Samsung’s new promotional video for a Galaxy S26 Ultra privacy feature closely mirrors Apple’s widely recognized 2024 Safari advertisement, drawing immediate comparisons across tech media and social platforms.
Both ads promote privacy protections and share nearly identical visual language, narrative structure, and tone — a similarity sharp enough that observers quickly flagged the overlap after Samsung’s spot surfaced online.
The Ads in Question
Apple’s 2024 Safari ad built its identity around a stark, minimalist concept: a user’s personal data hunted down and destroyed, visualized through cinematic sequences designed to make privacy feel visceral and urgent.
Samsung’s version follows the same emotional arc. It frames its own privacy feature in near-identical terms, using comparable visual metaphors to convey the idea that personal data faces active threats — and that the device stands as its guardian.
Side-by-side comparisons circulating online show the structural resemblance extends beyond broad theme into specific creative choices, including pacing and imagery.
A Familiar Rivalry
The two companies have long traded barbs through advertising. Samsung, in particular, built much of its marketing identity through the 2010s by directly mocking Apple customers in its “Next Big Thing” campaign series.
That dynamic has since shifted. Apple’s brand cachet in premium hardware has grown, and Samsung has increasingly leaned into feature-forward messaging rather than competitor mockery.
Still, borrowing creative direction — even if legally — carries reputational risk, particularly when the source material belongs to the world’s most closely watched consumer technology brand.
What’s at Stake
Privacy has become one of the sharpest competitive battlegrounds in consumer tech. Apple has invested heavily in positioning itself as the industry’s privacy-first company, embedding that identity into product design, software architecture, and advertising alike.
Samsung’s decision to promote a comparable feature using a comparable creative approach suggests the company sees privacy messaging as essential to competing at the ultra-premium tier — where the Galaxy S26 Ultra sits alongside the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $1,299, placing it directly against Apple’s flagship hardware in a segment where brand perception shapes purchase decisions as much as raw specifications do.
Neither Samsung nor Apple responded publicly to the comparison at the time of publication.
Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone maker by shipments, according to IDC, though Apple leads in revenue per device and commands the majority of global smartphone profits.
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