How Samsung stole Apple's lead

[TuxDave]

Lets not forget Samsung is a huge company that actually makes things like SAMOLED screens, UHS micro sd cards, and chip components whereas Apple is just an integrator. This means samsung can be more nimble and innovate in their designs because they're less beholden to other component suppliers.

Vertical integration can be a blessing and a curse. If (hypothetically) Samsung decides to move away from SAMOLED, they will have a huge cost associated with converting all the fabs and processes and therefore be not nimble at all. Meanwhile someone that is not vertically integrated (but has significant buying influence) can easily switch suppliers and hold contracts that are in their favor.

You win some, you lose some.

 

[mammador]

Samsung releases about 5/6 phones per year, for different market segments. Th e Galaxy Ace is low-end, but and of course the Note and SIII are high-end.

Apple is specifically going for a high-end target market, and is succeeding in that strategy. I think Apple are willing to forego market share, as long as sales and profitability remain high.

 

[trmiv]

Samsung releases about 5/6 phones per year, for different market segments. Th e Galaxy Ace is low-end, but and of course the Note and SIII are high-end.

Apple is specifically going for a high-end target market, and is succeeding in that strategy. I think Apple are willing to forego market share, as long as sales and profitability remain high.

Not completely true since Apple still sells the 3GS and 4. So they have handsets competing at the same price ranges as Samsung does. Not quite the range of selection though.

 

[mammador]

When were they released though? the 3GS was out in 2008/2009 and the 4 in 2010. Apple's strategy is to use legacy phones as low-end products.

Samsung's big name releases are the SIII and the Note, but there are numerous others like the Ace, the Champ, etc. that aren't as well promoted, as there are released concurrently with the higher-end models. Samsung will thus incur more sales due to more releases. Another thing is that the 4S was the first Apple phone release in about 18 months, so it's not surprising that Samsung has caught up. What really affected Apple was Jobs' death, and frankly mourning him took time from developing/releasing phones.

 

[s44]

i doubt the vast majority of people are rooting their phones.

Who cares? You can change the launcher, keyboard, and defaults for any function (browser, phone, SMS, etc.) perfectly well without root.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

They can become beholden to themselves though. Look how Sony fell apart after they acquired content companies and those portions of the company started dictating terms.

I don't think it would become quite that bad, but it does mean that Samsung will be more likely to depend on in-house solutions and parts, which could be detrimental if their competitors ever gain a lead.

That doesn't seem to be an issue for Samsung, after all they used Qualcomm SoC's in all of the US galaxy S3's for better LTE support.

 

[trmiv]

When were they released though? the 3GS was out in 2008/2009 and the 4 in 2010. Apple's strategy is to use legacy phones as low-end products.

Exactly, which means they don't just target the high-end of the market. If Samsung wasn't challenging them like they are, my guess is they would have killed off the 3GS and 4 long ago. It was easier for them to just keep making them than try to develop a low-end device.

 

[QueBert]

Who cares? You can change the launcher, keyboard, and defaults for any function (browser, phone, SMS, etc.) perfectly well without root.

Who cares about this? Hell who even knows about it? Not the average Android user, I can't even count the number of Android users I've shown how to add widgets and shortcuts to a screen. Most literally know nothing about their phone outside of how to call, text and surf the web.

 

[PowerYoga]

fact is the option is there if you want it. With iOS you don't have an option.

 

[Wreckem]

fact is the option is there if you want it. With iOS you don't have an option.

And what exactly is the percentange that does? Its not high. It isn't even as high a number as there are tech geeks.

 

[QueBert]

fact is the option is there if you want it. With iOS you don't have an option.

What if the option I want's a small phone with a high end CPU+GPU, Android doesn't give me a single option there. While Android obviously has a lot more option advantages, iOS has plenty of it's own.

 

[Piano Man]

Android vs. iOS has been great for consumers. Both companies have had to step it up in order to compete.

 

[Aikouka]

Fact is people like being in more control of their OS and apple just doesn't allow that.

