One of the events global fans were undoubtedly looking forward to the most on September 9 was Apple’s launch event for its new product lineup. The highlight of the event was the company’s official introduction of the iPhone Duo, its first foldable smartphone.
While introducing the iPhone Duo, Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, commented: “Others have created foldables that just feel like two phones awkwardly stuck together.”
Although he did not directly mention any particular company, netizens could not help but immediately think of Samsung. Samsung was not the first company to launch a foldable phone, but it has played a major role in commercializing the technology and making foldable phones popular worldwide. Combined with the years of competition between the two giants, which hold significant shares of the global smartphone market, the launch and the remark quickly sparked a heated war of words.
Samsung was not about to back down, firing back with a series of sarcastic posts on social media. Samsung’s official Twitter account continuously posted humorous remarks such as: “Was there range? No. Was it exciting? No. Did it happen? Yes. #ItsTimeToSwitch”, “Let us know when you're done reheating our leftovers”, or “Making us wait? Fine. We'll be over here, folding 3 ways.” The company even dragged a third party into the “shade” by tagging Duolingo: “I'm so sorry, @DuoLingo. They copied us too #Solidarity”.
As Samsung spammed these posts, Apple did not hesitate to acknowledge that Samsung was targeting them. The company even reposted screenshots of a series of Samsung’s comments with the caption: “Samsung is having a mental breakdown right now.” As the two brands traded jabs back and forth, the debate between iPhone fans and Samsung fans on social media became equally heated.
Interestingly, right at this time, j-hope also “contributed” a new post and found himself pulled into the feud. Specifically, on September 10, the idol posted the caption “BTS WORLD TOUR 'ARIRANG'. LOS ANGELES” along with a series of photos capturing moments from BTS’ time performing in Los Angeles. The most notable among them were selfie photos clearly showing his Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, which was released a few months ago — the very model being compared with Apple’s newly launched iPhone Duo.
These photos quickly spread, with fans humorously joking: “Apple dropped their announcement and Samsung instantly dialed Hobi like: 'sir, we need you to handle this situation IMMEDIATELY' and Hobi ate that up".
ARMY also brought up a series of photos showing that since becoming an ambαѕѕador promoting the company’s new foldable phone lineup, j-hope has demonstrated an incredibly dedicated and professional attitude. He frequently carries the phone with him to film videos, from moments at soundcheck to even his recent return to кσяєα with BTS. As soon as he got off the plane, he pulled out the light purple phone to capture the crowd. In numerous videos filmed by fans, except for his onstage performances, j-hope and Samsung’s foldable phone can almost always be seen together.
In reality, j-hope using and promoting Samsung products is completely normal given that he is a brand ambαѕѕador. On top of that, fans know that the idol has a habit of posting recaps of moments from each tour stop after the show, so this post was simply a coincidence that happened to come at the same time as the Samsung–Apple war of words was unfolding.
Even so, ARMY are having a lot of fun with this “right place, right time” moment. Some fans even joked that they do not know how much of an advantage Samsung has outside the ARMY community, but within the BTS fandom, the brand definitely has an absolute advantage. The fan discussion is currently heating up, with comments including: "They hired my kid because he's effective jajsjsj", "And it works for them because everyone want to buy it after seeing him using it always", "Hobi gets the job done and devours while he’s at it", "Indeed, Samsung got the best model!", "The biggest Samsung stan. natural and effortless promotion lol",...
