New Delhi: Apple finally entered the foldable-phone club this month. Samsung, which has been in that club since 2019, was apparently not going to let the moment pass quietly.
It did not need many words either.
“Yeah. New for them. We’ve been folding since 2019.”
That is the line seen in a Samsung advertisement alongside an Apple campaign for the new iPhone Duo, in an image circulating on Instagram from the Delhi Airport area. It is the kind of advertisement that makes you look twice, then smile.
Apple introduced the iPhone Duo on September 9 as its first foldable iPhone. When opened, it has a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.4-inch outer display, bringing Apple’s familiar iPhone experience into a form that Samsung has been developing for years. Samsung’s response is much simpler: welcome to the fold, but we got here first.
The joke works because there is a real history behind it. Samsung unveiled the original Galaxy Fold in 2019, entering a smartphone category that was still very much an experiment at the time. Since then, the company has gone through several generations of foldable phones and turned the technology into an established part of its premium smartphone business.
Apple, meanwhile, took its time. Now that the company has finally arrived with the iPhone Duo, Samsung has decided that the best welcome gift might be a small reminder of the calendar. 2019. That is all Samsung really needs to say.
The clever part is that Samsung is not really fighting Apple’s advertisement. It is using Apple’s attention. Apple’s first foldable iPhone has naturally become one of the biggest smartphone stories of the month. People are talking about the design, the display, the hinge and what Apple has done differently. Samsung can simply step into that conversation and remind everyone that foldable phones are not new territory for the company.
It is advertising without looking too much like advertising, and that is probably why the billboard works. There is even something slightly romantic about the scene. Apple and Samsung are sitting side by side like two rivals who cannot quite stop talking about each other. One arrives with a new phone. The other is standing nearby with a seven-year-old receipt.
And then comes the part that makes the whole Apple-Samsung relationship even more amusing. The two companies may look like Tom and Jerry when they are fighting for attention in front of customers, but parts of their businesses can end up working together behind the scenes.
Samsung Display is reportedly supplying the foldable OLED panel for Apple’s iPhone Duo under a supply arrangement. In other words, one of the most important pieces of the phone Samsung is teasing is reportedly coming from Samsung’s own display business. Apple has not publicly disclosed the commercial details of the arrangement, so the supply relationship is best described as reported rather than presented as an Apple-confirmed partnership.
That makes the billboard a little funnier. In front of customers, Samsung is effectively saying, “We’ve been folding since 2019.” Behind the scenes, its display business is reportedly helping Apple put its own foldable on the market. The smartphone industry, it turns out, can be a little more complicated than two brands fighting over the same billboard.
There have also been reports of Samsung supplying memory components to Apple, although that is part of the wider Apple supply chain and should not automatically be described as a confirmed component supply specifically for the iPhone Duo. The display connection is the clearer angle.
That is what makes the Apple-Samsung rivalry so interesting. They compete fiercely for customers, trade jokes through advertising and spend enormous amounts trying to convince people that their products are better. Yet parts of their businesses can still work together when there is a commercial reason to do so.
It really is a bit like Tom and Jerry. They spend most of their time chasing each other around, but somehow they keep ending up in the same room.
The jokes, however, are only one part of the story. Apple and Samsung are also competing to shape what the next generation of smartphones looks like. Samsung took the early risk on foldable phones and spent years refining the technology. Apple has now entered the category with the enormous attention that comes with a new iPhone product, that changes the conversation.
For Samsung, Apple’s arrival is a chance to remind customers about its years of experience. For Apple, the iPhone Duo brings its design philosophy, software ecosystem and huge customer base into a category Samsung helped build.
And that is where healthy business competition becomes more interesting than the jokes.
A clever advertisement can win attention for a day. Better hardware, better software, better durability and a better overall experience are what keep customers coming back. When two companies are fighting for the same buyers, each has to keep answering the same question: why should someone choose your product?
Samsung has the head start in foldables. Apple now has the spotlight. The iPhone Duo puts Apple’s enormous ecosystem into a category Samsung has been developing for years, while Samsung can use Apple’s arrival to remind consumers that it has already spent a long time solving many of the problems that come with putting a hinge in a smartphone.
That makes the current rivalry more interesting than a simple Samsung-versus-Apple argument. One company has experience in the category. The other has arrived with a product capable of bringing millions of existing iPhone users into it. Both have something to prove.
And consumers get to watch the whole thing unfold.
Samsung may have the head start. Apple has the spotlight. The iPhone Duo has arrived with Apple’s familiar combination of design, ecosystem and enormous attention. Samsung has responded with something considerably cheaper than a new phone launch: one sentence and a little attitude.
“Yeah. New for them.”
It is difficult to imagine a shorter advertisement, and perhaps that is exactly why people are talking about it and For Apple, the foldable era has finally begun. For Samsung, it seems the old competition has simply found a new shape.