Personally, I find myself routinely more satisfied with the overall experience on iOS than Android. We'll just consider tablets since I don't own an Android phone. I own an iPad 2 and an ASUS Transformer TF300 (with dock). The largest problem that I have with the Transformer is that the battery life is downright awful. I try to go through and micro-manage the running apps, but it seems they have a life of their own at times.

It's just frustrating to deal with and these apps aren't even doing anything other than sucking up power. I try and close them from the app history, but apparently they're still running in the background. At least in Windows, applications will exist in the taskbar or the system tray. If an application hides itself from you on a desktop OS, chances are it's probably an application you don't want anyway (malware). I've had a few app show up in the notification area, but not all of them. I find out that a random app is running when I unlock the tablet and get some random notification.

As much as it isn't "true multi-tasking", I've grown rather fond of how iOS's "multi-tasking" works fairly well and doesn't destroy your battery doing it. It presents some problems with things such as custom alarm apps (you have to leave them open) and other things like that, but I don't use them so I don't care.

My lack of desire for the utmost level of customization might also explain why I don't care much for using Linux. Even if Linux could run any game that Windows can, I still wouldn't use it. I also don't like OSX much either if that makes you feel any better.

 

[postmortemIA]

And what exactly is the percentange that does? Its not high. It isn't even as high a number as there are tech geeks.

looking at number of downloads for launcher apps, it is well over 10,000,000 people.

 

[dagamer34]

If it was that simple HTC should be selling a ton of phones too. And the single biggest selling phone is the iPhone 4S, last numbers I saw the 3gs was still out selling any single Android phone. That could have changed, but this was a few months ago when there were plenty of big ass screened phones.

I don't think the 3GS outsold the GS2 last year, and certainly not internationally. But in reality, it doesn't matter whether one phone model outsold the rest, especially considering the US carrier model makes the Evo 4G LTE differ from the One X, even though they are 99% the same thing.

 

[xapo99]

Lets not forget Samsung is a huge company that actually makes things like SAMOLED screens, UHS micro sd cards, and chip components whereas Apple is just an integrator. This means samsung can be more nimble and innovate in their designs because they're less beholden to other component suppliers.

I think Samsung group is the worlds largest conglomerate isn't it. Way bigger than Apple, and whilst people say the electronics bit is separate, they are all under the umbrella of the main bit which is essentially a bank that owns a load of sub divisions that make tanks, ships, diggers, fridges, computers, phones and cars under license from Nissan/Renault.

The sort of marketing mobility they have because they are in all industries not just tech like Apple must be monstrous beyond all comprehension. They have the opportunity to pimp phones to people buying fridges or microwaves and TV's and even cars by incorporating flyers and what not at POS, packagaing, support websites etc.

 

[vi edit]

I've been saying since the release of the 4s that Apple can't afford to sit on it's hands and keep releasing a sub 4" phone. Market is shifting. Samsung is developing a brand, putting out good marketing, and simply providing a desirable product.

Put an iPhone next to a SGIII and it looks like a little toy. The screen on the Samsung is bright, vibrant and big. Add in LTE support and it really is a no-brainer unless you are *heavily* invested in the Apple ecosystem.

I also think the pre-paid market is going to play a role in some errosion to the US market share of the iPhone. You can't "technically" activate an iPhone on Page Plus. You can on Straight Talk and Virgin, but it costs you full retail of the phone. You can buy Samsung devices for less new or much less used and take them to pre-paid. It's not going to be a huge number of people, but even a few percent points can amount to tens of thousands of devices not being sold. It adds up.

 

[Bmike80]

First samsung launched their samsung galaxy phone that was a close, very close look alike of the Apple Iphone style, now over the past year samsung is now providing a bigger zied screen, a better megapixel camera and other services that are comparable and some are better then the Iphone. like iphone doesnt pair with other devices except iphones, samsung doesnt have that disadvantage. Apple corporation should consider and work on these points, the market for Iphones is declining rapidly after all

 

[jiffylube1024]

Personally, I find myself routinely more satisfied with the overall experience on iOS than Android. We'll just consider tablets since I don't own an Android phone. I own an iPad 2 and an ASUS Transformer TF300 (with dock). The largest problem that I have with the Transformer is that the battery life is downright awful. I try to go through and micro-manage the running apps, but it seems they have a life of their own at times.

