Samsung has apparently been deleting an ad that mocks Apple's latest business practices. The advertisement in question made fun of Apple for not including a charging brick in its iPhone 12 packaging.
The deleted content was in a Facebook post by Samsung Caribbean back in October. The post showed a picture of of a very simple charging brick. The caption that accompanied the photo said, "included with your Galaxy." By removing the advertisement, Samsung has sparked rumors it's about to follow the same formula as Apple and remove accessories from its packaging in upcoming phone models.
The Verge reported this isn't the first time Samsung deleted advertisements meant to mock Apple. Any other time the company took this tactic, it was because it planned on doing the very thing it mocked. One instance was after Apple stopped including earbuds with its new models. When Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 10 without a headphone jack, they deleted advertisements calling out its rival for doing the same.
As tech experts pointed out, Samsung changing up the features and accessories offered on its newest models isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are times when removing something like a headphone jack makes room for upgrades in technology elsewhere in the phone. However, 9to5 Google pointed out the general public doesn't consider it a great look when a company belittles a rival for doing something it is planning to do itself in the near future.
Experts are on record saying they believe despite any embarrassment having to delete ads caused, they can handle the removal of accessories better than Apple did. When the charging brick was removed from iPhone the company also changed the charging cable. The iPhone 12 charging cable linked it's proprietary Lightning to USB-C. That rendered previous arguments of "everyone has a charging brick" moot. Samsung uses a regular USB-C charging cable. That means the charging brick that came with last year's model will work with the new phones, barring a change analysts don't expect. It's not yet a guarantee that Samsung's new phones will come packed with a charger. However, filings indicate that is the direction the company plans to move.
The two tech giants have spent years looking for new ways to compete with one another. One way Samsung's Galaxy Note models have competed with Apple iPhones is by offering some of the biggest handsets on the market. It's not yet known whether the apparent decision by Samsung to remove charging bricks from its packaging means a bigger change is on the way.
Source: The Verge, iMore, 9to5google