Samsung trolls Apple iPhone 17 launch with #iCant campaign

[midian182]

Why it matters: Apple has just launched a new iPhone lineup, the iPhone 17, and that means several things – one of them being a thorough mocking from Samsung. The Korean giant is repeatedly posting the hashtag #iCant while taking shots at Apple's hardware, claims, and its continuing lack of a foldable handset.

Apple's Awe-dropping event on September 9 showed off the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, alongside the long-rumored iPhone Air. There was also the new AirPods Pro 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3.

Samsung, unsurprisingly, doesn't appear too impressed by Apple's latest devices. The Samsung Mobile US official X account has posted a series of jabs at its rival, all featuring the #iCant hashtag.

The top post notes that Samsung highlighted the lack of folding phone from Apple in September 2022, back when the iPhone 14 lineup arrived. The Galaxy maker points out that three years later, Apple still hasn't joined it in the foldable handset market.

#iCant believe this is still relevant. https://t.co/s6SFaLTRSJ

– Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) September 9, 2025

Apple was proud of the fact that the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have three new 48MP Fusion cameras. Samsung claims that they pale in comparison to the 200MP camera available on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, S24 Ultra, and S25 Ultra/Edge and Fold 7.

48MP x 3 still doesn't equal 200MP 🙃 #iCant

– Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) September 9, 2025

There's also a post that claims Apple focuses on pushing hype for its products rather than showing actual innovation. It includes a retweet from TechTuber Marques Brownlee, who writes that Apple cannot resist hyping everything.

Actual innovation > hype #iCant https://t.co/Sl0k89iSMN

– Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) September 9, 2025

The final Samsung digs are over Apple not being first with live translation and Sleep Score.

There's been plenty of Apple fans fighting back against Samsung's posts. Many say that foldables and their smaller market share make them pretty irrelevant, and only Samsung seems obsessed with Apple not releasing one. Moreover, Apple is rumored to be releasing a foldable iPhone next year.

As for the camera jibes, a few people have reminded Samsung about the "Moongate" controversy, when users found its Galaxy Ultra phones were using AI to add detail to moon photos that the cameras couldn't truly capture. Instead of just sharpening images, the AI recognized the moon and generated textures based on training data, leading critics to accuse Samsung of faking shots. Samsung insisted that no stock images were inserted.

Samsung and Google have been mocking Apple in their ads for years. The UnCrush video (above) in response to the controversial Crush ad for the iPad Pro that Apple apologized for and withdrew was particularly memorable.

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Samsung trolls Apple iPhone 17 launch with #iCant campaign

 

[m4a4]

Doesn't mean all that much when Samsung has a history of deleting these things once they follow what Apple does...

 

[HardReset]

What Apple is saying is that if foldable Apple phones becomes hit, it just proves that Apple buyers are fanboys that buy anything that has Apple, no matter if others do it better and/or years earlier.

 

[ibnMuhammad]

The sales volume of foldable smartphones is reportedly less than 5% compared to other smartphones - between the same manufacturer.

I'd be shocked if Apple considered a foldable, seeing as there's far greater demand for smaller iPhones (~10%), and yet Apple discontinued their still-large iPhone 13 "mini".

iPhone 12/13 mini: 5.4 inch
iPhone 5/5s/SE: 4 inch

 

[HardReset]

The sales volume of foldable smartphones is reportedly less than 5% compared to other smartphones - between the same manufacturer.

I'd be shocked if Apple considered a foldable, seeing as there's far greater demand for smaller iPhones (~10%), and yet Apple discontinued their still-large iPhone 13 "mini".

iPhone 12/13 mini: 5.4 inch
iPhone 5/5s/SE: 4 inch

Foldable phones are very expensive. Small phones are cheap.

As for small phones low demand, biggest issue is availability. Shops tend to sell phones that create more profit and big phones give then more profit than small ones. As usual, low availability mean low sales.

