Samsung Shares New 'Ingenius' Ads Pitting New Galaxy Note 9 Against iPhone X

[Piggie]

I can appreciate it's VERY hard, when you are involved in the tech world and tech news to put yourself in the mindset of someone who knows almost nothing like a typical consumer.

I'm sure many here could rattle off lots of facts, and points, pluses and minuses about either brand, and it would mean nothing to the mass population and fail as an advert.

I for one don't know what someone who's only interest is gardening thinks when they go to get a new phone?
Price and physical size I guess are the two BIG ones above all else.

Perhaps the salesman can tell them it's got a great camera, and lots of memory to store pictures.

Also, I'd imagine. "How good is the battery" would be a reasonably typical question also.

In reality for the very average consumer there is so little difference between masses of phones out there, Just sticking with the same brand you had before (assuming you had no issues with it) but a newer/faster model is what a lot just do as it's what they know, but better.

 

[DNichter]

I hate it when people make such horribly encompassing statements like, "nobody wants a stylus for a phone." Wanna bet? ME. I would love to have a smaller version of the Apple Pencil for my iPhone to take notes. I've tried to use one of the "fat" generic stylii - they don't work very well, but a stylus for the iPhone would ROCK in order to turn it into a fast note-taker and artist's sketch tool. Please speak only for yourself, not others. Not everyone can afford to maintain both an iPhone and iPad nor do they wish to do so.

Okay okay, only a very niche group of tech nerds want stylus for their phone. The Note doesn’t even sell well as a phone so it’s pretty clear that for the general consumer, they don’t want a stylus. Personally I’ve just never seen one being used or known anyone who has had one. At least not in the last 10-15 years.

 

[DNichter]

I'm not sure of the point you're trying to make. I own a Note 8. Samsung has sold between 8-15 million of them. Chances of you seeing someone using the stylus is pretty slim. I don't use it that often. When I do, I love it. But the thing is, if you don't want or need a stylus, buy the S8/8+, X, etc. This is called a choice. It's not good or bad, just a choice.

By the way, my last IPhone was a 6. My wife now uses it. I liked the 6 fine. Only IPhone I didn't like was my 4. Love the Note 8. A good friend of mine has an X (he's one of the only people I've seen with one). Funny thing is, when we're together having a beer and one of us pulls out our phone to text someone or show a picture, we never, ever comment about the phone. WE DON'T CARE. As for the ads, they are ok. Not great. But, I don't care. Would probably never have seen it if not for MacRumors. If an ad is going to make someone upset, then good luck with life. Just about every ad I've seen is either insulting in it's content, Lies, Is well produced but says nothing, or made me want to check out the product, only to find out the ad lied.

My only point was about Samsung’s marketing tactics. They are touting two features primarily. Power, which the Note is still not as powerful as the year old iPhone X. And the stylus, which isn’t used by many people at all and barely sells. I just think Samsung is taking a dumb approach here, those aren’t marketable features. They should be focusing on features that will help them sell phones. Maybe try to actually show why the phone is useful instead of diminishing their brand. They are playing a high end game with Apple when they should be instead focusing on the Chinese clones that are eating into their business. I’m sorry so many people are personally offended by me calling out Samsung.
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It’s that they’re still selling them. They’re typically the more powerful of their lineup, so people will buy them regardless of the stylus.

Not many.

 

[Piggie]

Okay okay, only a very niche group of tech nerds want stylus for their phone. The Note doesn’t even sell well as a phone so it’s pretty clear that for the general consumer, they don’t want a stylus. Personally I’ve just never seen one being used or known anyone who has had one. At least not in the last 10-15 years.

To be fair, people are led by marketing and products and what others do.
If Steve Jobs sold the Stylus for fine work along with your finger for more general tasks, and a Stylus has been fitted to the original iPhone and every single iPhone model since, and it has been supported in ever version of iOS since day one.
The though of not having a stylus for handwriting, painting and other fine tasks would be seen as laughable now.

Some for say Graphics.
If Steve Jobs was a hard core gamer at heart and always insisted any Mac would always have the very best consumer GPU's that were out there, then Apple would be the king in that area.

 

[DNichter]

To be fair, people are led by marketing and products and what others do.
If Steve Jobs sold the Stylus for fine work along with your finger for more general tasks, and a Stylus has been fitted to the original iPhone and every single iPhone model since, and it has been supported in ever version of iOS since day one.
The though of not having a stylus for handwriting, painting and other fine tasks would be seen as laughable now.

Some for say Graphics.
If Steve Jobs was a hard core gamer at heart and always insisted any Mac would always have the very best consumer GPU's that were out there, then Apple would be the king in that area.

Maybe, but Jobs was focused on the consumer market. He knew the general consumer didn’t care about a stylus or computer gaming.

 

[Piggie]

Maybe, but Jobs was focused on the consumer market. He knew the general consumer didn’t care about a stylus or computer gaming.

Sorry, and no disrespect I'm not sure you are fully getting it.
The consumer has to be taught and learn that they want things. It's not something built in.
Humans went 100's of 1000's of years without wanting 99.99999% of the stuff that's on sale.

