ASA in UK rebuffs Samsung claims to thinnest phone

Samsung suffered a minor but symbolic loss to Apple on Wednesday after the UK's Advertising Standards Authority rejected a Samsung request. The independent regulator denied Samsung's attempts to have Apple pull its "world's thinnest smartphone" claim for the iPhone 4 on the grounds that the Galaxy S II was thinner. While most of the Android phone's body is thinner at 8.7mm, the bottom bulge for the speaker and the top one for the camera made it considerably thicker at 9.9mm and didn't beat Apple's consistent 9.3mm.

"Apple defended their methodology of basing their thinness claims on the thickest part of the device," the ASA explained. "They said that consumers would not be interested in the thinnest part of the device, but in its overall measurements, as these would, for example, affect whether the device could fit into a pocket or a purse."

Samsung has had a conspicuous goal to make a product thinner than its Apple equivalent whenever possible and admitted being caught off-guard when the iPad 2 was thinner, redesigning the entire Galaxy Tab 10.1 in weeks solely to beat its American rival. Its Series 9 notebook was also designed to replicate the MacBook Air design philosophy but in a slightly thinner package.

Samsung's measurement follows a strategy similar to that used by many Windows PC makers, which will often only count the thinnest point as the depth in order to make a notebook sound thinner than it is. Dell was caught making false claims about having the thinnest 15-inch notebook in the XPS 15z and later added conditions for Windows PCs to keep a similar marketing campaign while preventing it from having to compete with the thinner MacBook Pro.

Galaxy S II



iPhone 4

By Electronista Staff