That’s right: Tom Wambsgans, the weirdo in-law addition to the Roy family who’s often looked down upon as a try-hard, new money Midwesterner, is more of a Samsung user. “Tom’s phone: he’s not an iPhone kind of guy, he’s more of a PC, Samsung, Android kind of guy,” Mylod explains in a scene breakdown from this season’s pivotal wedding episode.
This declaration both is and isn’t surprising for “Succession” fans who have been paying attention to Tom’s every move. On the one hand, he’s inherently more of an Everyman (albeit a bizarre one) than the rest of the characters, who have been richer than God since birth. iPhones are a major status symbol, while Androids and Samsungs don’t seem to carry as much cultural cachet (note: I say this as a Samsung user). On the other hand, Tom seems to be obsessed with nailing the aesthetics of the uber-wealthy, and though he doesn’t always get it right — in the show’s pilot he gives Logan a Patek Philippe watch the man seems unimpressed by — I’m surprised he wouldn’t have made the switch to iPhone for status’ sake.
According to Mylod, the process of figuring out which character uses what type of phone is also shaped by the actors themselves. “We basically have a meeting at the beginning of each new season and talk about the personal props for each character, and phones always come into that, obviously,” he tells Vanity Fair. He adds: “We actually leave that very much up to the actors as well: what they feel comfortable with, ‘Oh, I’m an iPhone person or I’m a Samsung, whatever it may be.'” It’s possible, then, that Macfayden made the final call on what type of phone Tom would end up with.