 

[CrisisDog]

I don’t see the point in a foldable phone, the screen has a visible crease that would drive me crazy. I would however support a dual screen device, like Microsoft did with the Surface. On top of that, although I honestly would prefer Android, “I can’t” due to the minimal three or so years of OS updates the device would get. Apple on the other hand, even though I can also complain about planned obsolescence, has five or more years of OS updates to keep me happy on the same device. So, yeah, sorry Samsung…

 

[Loadedaxe]

What Apple is saying is that if foldable Apple phones becomes hit, it just proves that Apple buyers are fanboys that buy anything that has Apple, no matter if others do it better and/or years earlier.

That logic doesn’t really hold up. If Apple releases a foldable and it takes off, it’s not just “fanboys” blindly buying.....it means Apple solved the pain points the others never really nailed.

Plenty of foldables have been around for years, but durability, software optimization, and real world usability have kept them niche.

Apple’s strength has always been timing their entry when the tech is ready for the mainstream, not when it’s still a gimmick.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The sales volume of foldable smartphones is reportedly less than 5% compared to other smartphones - between the same manufacturer.

I'd be shocked if Apple considered a foldable, seeing as there's far greater demand for smaller iPhones (~10%), and yet Apple discontinued their still-large iPhone 13 "mini".

iPhone 12/13 mini: 5.4 inch
iPhone 5/5s/SE: 4 inch

13 was indeed mini. the 5 has huge bezels on the top and bottom. 13 did not. people always forget this.

Foldable phones are very expensive. Small phones are cheap.

As for small phones low demand, biggest issue is availability. Shops tend to sell phones that create more profit and big phones give then more profit than small ones. As usual, low availability mean low sales.

the minis were not cheap.

 

[HardReset]

That logic doesn’t really hold up. If Apple releases a foldable and it takes off, it’s not just “fanboys” blindly buying.....it means Apple solved the pain points the others never really nailed.

Plenty of foldables have been around for years, but durability, software optimization, and real world usability have kept them niche.

Apple’s strength has always been timing their entry when the tech is ready for the mainstream, not when it’s still a gimmick.

Many are pretty happy with current foldables. Only real "problem" is pricing. Also first try very rarely is success from technical point of view. I doubt Apple suddenly solves all problems when others have years of experience and Apple probably don't have even working prototypes available yet.

the minis were not cheap.

Minis are perhaps "expensive" if compared to bigger ones or suffer when just comparing specs etc, but on absolute terms they are still cheap vs flagship and/or foldable models. That is also one thing that makes them hard to sell, because bigger phones easily have better specs. And if shop has limited space for phones, those "bad spec" phones can be easily left out. And if small phones bring less profit, it means less availability and that means less buyers. That is one problem with today: manufacturers and shops can easily decide what is "good" and then those "good" things sell well because availability and marketing is best.

 

[The Talking Tech]

"Apple’s strength has always been timing their entry when the tech is ready for the mainstream, not when it’s still a gimmick."

What???
Most things Apple have created have been gimmicks...expensive gimmicks nevertheless that people ended up eating it up regardless if they were less powerful than the competitors'

 

[p51d007]

Oh you can 100% bet people will be lining up, for the chance to spend a ton of money on an Apple Folding phone. And apple, being the marketing types they are, will say that due to supply chains/tariffs, complexity bla bla bla bla, will say there will be a limited number of folding apple phones, which will spice up the hype even more...so the press will show people camping out to get one.
As a first gen apple folding phone, I would hold off for a few reasons.
One, it's a first gen apple fold
Two, wait for the you-know-there-will-be-bugs to be worked out.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Minis are perhaps "expensive" if compared to bigger ones or suffer when just comparing specs etc, but on absolute terms they are still cheap vs flagship and/or foldable models. That is also one thing that makes them hard to sell, because bigger phones easily have better specs. And if shop has limited space for phones, those "bad spec" phones can be easily left out. And if small phones bring less profit, it means less availability and that means less buyers. That is one problem with today: manufacturers and shops can easily decide what is "good" and then those "good" things sell well because availability and marketing is best.

