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Samsung thinks you’re ugly

Published Jun 30th, 2016 10:34AM EDT

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Hey you, Samsung Galaxy-wielding selfie taker. You’re ugly. I’m serious. And it’s not my opinion either. It’s Samsung’s professional opinion about its customers who buy Galaxy phones in general. That means you, too.

You see, it appears that BY DEFAULT, the selfie camera has beautification features that make you look a lot better in pictures than you do in person. While that’s definitely a nice editing tool for photos, it’s also very politically incorrect. Disrespectful is one other word I’d use for it.

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It might not be immediately apparent to phone users, and you can turn it off if you want to. The problem is, the Beauty Face mode activates by default, and can have a pretty big impact on photos. As Insider notes, the feature lets you make your face look slimmer, and your eyes look bigger.

A beauty blogger first noticed it, Mel Wells, author of The Goddess Revolution, who took to Instagram to note her anger with Samsung.

“Wow Samsung,” she said in her rant. “When you get a brand new phone and go to take a selfie and realise that the default setting on the front camera is automatically on ‘Beauty level 8’ which evidently means: seriously airbrushed face. This means everyone who gets a new Samsung phone and flicks the front camera on is automatically being told ‘Hi, we’re Samsung, and we think you look way better when we automatically airbrush your selfies for you, x 8!!’

“Thanks @samsungmobile for the vote of confidence, I think I’ll keep my freckles and imperfections since this is how I look in 3D and this is how all my friends see me in real life. I hope young girls are buying iPhones instead of Samsungs. (Wait, do iPhones do this too?) To clarify – no apps here – this is Samsung’s DEFAULT FRONT CAMERA SETTING.”

Samsung has no problem with this whatsoever, apparently. The company told Insider that “at Samsung, we offer a range of camera settings on our mobile phones for our customers to be able to choose to switch on or use. The beauty setting is one such setting that we know our customers love and has the option of being switched on or turned off completely, depending on personal preference.”

Wow Samsung. When you get a brand new phone and go to take a selfie and realise that the default setting on the front camera is automatically on "Beauty level 8" which evidently means: seriously airbrushed face. This means everyone who gets a new Samsung phone and flicks the front camera on is automatically being told "Hi, we're Samsung and we think you look way better when we automatically airbrush your selfies for you, x 8!!" Thanks @samsungmobile for the vote of confidence, I think I'll keep my freckles and imperfections since this is how I look in 3D and this is how all my friends see me in real life. I hope young girls are buying iPhones instead of Samsungs. (Wait, do iPhones do this too?) To clarify - no apps here - this is Samsung's DEFAULT FRONT CAMERA SETTING. 😟🙈

A photo posted by M E L W E L L S 🦄🌈 (@iammelwells) on

That statement completely ignores the fact that the beautification feature is turned on by default, which is Samsung’s way of telling you that you’re ugly.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.