It’s hard to deny that Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch Ultra is a design ripoff of the Apple Watch Ultra. Or, that the Galaxy Buds 3 are an AirPods clone. Apparently, even Samsung’s chairman is fed up with the copycat designs, leading to turmoil inside Samsung’s mobile division.
Turmoil inside Samsung?
According to a report from East Asian news outlet AjuNews (via The Verge), Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong is livid over the similarities between Samsung’s latest flagship products and Apple’s designs. The report explains that the “current internal atmosphere is not very good” because of the situation.
The report also claims that “personnel actions were also taken against some executives” inside Samsung’s mobile division, TM Roh.
From the original report (translated):
This is a strict order that Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is well-known within Samsung Electronics for his gentle nature and does not usually get angry, recently issued a strict order to employees of the MX division. According to an insider at Samsung Electronics, personnel actions were also taken against some executives, including the group head of the MX division.
Chairman Lee himself stepped forward as controversy over Apple design plagiarism and quality arose over the Buds 3 series and Galaxy Watch 7 released last month.. The current internal atmosphere is not very good.
Our friends over at 9to5Google have gone hands-on with all of Samsung’s latest products, including a direct comparison between the Galaxy Watch Ultra versus the Apple Watch Ultra. As Abner wrote last month, “it’s frankly silly how much Samsung took from the Apple Watch Ultra” to make the Galaxy Watch Ultra.
Top comment by Josh Cast
I wouldn't be surprised Chairman Lee didn't know of the designs until it was too late. Samsung Mobile is already a huge company with thousands of SKUs because their business model is to overwhelm the market with hundreds of options, it would be unrealistic for him to greenlight every single thing. But that's what you get when that's your business model: This doesn't happen at Apple because there's only a couple of iPhones, a couple of Watches, a couple of iPads, a couple of Macs a year.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy Buds 3 perhaps an even more blatant Apple design ripoff and look nearly identical to Apple’s iconic AirPods design. Yes, the picture above shows a Samsung Galaxy Bud 3, not an AirPod.
Whether the apparent internal turmoil at Samsung leads to the company changing its ways remains to be seen. Is Samsung even capable of changing its ways, or has the culture of ripping off Apple designs become too deeply embedded in the company’s culture?
One more thing: did Lee Jae-yong really have no idea this would happen before the products went to market?
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