Exploring the Influence of iPhone Design on Smartphone Brands, after catching up on the latest Galaxy S26 Ultra rumors, and also being lucky enough to spend some very limited hands-on time with the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. Many smartphone brands seem to draw inspiration from the design elements of the iPhone, leading to a trend of phones resembling the iconic Apple device. Let's delve into why this trend persists and its implications for the smartphone industry.
Then, there’s VivoShare, which is basically the NFC tap-to-share feature. Android phones have had that before the iPhone added it for quick AirDrop. But guess what the animation that the Vivo plays during tap-to-share looks like. If you guessed “exactly like AirDrop” — congratulations, you get 10 points out of “of course it does”.
Xiaomi 15 Ultra flagship to Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. I wasn’t following closely at the time and I honestly thought I should cut back on the whiskey, because I seem to be losing years.
Galaxy S26 Ultra leaks, which are plentiful enough right now for us to know that Samsung is at the very least considering launching its next flagship in a very orange color — like the Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro.
The possible Galaxy S26 Ultra colors. | Image Credit - Ice Universe
To be clear: I don’t mind idea-steals
“Stealing” ideas is fine, “copying” is not. Lengthy read that one, but my opinion is still the same, a decade after. Human “creativity” is often simply combining things that were invented before, into new things that work better when smashed together. Previous inventions were “stolen” concepts, and the subsequent inventions will be, too.
My favorite point to make when talking about human inventions - Someone was once at a piano concert and thought to themselves, “What if piano… but for words?”. Poof - the typewriter happened!
Can we chill it with the iPhonification of every phone?
Draw in potential customers that may want an iPhone otherwise
Give your customers features that the iPhone has, so they don’t feel like they are missing out (my example above)
Express that you have no confidence you can design a product that projects luxury
I’m not even going to annotate this picture. Admit it — you had to take a second look
Galaxy S26 Ultra is definitely deflating user confidence, just because of that orange color leak. Samsung already removed the headphone jack because Apple did it (to be fair, the whole industry followed suit). Samsung added titanium because Apple did. Will Samsung strip titanium now? Will Samsung suddenly decide that users don’t want the S Pen?
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Then, there’s VivoShare, which is basically the NFC tap-to-share feature. Android phones have had that before the iPhone added it for quick AirDrop. But guess what the animation that the Vivo plays during tap-to-share looks like. If you guessed “exactly like AirDrop” — congratulations, you get 10 points out of “of course it does”. 