It's just frustrating to deal with and these apps aren't even doing anything other than sucking up power. I try and close them from the app history, but apparently they're still running in the background. At least in Windows, applications will exist in the taskbar or the system tray. If an application hides itself from you on a desktop OS, chances are it's probably an application you don't want anyway (malware). I've had a few app show up in the notification area, but not all of them. I find out that a random app is running when I unlock the tablet and get some random notification.

As much as it isn't "true multi-tasking", I've grown rather fond of how iOS's "multi-tasking" works fairly well and doesn't destroy your battery doing it. It presents some problems with things such as custom alarm apps (you have to leave them open) and other things like that, but I don't use them so I don't care.

My lack of desire for the utmost level of customization might also explain why I don't care much for using Linux. Even if Linux could run any game that Windows can, I still wouldn't use it. I also don't like OSX much either if that makes you feel any better.

It almost sounds like you have a memory leak in one of your apps. Imon an asus tf101 and my battery life is phenomenal. I sometimes leave it unplugged for days...

 

[jpeyton]

Looks like large phones are here to stay. The SGS3 is selling twice as fast as the SGS2:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/9419878/Samsung-Galaxy-S3-breaks-10-million-sales.html

 

[SlitheryDee]

Screen size is important to me as well. I'm an enormous fan of the feel and functionality of most apple products, but I won't have an iphone until the screen gets larger. Even a 4 inch screen may not be big enough to get me away from android now.

 

[Medu]

Looks like large phones are here to stay. The SGS3 is selling twice as fast as the SGS2:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/9419878/Samsung-Galaxy-S3-breaks-10-million-sales.html

Mainly because it rolled out a lot faster, especially in the US. I don't think the 4.8 screen is a major plus. In fact I know a lot of people that would of bought one if the screen was smaller. Hopefully one of the rumoured Nexus range will come in 4.3-4.5 form factor which is where my money will be going.

 

[Mopetar]

Looks like large phones are here to stay. The SGS3 is selling twice as fast as the SGS2:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/9419878/Samsung-Galaxy-S3-breaks-10-million-sales.html

Mainly because it rolled out a lot faster, especially in the US.

If I had to guess, it's because the market has been doubling year over year for a while now, and there's still enough people who still don't own smart phones to sustain that for a while longer.

It will probably taper off more as the market becomes saturated, but I expect the next Galaxy phone to do even better unless for some reason someone like HTC comes out with something that absolutely crushes anything else available.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

My fiancee and I just got new smartphones. She wanted an iPhone initially, but I had her watch a 5 minute video review of the Galaxy S3, and she promptly decided "I want that one." She's been thrilled with it since she got it, and the only thing she really missed out on was asking Siri what Marcellus Wallace looks like. Apple is good for fans of Apple products, but from an objective standpoint right now, the iPhone isn't close to the top smartphone on the market, which makes sense given it's nearly a year old. When the iPhone 5 comes out with a larger, higher resolution screen, better camera, better voice recognition and LTE support, it's going to be a serious contender. Until then, Apple is selling an objectively worse phone for the same or higher prices than the competition. That's not a great market strategy.

And, as a side note, is there any software more universally frustrating to work with than iTunes? That was my biggest reason to research Android phones as opposed to just getting an iPhone myself, and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't want to fight with iTunes to figure out how to get albums onto my phone.

 

[luv2liv]

And, as a side note, is there any software more universally frustrating to work with than iTunes? That was my biggest reason to research Android phones as opposed to just getting an iPhone myself, and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't want to fight with iTunes to figure out how to get albums onto my phone.

cant stand itunes. my problem is getting files in AND out. still holding on to an old ipod touch till google or someone finally make a Nexus 7 with SD slot