The iphone 13 mini starting MSRP was $700. The iphone 13 was $800 MSRP. Both had the same processor, storage, and RAM specs. The 13 mini being "cheap" or having "lower specs" is complete misinformation. The sales tangent is also bizarre, as the 13 mini alone sold more phones than some android manufacturers in their entirety did in the US during the same timeframe. They also had the exact same availability as any other iPhone model, since apple mandates that all their phones be presented, not just certain models, in third party stores, and no other iPhone had sales issues.

 

[HardReset]

The iphone 13 mini starting MSRP was $700. The iphone 13 was $800 MSRP. Both had the same processor, storage, and RAM specs. The 13 mini being "cheap" or having "lower specs" is complete misinformation. The sales tangent is also bizarre, as the 13 mini alone sold more phones than some android manufacturers in their entirety did in the US during the same timeframe. They also had the exact same availability as any other iPhone model, since apple mandates that all their phones be presented, not just certain models, in third party stores, and no other iPhone had sales issues.

It probably had same specs on many things but how about battery and screen size? That looks bad on specs listing. That's the problem. Additionally, if price was not low enough to justify those downsides, no wonder if it sold badly. Again, sales issues may be much more than just "people don't want it". Also when not so knowledgeable buyers are considering phone, sales person can very much affect what they actually buy.

Again, company that just crowdfunded physical KB phone has also tried luck with very small touch screen phones. With success. I doubt same people are interested about physical KB phone and ultra small touch screen one. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jellyphone/atom-world-s-smallest-4g-rugged-smartphone

Perhaps Apple just screwed up with small phones.

 

[Underdog]

I don’t see the point in a foldable phone, the screen has a visible crease that would drive me crazy. I would however support a dual screen device, like Microsoft did with the Surface. On top of that, although I honestly would prefer Android, “I can’t” due to the minimal three or so years of OS updates the device would get. Apple on the other hand, even though I can also complain about planned obsolescence, has five or more years of OS updates to keep me happy on the same device. So, yeah, sorry Samsung…

Your post answers a question I have long pondered. Why people buy new phones as often as they do. They are worried about OS not being upgraded. Do they suddenly stop working if you don't update the OS? Glad my Windows 7 desktop doesn't suffer like that.

 

[CrisisDog]

Your post answers a question I have long pondered. Why people buy new phones as often as they do. They are worried about OS not being upgraded. Do they suddenly stop working if you don't update the OS? Glad my Windows 7 desktop doesn't suffer like that.

You’re right, it doesn’t stop working. But I work at a company that has been “hacked” three times in the last five years, so I have a personal issue with running outdated / insecure operating systems.

 

[Underdog]

You’re right, it doesn’t stop working. But I work at a company that has been “hacked” three times in the last five years, so I have a personal issue with running outdated / insecure operating systems.

Doesn't this situation suggest that the manufacturers should offer a properly written OS in the first place? Its not like they haven't been doing this for years. Just like M$. It took them several years to come up with an OS that was stable. Since then all they do is patch security holes that should have been sorted before release to the public. These days they are hiding their incompetence behind the hype for new bells and whistles that weak-minded groupies really lust after.

 

[Jim Shoes]

The sales volume of foldable smartphones is reportedly less than 5% compared to other smartphones - between the same manufacturer.

I'd be shocked if Apple considered a foldable, seeing as there's far greater demand for smaller iPhones (~10%), and yet Apple discontinued their still-large iPhone 13 "mini".

iPhone 12/13 mini: 5.4 inch
iPhone 5/5s/SE: 4 inch

It's already been reported countless times that an Apple foldable phone is coming in the summer of 2026, and it's going to use a Samsung display. Here's a source: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/ap...ng-display-for-first-foldable-iphone-screens/