The battle for smartphone market share between major corporations is a fierce one, and the leaders are all too happy to take potshots at one another in social media and advertising.
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HTC is the latest to take aim at a competitor through its Twitter account, shooting some indirect criticism at Samsung and its Galaxy S5. HTC mocked the S5's appearance, comparing it to that of a Band-Aid, as you can see in the tweet below.
The HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5 are quite comparable in terms of hardware, which often means they are the two devices those looking for an Android phone will decide between. The displays are virtually the same size (5.1-inch for the S5 and 5.0-inch for the One M8), while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor powers both units.
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It's the appearance and build of the One M8 that stands out compared to the S5, even though Samsung's device is slightly more powerful overall. The all-metal unibody build of HTC's flagship phone is by all accounts more solid and satisfying than the S5's plastic frame, even with the new perforated back texture (the target of HTC's tweet).
One of these things is not like the other. #HTCOneM8 https://t.co/jw44KbEQUE pic.twitter.com/PIflUjLe2S
— HTC (@htc) June 23, 2014
Aesthetics mean a lot to the casual consumer who may not be interested in the more gritty details of smartphone specs, and it's this point that HTC is driving home with its latest not-too-subtle attack. Samsung has long targeted its advertisements at Apple, attempting to make its own brand and devices more cool and hip than the iPhone. This wasn't the first message aimed at competitors, and it certainly won't be the last--but it can be amusing, and the impact of such marketing will be interesting to watch.