What you need to know
- Apple’s latest privacy ad features Android phones with thick bezels and outdated designs that don’t reflect reality.
- The ad focuses on Safari privacy, but portrays Android hardware as more outdated than it actually is.
- Modern Android flagships like the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Find X9 Ultra don’t look like Apple models.
- The ad feels like another unnecessary jab at Android rather than a demonstration of iPhone privacy features.
apple released a new “Privacy on the iPhone” ad, but it goes out of its way to portray Android phones as chunky, dated-looking boxes — again.
Apple and Google are nothing new. Tech companies have been doing this for years. The irony is that Google often seems more willing to embrace Apple’s products than Apple embraces modern Android phones. We’ve seen Google launch and even use apps on iPhones first MacBooks on stage during Google I/O.
Meanwhile, Apple still seems to have a very outdated idea of what Android phones actually look like.
Its latest Privacy ad on iPhone focuses on Safari and privacy, and shows that Android users are being tracked everywhere they go as they go around. Then, as soon as the iPhone user opens Safari, all those trackers vanish into thin air.
The funny part isn’t the privacy message itself. This Android phones Apple chose to represent Android.
The advertised devices have huge bezels around the display and a notch front camera design. Ironically, in 2026, Apple is still selling devices with a notch. iPhone 16e), most Android phones have moved to punch-hole cameras and slimmer designs.
The phones in the ad also have a single rear camera that feels even more detached from reality. modern Android flagships like Oppo Find X9 Ultra and even Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra It’s packed with camera hardware that goes far beyond what Apple describes here.
Personally, I don’t like ads like this anymore. They get a feel for what the smartphone market looks like today. Maybe they’re working for Apple’s audience, but when mocked-up devices don’t look anything like modern Android phones, it all starts to feel a little silly.
This isn’t the first time Apple has released an ad like this, but we’re halfway through 2026 and I have a feeling Cupertino can do better than pulling cheap shots like this. If anything, the ad says more about how Apple sees Android than how Android looks today. What Apple gets out of these ads at this point is honestly beyond me.
