Samsung found a real man named Tim Cook and put him in a new ad for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, timed perfectly with Apple’s launch of its own first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo.
If you’ve followed Samsung and Apple’s marketing over the years, this one fits right into a long-running pattern. Samsung has spent more than a decade poking fun at Apple in its ads, and this might be one of its cleverest jabs yet.
Meet the Other Tim Cook
This isn’t Apple’s former CEO. The man in the ad is a real estate agent from Palmerston North, New Zealand, who happens to share the exact name and a passing resemblance to Apple’s longtime chief executive. Samsung New Zealand introduces him with the line, “Tim Cook has an announcement. And for once, it’s about Galaxy.”
The clip leans hard into the joke, mimicking Apple’s dramatic launch-video style. “Tim Cook” delivers lines like “With this phone, everything changes” and “The future is here,” before closing with, “This is the best phone I’ve ever had. You can quote me. Tim Cook from Palmerston North.”
The timing lands with extra irony. Apple’s actual Tim Cook stepped down as Apple’s CEO earlier this month, handing the role to John Ternus and moving into a new position as executive chairman. Samsung’s ad arrived just days after Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, a foldable phone that puts Apple in direct competition with a category Samsung has occupied since 2019.
Samsung Has Been Trolling Apple for Years
This kind of jab is nothing new for Samsung. The company has built entire ad campaigns around gently ribbing Apple, from commercials mocking customers waiting in line for new iPhones to a 2024 spot called “UnCrush,” which mirrored Apple’s own controversial iPad ad that showed musical instruments being crushed under a hydraulic press.
Samsung has also leaned on its head start in foldable phones as a selling point, branding its recent marketing around the idea that it’s been in the space since Apple was still watching from the sidelines. Now that Apple has finally released its own foldable, Samsung has a fresh excuse to bring that history back up.