Motorola Says Samsung Stole Its Always On Display Feature

Motorola US has taken to Twitter to suggest that Samsung stole its Always On Display feature, incorporated in the Galaxy S7 and the latest Galaxy Note 7. The claim has been made one day before Samsung officially releases its Galaxy Note 7 in key markets, like the US and Canada.

On its Twitter account, Motorola US has stated that Samsung copied its Always On Display feature, saying, “In what galaxy is it okay to steal competitor phones’ cool features?” The question is followed by a #TheOriginalAlwaysOnDisplay hashtag and the image of a Moto Z with its Moto Display on. With this move, Motorola has promoted its Moto Z line as well.

Motorola did introduce the first Android phone with an Always On Display on the Moto X from 2013, but it wasn’t the first company to think of such a functionality. Motorola’s Active Display was preceded by Nokia’s Symbian OS, which featured the AOD concept.

Nokia released an Always On Display concept back in 2009

The Always On Display feature was present on Nokia N86 back in 2009 and other phones that were released since then. In addition, the company introduced it in 2013 on its Windows phones, under the name of Glance Screen.

Samsung’s Always On Display feature isn’t present only on the Galaxy Note 7. In fact, the feature first debuted on Galaxy S7 and S7 edge but received many improvements on the latest Note smartphone. Samsung introduced notifications from all apps, as opposed to notifications from stock apps and messaging applications. However, Motorola’s Moto Display comes with the option for users to interact with these notifications.

It seems a bit unfitting for Motorola to throw shade at Samsung, suggesting that the South Korean company stole its concept when it wasn’t even the first smartphone maker to introduce such a feature. However, we do see why Motorola would pick on Samsung today out of all days, in an attempt to get a chunk of free publicity before the Note 7’s release. Read more….