Off the Record
Off the Record is a column written by Android Central’s editor-in-chief. The column looks to expand and go in-depth on topics in the Android space without any limitations.
Last week, a Reddit user took to the platform to complain about a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra leak that showcased three phones with different colorways, of which one was in a striking bright orange popsicle color.
The user posted that they were “so done with this orange color tbh…,” which then resulted in a slew of commenters agreeing and saying “that color has to be a joke,” or that Samsung is “totally Apple’s copycat. What a shame.”
Okay, let’s get it out of the way: yes, the color is nearly identical to the recently launched iPhone 17 Pro in Cosmic Orange. But I want to point out that Samsung did have an orange colorway called Titanium Orange on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and Google had the Oh So Orange colorway for its Pixel 4. Both of these phones launched much earlier than the iPhone 17 Pro color.
Dummies of Galaxy S26 Ultra leaked online. Guys, I’m so done with this orange colour tbh… from r/samsunggalaxy
I’m about to get really granular here. Google announced the Pixel 5 in the Sorta Sage colorway on October 15, 2020, while Apple announced the iPhone 12 in the Green color, which is extremely similar to Sorta Sage, but it was announced on October 23, 2020.
But who cares? Just because one company does it and another does something similar doesn’t mean it’s a sell-out company. One poster wrote, “Samsung’s target audience is Apple users. It’s not surprising. So much of what they have done over the past few years has been to convince iPhone folks to switch over.”
This statement shouldn’t really be surprising to anyone. While Apple remains ahead of Samsung in overall market share in North America, we’ve recently seen a dip in performance.
Per data from Canalys, Apple’s market share in Q2 of 2025 saw a dip from 56% to 49%, while Samsung’s surged from 23% to 31%. Granted, this could be due to developments in Samsung’s foldable phone category, where Apple hasn’t made any moves.
The nature of the market
What irks me the most about this Reddit post is that if the tables were turned and Apple stole something from Samsung, the Android fanboys would be all over Apple, claiming the company only steals ideas. Or they might chastise the company for trying to do what Android has already done without giving credit where it’s due.
What they fail to understand is that this is how companies compete with each other. The only way they’re going to change market share is by looking at what another company is doing right.
If the past complaint from iPhone users was that it was hard to switch to an Android phone, then Samsung or Google needs to figure out how to change this. And they’ve done that. They’ve made it easy for iPhone users to switch over because that’s the name of the game: who can get the highest market share and have the most popular device out there.
More recently, we’ve also seen Android OS emulate many similarities to iOS (even OnePlus’s new Oxygen OS 16 preview looks a lot like Apple’s iOS, especially with the multitasking and icon colors). And like another Reddit user wrote: “Get ready for a liquid glass-like animation,” I couldn’t agree more. I won’t be surprised when we start to see this on the next Samsung or Pixel device.
Originality has left the chat
Unfortunately, this is the new reality. Gone are the days when there was only one smartphone of its kind in town, and other companies had the opportunity to create something new and different. We’re at a point where the saturation of devices in the market is so high that it’s really hard to be different every single year.
Of course, some companies have managed to redefine themselves and the way they have improved on phone technologies, like Motorola or Xiaomi. But the reality is that they’re not as big as Samsung or Apple. And to try to get more people on board with these brands is hard.
Expanding to other form factors, such as foldables or thin phones like the Samsung S25 Edge or iPhone Air, has been an area to create new competitive markets. But even then, developing on those ideas will die at some point because companies have reached a point of not being able to create more on top of what they’ve already done, and so it’s on to the next project.
That said, the colors really do matter!
I’ll leave you with one last point to mull over. While originality is at the cost of creating more products to compete, I will say originality with color shouldn’t be something you should be concerned with.
One of my favorite phone colors was the iPhone 11 Pro in Midnight Green. At the same time, I have been a die-hard fan of the more recently released Google Pixel 10 Pro in Moonstone. I would have killed for a beautiful forest green variant of the device.
Companies are thoughtful; they carefully consider what the public wants and what appeals to the eyes of users. So if Samsung does end up releasing the S26 Ultra in that gorgeous orange color, there’s a very strong reason it decided to do so.