There is an interesting read about who started the consumer revolution. I think it was an American, who was the or one of the 1st to start putting into people's minds that there were things that they should want, which kickstarted the world we live in today.

I stand by my own views in that if Steve jobs TOLD people different things were important, and all of Apple was behind these different things, hardware and software wise, then the whole market today would be totally different.

Steve could of got up on stage and rubbished, and continued to do so devices that would not allow a consumer to change a battery. That "Could" have been a core belief he always held very strongly and promoted it.
If that HAD been the case, then no-one else now dare make a product which was sealed, they'd get laughed at. As it would have always been a core belief of Apple since day one.

 

[DNichter]

Sorry, and no disrespect I'm not sure you are fully getting it.
The consumer has to be taught and learn that they want things. It's not something built in.
Humans went 100's of 1000's of years without wanting 99.99999% of the stuff that's on sale.

There is an interesting read about who started the consumer revolution. I think it was an American, who was the or one of the 1st to start putting into people's minds that there were things that they should want, which kickstarted the world we live in today.

I stand by my own views in that if Steve jobs TOLD people different things were important, and all of Apple was behind these different things, hardware and software wise, then the whole market today would be totally different.

Steve could of got up on stage and rubbished, and continued to do so devices that would not allow a consumer to change a battery. That "Could" have been a core belief he always held very strongly and promoted it.
If that HAD been the case, then no-one else now dare make a product which was sealed, they'd get laughed at. As it would have always been a core belief of Apple since day one.

That’s fine, it’s just your opinion. Either way, Apple didn’t go in that direction and nobody uses a stylus. End of story.

 

[Piggie]

That’s fine, it’s just your opinion. Either way, Apple didn’t go in that direction and nobody uses a stylus. End of story.

Indeed, what's done is done and cannot be un-done

I will admit a great sadness Apple are not interested in two things.

An Apple computer, like a PC where one can, perhaps within certain limitations, upgrade parts, such as a new larger SSD, a better Graphics Card. That kinda stuff. I know millions want this, and many here do, but we all know Apple won't make this product.

Secondly, I would love to see Apple enter the games console market HARD.
I mean build something really nice, perhaps using their own skills in the CPU/GPU sector to offer users something else.
Don't go silly, and make it wafer thin so you can't fit anything worthwhile in there.
Just go all out for performance, Devs would fall over themselves to write for such a device.

Again, Apple are not going to do this.

sigh.......

 

[Abazigal]

The fact so many people are commenting in this thread proves the ad campaign is working, it gets people talking about the product, doesn't matter if it's negative, no such thing as bad publicity. Unfortunately for Samsung it will take more then advertising to compete with Apple, when a company has so many loyal customers who believe whatever Apple do is right it's hard to take marketshare from them.

Yes, but the purpose of an ad isn’t to just generate controversy for the sake of controversy. It needs to achieve its end goal, which is still very ambiguous, as no one seems to be able to agree just what Samsung is trying to accomplish here.

 

[obamtl]

Well for one the general consumer doesn't even get to see what their device looks like... This is literally the worst marketing I have ever seen. You aren't convincing iOS users to come to Samsung when you try to portray the iOS user as an idiot.

I don't think it's as much about getting iOS users to switch to Samsung, as it is making current Samsung users feel that their phones are market leading compared to the gold standard. It's to make them happy with Samsung, so they don't switch to Google Pixel.

 

[hypertoast]

No, it doesn’t! The iPhone 6,7, 8, X looks better and doesn’t look like it made out of plastic. I didn’t see the new Note in person, but I’m talking about the Galaxy 8/9 and the previous Notes. Especially, the Galaxy that I checked was def made out of plastic. The Samsung design leaves much to be desired. Especially, considering what they ask for their gadgets.

Guess it's a personal thing. Subjective.

 

[Colpeas]

I don’t understand why Samsung pays for ads like these. All they do is desperately trying to make fun of Apple but at the same time they don’t really show how their product is better. So why even bother, WHY?

 

[zubikov]

The funniest thing is that most can't take a step back and observe what's really happening. Both phones are PHENOMENAL. Their differences are razor thin in the grand scheme of things, and all of them will do exactly the same thing, albeit with a slightly different set of swipes and presses.

I'd argue that both Apple and Samsung have a vested interest in an ongoing pissing contest, in which customers are led to believe that one product is vastly inferior to the other. When in reality, they are both AMAZING pieces of technology that even 12 years ago seemed like unattainable space age technology.

 

[amaze1499]

These kind of ads are boring. To partitially devalue a competitors product to make the own product look better is a doubtful strategy. I thought Samsung has got great hardware and software to offer? Why wouldn't they advertise features they are really good at making? Looks like they run out of ideas.

 

[chatin]

Sales are down because Android is a commodity. The question is why would anyone by a Samsung when a Moto is one quarter the price.

 

[Elian_Gonzalez]

The idea is there for the commercials, but the execution seems childish. I'm all for competition, but there should be a different way to present the argument because it just makes Samsung look like it's taking the lower road against Apple.

