ago.

[miknos]

Apple could make a tiny chin and say the iPhone is 1mm thick.

[mousouchop]

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Seems silly that companies are fighting over this. I definitely wouldn't want a phone thinner than the iPhone 4 anyway... hopefully Apple doesn't get hung up on the "title" and castrate the next redesign. -_-

[bigjnyc]

It's getting pretty ugly between these 2 companies now.

[elhungarian]

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Ha. If next iPhone is in the same shell as iPhone 4 it won't be long till someone will beat the thickness.

[bmms8]

i agree that it should be looked at the thickest points. those humps add thickness to the device. all measurements should be given that way.

[DeeEss]

Seriously, this long standing bitch fight between these two companies is tiresome and childish.

Please - STOP

[Moonjumper]

You measure the height of a car according to roof height, not bonnet height. It is the same with phones, measure to the thickest point.

[SockRolid]

"My humps, my humps, my ugly Samsung humps..."

[bigcat318]

Thank god, I can finally rest easy tonight knowing which giant corporation produced the thinnest cell phone.

[AnthonyHarris]

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The only way the iPhone could possibly become thinner would be to give it a larger footprint. Since the Android handset already has a larger footprint, they'd hardly be winning any design awards even if it WAS thinner. Apple are masters in compact design and have paved the way for other company's in reality. It's just a shame that many people scoff and say "Apple didn't create touch screen technology", or "hmm yeah, the phone was invented in 2007"... Because if it wasn't for Apple we would still have lagging interfaces like the Prada phone. They might not have invented the wheel, but they sure as hell perfected it.

[cms2]

Originally Posted by DeeEss

Seriously, this long standing bitch fight between these two companies is tiresome and childish.

Please - STOP

Right? I mean, this is just silly.

Originally Posted by Moonjumper

You measure the height of a car according to roof height, not bonnet height. It is the same with phones, measure to the thickest point.

Hah hah... I'm sorry... "bonnet" Anyway, yes, I think that what the companies are arguing when they talk thickness is how easily the device will slip in and out of a pocket. The thickest point - not the thinnest - determines this.

Originally Posted by SockRolid

"My humps, my humps, my ugly Samsung humps..."

Hah hah... so obvious, yet still funny. And yeah, I much prefer the iPhone 4's monolithic styling to Samsung's humps. That's entirely just a personal preference, of course. If someone prefers Samsung's approach, then more power to them!

[danpass]

In this day and age of instant info across the whole world things can gain traction very quickly and, if untrue, create distortion.

Its not so far fetched any more to sue over these types of things.

[tzeshan]

I agree. This is the same measure used to judge the tallest building in the world.

[Rocketman]

To me the takeaway of this and the other Samsung and Apple disputes is that Samsung is trying and actually doing, copycat products, form factors, marketing pitches, etc. Given their history of making copycat products without much blast-back, this whole Apple response on a variety of fronts must have them "flummoxed".

My preference is more battery not more thinnness, to the degree I keep begging for a BTO option on iOS devices.

Rocketman

[Anonymous Freak]

Originally Posted by miknos

Apple could make a tiny chin and say the iPhone is 1mm thick.

You mean like they do with the MacBook Air?

[EmbraceTheOne]

It might by thinner, but then you have that ugly lump at the top of the phone. It should be taken into consideration when measuring.

[whooleytoo]

Did Samsung complain to the ASA about this? The article doesn't say.

Reminds me of a similar case where Apple claimed the PowerMac G5 was the fastest PC in the world, and in that case they lost as it was the fastest in all but one test. That seems a bit petty, by comparison.

[mrpither]

I really could give a flying flip about a few millimeters of thin. You know what would be really really great? Make it a few millimeters thicker and make the battery bigger! How nice would it be to have an iPhone that you could REALLY USE ALL DAY???

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Originally Posted by elhungarian

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Ha. If next iPhone is in the same shell as iPhone 4 it won't be long till someone will beat the thickness.

Done:

The Samsung Focus S strips much of the bulk of the original Focus as it comes with a thin 0.34-inch (8.55mm) body. Under the hood, a 1.4GHz processor runs the Mango goodness. An 8-megapixel camera on the back will add appeal to the Focus S, while up front it comes with a 1.3-megapixel snapper for video conferencing.

[accessoriesguy]

They should go by surface area and volume and math...or maybe that should be just for greece

[bushido]

the galaxy s 2 is thinner than the iphone 4 tho

[highdough]

Originally Posted by DeeEss

Seriously, this long standing bitch fight between these two companies is tiresome and childish.

Please - STOP

Yet it keeps them in the news and people talking about them. Perhaps it's not as much childish as good marketing.