Samsung's reaction to Apple's first store in Malaysia is viral: 'The war got real'

Samsung secured the naming rights for the train station closest to the TRX Mall, where the new Apple Store is situated.

Last month, Kuala Lumpur witnessed the highly anticipated opening of Malaysia’s first Apple Store, drawing an enthusiastic crowd of tech aficionados. The store, featuring a distinctive glass pyramid design, was lauded as an architectural marvel. However, the grand debut did not go unnoticed by Apple's main competitor, Samsung, which orchestrated a playful and strategic counter-move.

Samsung secured the naming rights for the train station closest to the TRX Mall, where the new AppleStore is situated, renaming it the "Samsung Galaxy Station." The South Korean tech giant took full advantage of this opportunity, transforming the station into a canvas for their advertisements. Shoppers heading to the Apple Store were greeted with a plethora of Samsung promotions adorning elevators, stairs, and escalators.

A content creator named Dana Wang captured this amusing scenario in a viral video, sharing her astonishment: “You won’t believe what Samsung did after Apple opened its first Apple store in the country. So the exact metro station where the new Apple store opened, Samsung responded back by completely filling the station with Samsung Ads. I’ve never seen so many Samsung ads before in one place," she said.

"It’s even on the lifts, on the stairs, and on the escalator. It has completely taken over the station and the craziest thing is the station even got renamed to Samsung Galaxy Station. So if you want to go to the Apple store, you get off at the Samsung Galaxy Station and have to walk past all these Samsung ads first.”

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A post shared by Dana Wang | Solo & Adventure Travel (@bydanawang)

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The move sparked a wave of reactions on social media. One Instagram user commented, “Samsung vs Apple war got real,” while another quipped, “This is the kind of pettiness I want to be able to afford.”

Another user elaborated on the strategy behind Samsung's move, explaining, “Apple made a deal with TRX management that banned other phone brands from advertising their products in TRX. Samsung, however, discovered a loophole: The TRX MRT station below the complex is not part of TRX itself as it was owned by MRT Corp and thus legally a separate entity. So, Samsung paid MRT Corp to sponsor that station.”

"Apple deserves this kind of competition from Samsung, it’s time they got off their high horse," one user stated.

Another user remarked, "Samsung literally bullied Apple, I like it."

This incident is just the latest in a long history of jabs exchanged between the two tech giants. Recently, Samsung responded to backlash against an Apple iPad adwith its own video titled ‘UnCrush,’ featuring the tagline: “We would never crush creativity.”