Samsung Is Mocking the iPhone Duo's Cracked Screens in Ads Around the World, and Telling Owners to Switch to the Galaxy Z Fold8

Samsung accounts in Canada, Malaysia, Australia and Saudi Arabia have posted ads that echo the bright line on failed iPhone Duo displays. Samsung calls it a playful campaign. Apple says only a small number of units are affected.

TORONTO - Samsung has turned the worst stretch of the iPhone Duo’s launch into an ad campaign. Samsung’s Canadian Instagram account posted a set of images this week, each with a bright line running through the spot where some iPhone Duo owners have seen their inner displays fail, MacRumors reported on Friday. The three captions read: “Folding is nothing new to us,” “Folding. We know a thing or eight.” and “Switch to Galaxy Z Fold8.”

A Samsung spokesperson told MacRumors it was a “playful new campaign” that taps into the conversation about the “growing rivalry in foldables and how experience plays in the category.” By Sunday, the Instagram post had more than 84,000 likes and close to 4,000 comments.

Screenshot: @samsungcanada on Instagram

Canada is not the only market in on the joke. Samsung Malaysia posted on X on Friday: “Feeling a little FOMO seeing all this talk about durability… oops, we’ve just been busy folding and getting on with our day.” Two days earlier it had written, “We’ve been FOLD-ing long enough to know where the cracks shouldn’t be.” 9to5Google reported that Samsung Australia posted about “how life sounds when your screen doesn’t break when opening your phone,” and that Samsung Saudi Arabia shared a post that puts the familiar crack on a Galaxy Z Fold8 before revealing it is only a wallpaper.

Screenshot: @SamsungMalaysia on X

Samsung Canada has also gone after the software. On Wednesday it posted “Not to flex but…” on X with a clip labeled “Galaxy Z Fold8 = Optimized,” showing apps running on the Fold8’s inner screen. PhoneArena read it as a jab at the many apps that still leave empty space on the iPhone Duo’s larger display while developers update them. PhoneArena reported that the crack-line images also appeared on mobile digital billboards driven around Toronto and Vancouver.

Screenshot: @SamsungCanada on X

The ads trade on a real problem. Shortly after the iPhone Duo went on sale, some owners reported that the inner display had failed along the hinge, leaving a bright line down the middle of the screen. Apple has said the issue is limited. “We are aware of an issue impacting the inner display on a small number of iPhone Duo units,” the company said in a statement. “If users experience issues with their iPhone Duo display, they should contact AppleCare for a replacement.” Techtember reported on Apple’s response last Monday.

Samsung knows the territory from the other side. Its first foldable, the original Galaxy Fold, came out in September 2019 after a rough start in which several review units broke within days, including one sent to The Verge, and Samsung pushed back the launch. The Galaxy Z Fold8 is the company’s eighth generation, the “eight” in its ad copy, and it arrived three months before the iPhone Duo.

The rivalry now comes down to price and stock as much as hinges. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 with 256GB of storage, while Samsung charges $1,899 for a Galaxy Z Fold8 with the same capacity, according to MacRumors. Online orders for the iPhone Duo are backordered until January, the site said, while many Galaxy Z Fold8 colors and capacities were showing delivery by Tuesday, Nov. 3.