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Lenovo Borrows Heavily From Apple in New S90 Smartphone Marketing Push

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Apr 12, 2001
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Leading PC and competitive mobile phone maker Lenovo may have been overly influenced by Apple's iPhone 6 when it was looking for inspiration for its new S90 smartphone. As reported by Gizmobic (via The Independent), Lenovo's S90 'Sisley' smartphone closely resembles the iPhone 6 with a marketing push that is almost identical to Apple's own promotional materials.

Though there are small differences between the two devices, the overall styling of the S90 is remarkably similar to the iPhone 6. Both phones include a rounded metal casing and measure up with the same 6.9mm thickness and 129g weight.

lenovo-s90-main.jpg
The mimicry didn't stop with the hardware design, as Lenovo also borrows heavily from Apple's unique marketing style. The Chinese manufacturer uses an almost identical product layout and brightly-colored, people-focused images that Apple typically uses in its advertising materials.

Lenovo addressed accusations that it had copied the iPhone 6's design, stating that though there are clear "external similarities" between the two devices, there would have been no time for the company to emulate the iPhone's design so soon after its launch.
Lenovo has responded by admitting that while there are "external similarities [...] Considering the product design lifecycle of any smartphone - at least a year in planning and prototyping - it's not possible to copy a design so quickly."
Click to expand...
lenovo-s90-mid.jpg
This isn't the first time competitors have copied Apple's iPhone. The Cupertino company waged a multi-year battle against rival Samsung over patent and trade dress infringement claims. Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has also been accused of copying the iPhone and the iPad in its line of inexpensive smartphones and tablets, with Apple's design chief Jony Ive going so far as to call the similarities in design "theft."

Article Link: Lenovo Borrows Heavily From Apple in New S90 Smartphone Marketing Push
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/07/lenovo-copies-iphone6-in-s90-marketing/
cosmic68

cosmic68

macrumors 6502
Dec 26, 2007
488
113
That's pretty outrageous! I know they say imitation is flattery, but this is a step to far. I imagine Apple lawyers will have something to say about this.
 
K

kevin4

macrumors newbie
Aug 18, 2014
26
2
I smell an incoming lawsuit. Although I gotta admit that phone looks nice.
 
NotoriousZeus

NotoriousZeus

macrumors newbie
Oct 15, 2014
11
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What are you talking about :rolleyes: .. it looks nothing like the iPhone and our tagline says "bigger than Bigger" instead of "Bigger than bigger"... see totally different.:p
 
Glassed Silver

Glassed Silver

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2007
2,096
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5TGjE7W.png


"See what we did here is remarkable.
We took Apple's proven design philosophy, tried to understand it and were honest enough to admit freely we did not and honored Apple's valuable contribution to the world of design by flat out copying their phone's design.
In the process we saved many resources around trying to come up with something that could only be of lesser aesthetics."
-Yao Yingjia (Chief Designer, Vice President of Lenovo Design & User Experience)

Glassed Silver:mac
 
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Will do good

Will do good

macrumors 6502a
Mar 24, 2010
666
391
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Chinese has not problem of copying/stealing from the outside world. If you see their advertising in China, it's one big rip off of each other. They see nothing wrong with it. And that's the problem.
 
Sirious

Sirious

macrumors 68000
Jan 2, 2013
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They've got so much money that they don't know what to do with it so they made this phone to create a lawsuit, in which they can get that load of money off their shoulders xD
 
M

mercuryjones

macrumors 6502a
May 31, 2005
786
0
College Station, TX
Will do good said:
Chinese has not problem of copying/stealing from the outside world. If you see their advertising in China, it's one big rip off of each other. They see nothing wrong with it. And that's the problem.
Click to expand...

Suing them for a phone that's only available in China is worthless. The government is going to stick up for local businesses instead of actually uphold the law.
 
KdParker

KdParker

macrumors 601
Oct 1, 2010
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Everywhere
The only way this could be considered theft, Apple would be to have some documented proof that Lenova had some of Apples designs for iPhone 6 (which it looks like the Lenonvo designers did.)

Getting that evidence will be hard, but the similar look demands an investigation.
 
nooaah

nooaah

macrumors 68000
Sep 3, 2009
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Philadelphia, PA
Considering the design was leaked around May...Sorry, there's no way they weren't inspired by Apple. There's just no way. It looks virtually identical.
 
M

mercuryjones

macrumors 6502a
May 31, 2005
786
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College Station, TX
KdParker said:
The only way this could be considered theft, Apple would be to have some documented proof that Lenova had some of Apples designs for iPhone 6 (which it looks like the Lenonvo designers did.)

Getting that evidence will be hard, but the similar look demands an investigation.
Click to expand...

Considering that Samsung was able to go back to the drawing board and redesign their tablet after the iPad 2 dropped, I'm pretty sure that Lenovo can do the same thing. Plus, the iPhone 6 design has been leaked for close to half a year now.
 
B

bp1000

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2011
1,476
185
Quite sad really

Testament to apple designers though. Knowing the chief designers at lenovo took it upon themselves to put all their designs in the bin and copy someone else.
 
nagromme

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Cue Android users saying that ALL "copying" is "the same," and this is NO different from any other "copying." :p I bet "rectangles" will be mentioned, pretending they don't think a design has ANY details other than that, and that all "rectangles" are equally alike.

And also leaping to support Android companies who copy Apple, even though copying Apple means LESS choice in the market. Doing their own unique thing? THAT would give us choice.
 
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