And grabbing all of your mindshare, ***which is the point.***

The alleged "childishness" ***is the point.***

Over 550 comments on this? PRICELESS.

Perhaps the better critique is: is Samsung alienating potential customers? How far do you go? Because no one is going to buy a Samsung device "to own the Apple fanboys." That's a techie boy mindset, but then again, techie boy crowd is*not* their primary target. I know that offends techie boy sensibilities who feel every device is made just for him, but it's true. So it doesn't matter what you all think. What matters is how it affects other potential buyers.

 

[Denmac1]

Tried to avoid this, but curiosity got the better of me. I think the second ad was pathetic.As far as my opinion on Samsung products,,,,,Meh! My company issued me a Galaxy tablet......yuck!

 

[Flight Plan]

...nobody wants a stylus for a phone...

To be honest, I would like one for all sorts of things. Taking notes, for example; sometimes I like to use a stylus. And I think businesses and their customers would love one for signatures. Would be nicer than using my finger for credit card purchases, which always looks like I signed with my elbow.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Maybe, but Jobs was focused on the consumer market. He knew the general consumer didn’t care about a stylus or computer gaming.

He also thought that the iPad mini would be an abomination and that bigger phones were not wanted. He didn’t agree with a stylus on any touchscreen. We now have the iPad mini, larger iPhones and the Apple Pencil.

 

[Heineken]

He also thought that the iPad mini would be an abomination and that bigger phones were not wanted. He didn’t agree with a stylus on any touchscreen. We now have the iPad mini, larger iPhones and the Apple Pencil.

iPad mini which is being neglected and a pencil for basically artists and other creatives, not for napkin drawings on a phone lock screen.

 

[Shanghaichica]

iPad mini which is being neglected and a pencil for basically artists and other creatives, not for napkin drawings on a phone lock screen.

At one time the iPad mini was the best selling of all the iPads. Bigger phones make up most of the Smartphone market.

 

[Flight Plan]

For what purpose? BTW, I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm genuinely curious. I can't think of a compelling reason to justify having to carry around a stylus with a screen the size of a phone.

Don't you remember the early smartphones and PDAs that DID offer styli? The device had a hole/slot for storage. I loved that. And the handwriting recognition software worked at least as badly as Siri does today. I would like to see a stylus available in the 6.5" model.

...why would I ever want to FaceTime with that many people?

That's what I thought too. I don't even LIKE that many people! <--just being humorous, which is really the main motive for these Samsung ads.

I get the humorous aspect of Samsung's ads, but they would never be something that would cause me to go right out and make a purchase without any other input or analysis.

The notch haircut was cute and subtle, this sort of technical direct feature comparison stuff isn’t convincing anyone that’s on the fence and it’s cringey to listen to.

I loved the notch haircut ad, that was awesome. But again, no ad, whether single or part of a campaign will make me switch. They might, however, make me think about learning more about available alternative products, and maybe that's all Samsung needs here.

Apple did the same with the I’m a Mac, I’m a PC ads

Yes they did, and to great effect. They were not enough to make me switch, but they DID keep my interest up enough to learn more about all available technologies. And if Apple didn't remove the 17" MBP from its lineup (and didn't remove the ability to upgrade memory and hard drive), then I actually would have switched.

 

[Heineken]

At one time the iPad mini was the best selling of all the iPads. Bigger phones make up most of the Smartphone market.

I know it was, i bought 1 for my mum and she is still using it.

 

[Flight Plan]

Grow up Samsung, if you want people to take you seriously. The bullying age has long gone!

Well now on that point, you are absolutely wrong. There's lots of bullying going on these days. These ads are mild in comparison!

 

[DNichter]

Indeed, what's done is done and cannot be un-done

I will admit a great sadness Apple are not interested in two things.

An Apple computer, like a PC where one can, perhaps within certain limitations, upgrade parts, such as a new larger SSD, a better Graphics Card. That kinda stuff. I know millions want this, and many here do, but we all know Apple won't make this product.

Secondly, I would love to see Apple enter the games console market HARD.
I mean build something really nice, perhaps using their own skills in the CPU/GPU sector to offer users something else.
Don't go silly, and make it wafer thin so you can't fit anything worthwhile in there.
Just go all out for performance, Devs would fall over themselves to write for such a device.

Again, Apple are not going to do this.

sigh.......

I certainly wouldn’t mind either and I think Apple is looking to accomplish both in some ways. The new Mac Pro is supposed to be somewhat modular so let’s see what that actually means, but with support for eGPU’s, it looks like they want to keep the thin and light designs that people want, but allow them to hook up to more power when needed. In terms of a gaming machine, yea I don’t ever see this happening, but games on tvOS will get more advanced at some point, but that’s likely pretty far down the road.
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He also thought that the iPad mini would be an abomination and that bigger phones were not wanted. He didn’t agree with a stylus on any touchscreen. We now have the iPad mini, larger iPhones and the Apple Pencil.

Yup, things change depending on consumer trends. They are a business. I do expect pencil support for the X Plus one day though.