Samsung Takes a Swipe at ROSÉ’s iPhone 18 Pro Campaign

BLACKPINK’s ROSÉ has found herself at the center of an unexpected smartphone rivalry after Samsung Canada playfully took aim at her new campaign featuring Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro.

ROSÉ shared a mirror selfie holding the newly unveiled iPhone 18 Pro on Sept. 9, with the image also appearing through Apple’s social media presence. The post teased her upcoming song “New Trick,” which is tied to a collaboration with Apple.

But it was a response from one of Apple’s biggest rivals that turned the post into a wider talking point.

Samsung Canada’s official account jumped into the comments with a cheeky message: “If you needed a real phone you could have just asked us.”

The joke might have been little more than familiar Apple-Samsung banter — except ROSÉ has history with Samsung.

ROSÉ’s Samsung Past Makes the Joke Hit Differently

In April 2019, Samsung introduced all four BLACKPINK members — Jisoo, Jennie, ROSÉ and Lisa — as ambassadors for its Galaxy A series during its “A Galaxy Event” in Bangkok.

The members appeared onstage as Samsung promoted the Galaxy A70 and A80, with ROSÉ and the rest of BLACKPINK becoming part of the company’s push to connect its smartphones with younger global consumers. Samsung’s own newsroom documented their appearance as the Galaxy A series’ new ambassadors.

Seven years later, the image is strikingly different: ROSÉ is holding Apple’s newest flagship phone while promoting a music project connected to the iPhone.

That history gives Samsung Canada’s one-line response an extra layer that would not exist with just any celebrity.

‘New Trick’ Puts ROSÉ Inside Apple’s Latest iPhone Push

Apple unveiled the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on Sept. 9, positioning the devices around major camera, performance and battery upgrades.

The new Pro models feature a 48-megapixel Fusion main camera with variable aperture, an A20 Pro chip and expanded professional camera controls. Preorders began Sept. 12, with the phones scheduled to go on sale Sept. 18.

ROSÉ’s “New Trick” is also set for release on Sept. 18 in South Korea, making her collaboration part of the attention surrounding Apple’s new hardware launch.

That pairing is particularly notable because music and smartphone marketing increasingly overlap around the camera itself. Rather than simply placing a phone in a celebrity’s hand, tech brands can use artists and their visual content to demonstrate what their devices are designed to create.

For Apple, a global star such as ROSÉ offers reach far beyond traditional technology advertising.

When a K-Pop Star Becomes Part of a Tech Rivalry

Samsung Canada’s response also shows how quickly brand competition can move from conventional advertising into celebrity social media.

The company did not launch a formal attack on ROSÉ or Apple. A single humorous comment was enough to insert Samsung into a conversation already being driven by one of the world’s biggest K-pop stars.

And ROSÉ’s previous connection with Galaxy made that intervention unusually well suited to social media.

There is a larger marketing story here. K-pop stars are no longer simply celebrity endorsers appearing at the end of a commercial. Their enormous international audiences can turn an Instagram post into a meeting point for competing global brands.

In this case, ROSÉ began by teasing new music and a new iPhone.

Samsung made sure the conversation included Galaxy, too.

Minji Park

Park Minji is a K‑pop writer and journalist who delivers sharp insights and engaging stories on Korean music and culture for global readers.

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