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Tim Cook failed to sell me on iPhone, says Warren Buffett

Commentary: One of Apple's biggest shareholders says he's sticking with his Samsung flip phone.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


Warren Buffet

A committed Samsung fan.

Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

Apple is renowned by some people for its ability to sell what they see as well-designed but technically inferior products.

It's what many used to call, in the Steve Jobs days, Apple's reality distortion field.

There are those, however, who seem to be immune to this field's magnetism.

Samsung lovers like Warren Buffett, for example.

The famed investor, whose Berkshire Hathaway group is Apple's fifth-largest shareholder, says he's sticking with his Samsung flip phone.

In a Wednesday appearance on CNBC, Buffett was asked whether he was still bullish about Apple. He explained that his company consistently added to its holdings of Apple stock.

Why might this be?

"The market is not yet saturated," he said, holding up his flip phone -- stocks aside, it appears Buffet is something other than an Apple fanboy.

But Apple's CEO hasn't given up on trying to make him one. 

"Tim Cook sent me a Christmas card again ... saying he's going to sell me an iPhone this year," Buffet said. "He keeps sending me these reminders every Christmas."

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether it will increase the pressure on Buffett to ditch his folding phone and join the iPhone fold.

The celebrated investor isn't alone when it comes to famous folk who use a flip phone. Why, actor Chris Pine insisted last year that "the flip world is a whole world you gotta get into."

Rihanna and actor Christopher Walken are two others who've professed their commitment to flip world.

Should Cook be worried? Perhaps not. On the contrary, perhaps he should be concerned about Buffett (and the others) capitulating. The storied financier suggested that he himself may one day be the last man standing between Apple and the aforementioned market saturation.

Buffet said of the iPhone: "When I actually buy it, it's all over, folks."

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