Just a day after Apple introduced its first foldable phone, Tim Cook appeared in a Samsung ad giving a glowing review of the competing Galaxy Z Fold8. It’s just not the Tim Cook you’re thinking of.
Samsung New Zealand launched an ad campaign on Thursday featuring a New Zealand man who shares a name with former Apple CEO Tim Cook. This Cook even bears a slight resemblance to the exec himself.
“Hi. I’m Tim Cook, from Palmy,” the man says, opening the ad. “And I’m reviewing my new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8.”
The ad then mimics Apple’s cinematic promo style, with this Cook delivering lines like “the future is here” and “with this phone everything changes.”
“Best phone I’ve ever had,” he says at the end of the spot. “You can quote me, Tim Cook from Palmerston North.”
The tongue-in-cheek ad comes on the heels of Apple’s September 9 event, where the company unveiled a slate of new products, including the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, and AirPods 5.
Apple also officially revealed the long-awaited iPhone Duo, its first foldable smartphone. The Duo features two screens, a 5.4-inch outer display that opens to reveal a 7.6-inch foldable screen with a matte finish.
Apple is pretty late to the foldable phone trend. Samsung unveiled the original Galaxy Fold all the way back in 2019. Companies including Google, Motorola, and Huawei have all since released foldables of their own.
The event was also the first major Apple product launch headlined by the company’s new CEO, John Ternus.
After 15 years as CEO, Cook moved on to serve as the executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors. Cook first became CEO in 2011 after Steve Jobs resigned because of health issues.
Apple even pulled its own switcheroo at Wednesday’s event, with Cook initially appearing to open the presentation before handing things off to Ternus.
As the video presentation began, Cook can be heard describing how the opening should look.
“Cut to an interior. Camera follows a mysterious figure before revealing our main character,” Cook says as he appears on screen.
“No, no, no, no, no. Not me. That’s your guy. That’s your opener,” he says as he points back to Ternus, symbolically handing over both the show and the company to Apple’s new CEO.
Cook may be done unveiling new iPhones, but apparently Samsung isn’t quite done poking fun at the longtime rival CEO.
