Last week, Samsung made its biggest run yet at the iPhone's loyalists by unveiling the new Galaxy S4 - this was done at Times Square, a few blocks away from Apple's flagship store in New York. The event had big implications because it was at Apple's home ground. Also, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. in Seoul, it was the first time Samsung has launched its Galaxy S phone in the US.
Earlier this week, Samsung held a debut of their marquee smartphone at the Radio City Music Hall, bringing the fight directly to Apple's strongest market.
The cutting-edge features of the new handset (eye-tracking capabilities, better camera, etc) and the advertising blitz by the South Korean company seems to generate the kind of buzz associated with Apple, proving it can inovate as effectively. Apple pioneered the smartphone market in 2007 with touchscreen phones, but Samsung has been the leader in the market for more than a year. However, according to IDC, Apple still remains No. 1 in the United States
While Apple’s iPhone pioneered the market for touch-screen phones in 2007, Samsung became the smartphone leader worldwide more than a year ago, according to IDC. Apple still remains No. 1 in the U.S.
As discussed in previous articles, the new Galaxy S4 will sport a 5-inch screen, and have a Qualcomm quadcore chip, (gives phone more processing power to handle multiple tasks at the same time). It runs on Google's Android software, have a higher density, and a 13-megapixel camera. This upgrade from S3 puts the new phone well ahead of Apple's iPhone 5 (dual core processor, 4-inch screen, 8-megapixel camera) - which really in turn gets people anticipating for the iPhone 5S. According to Tong Yang Securities, the new phone by Apple is rumored to be unveiled in mid-year at the earliest. For the past two years, Apple's sales growth was the slowest - or so the sales growth last quarter shows.
Is it a sign that the iPhone is losing its edge over other smartphones? I wouldn't be so hasty to draw a conclusion on that. Apple is still on the rise and it is indeed the no.1 preferred brand in the US. Popularity cools off with any product until the new launch of another new product - although Apple suffered from mapping software glitches and supply constraints, only time will tell whether Samsung will become the most dominant player in the US.
Meanwhile, Jefferies & Co. cut its price target for Apple last week, citing concerns that the next phone will be delayed because of problems with the device’s casing colors.
