Motorola is mad at Samsung for stealing its always-on screen idea

By Andy Boxall Published August 19, 2016

It’s ever-so easy to get caught up in the instant, type-what-you’re-thinking world of social media, but sometimes it’s essential to have a filter. Take a moment, and consider whether you should tweet something out, or at least consider your wording if you can’t hold back. Those in charge of Motorola’s U.S. Twitter account have no time for such nonsense, judging by a tweet sent out accusing rival Samsung of stealing its always-on display feature.

In what galaxy is it okay to steal competitor phones’ cool features? #TheOriginalAlwaysOnDisplay #motozdroid pic.twitter.com/T75byy5bIx

— Moto US (@Moto_USA) August 18, 2016

No, we didn’t add the word steal for effect. That’s Motorola’s word. The tweet reads “In what galaxy is it okay to steal competitor phones cool features?” See what Motorola did there? It neatly avoided naming its competitor, but you don’t need to graduate from the School of Super-Clever Internet Sleuths to work out which one it’s talking about.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note 7, along with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, all have an always-on lock screen showing the time, date, battery percentage and other information. Samsung has used it as a selling point since the S7 range’s launch back in February, and it’s presumably this to which Motorola (or at least, its Twitter team) has taken offense. Motorola introduced an always-on display with the Moto X back in 2013.

Samsung and Motorola aren’t the only companies using an always-on lock screen display to make our mobile lives a little easier. LG has one on the G5 for example, and as many Twitter commenters pointed out, Nokia beat them all to the feature with various phones including the Nokia 808 PureView from 2012, and the Glance screen feature on Lumia devices. However, neither LG or Nokia are top of the global smartphone tree at the moment, and therefore far less exciting for Motorola to discuss.

Unless there is a patent problem brewing, where Motorola backs up its stealing claim in the courts, Moto’s tweet comes across as a “don’t forget about us” cry for attention. Things may get more interesting if Samsung strikes back with its own not-so-cryptic tweet though.

Former Senior Mobile Writer

Andy has written about mobile technology for almost a decade. From 2G to 5G and smartphone to smartwatch, Andy knows tech.

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