Samsung stole this from Apple who stole it from Google

Back in 2021, Google released the Pixel 6 with a unique camera bar.

Then 3 years later they adjusted it to being a bar with rounded ends in the Pixel 9.

Then Apple was rumored to have a new design where they adopt a bar (with the Air apparently going to look very much like the Pixel 9).

And yesterday there were new rumors the Samsung Galaxy S26 line will adopt a bar design as well on one of their phones.

Both the X post and the MacRumors article position this as a classic case of Samsung copying Apple, but I'd argue this is more Apple and Samsung following Google's lead and iterating on the exact implementation. Also, Samsung has been vertically stacking its cameras for years, and I don't recall sassy MacRumors posts last year about how Apple was copying Samsung with the camera layout when Apple adopted that layout in the iPhone 16.​

My point is that design trends are liquid and constantly flow through the industry. Everything is a remix, as they say, and everyone is playing off what everyone else is doing. Sassing about it feels so 2010 and so trite.