Apple vs. Samsung – Clash of the Smartphone Titans

Apple Samsung battle for the smartphone crown

Two of the world’s biggest names in the world of technology posted their quarterly earnings late last month – and the numbers were immense.

Korean manufacturer Samsung announced healthy profits of $3.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, whilst the behemoth of Apple had earnings to the tune of a whopping $13.1 billion.

The astronomical figures above are due in no small part to huge successes in the smartphone market, both brands proving unbeatable against all of the established players in a highly contentious sector.

The popularity of the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S II – currently two of the bestselling mobiles on the scene according to the uSwitch Mobile Tracker – is a clear indicator that Apple and Samsung are at the top of their respective games, despite both having vastly differing strategies to tackle the mobile market.

Apple unveils a single annual update to their iconic iPhone, taking strong yet incremental steps forward in hardware and features each time, with a both a slick marketing machine and rabid fan base driving global interest behind each launch.

For the rest of the year, software-driven updates and new services via iTunes fuel the flames of consumer interest in the latest iPhone…until the next iteration, that is.

Conversely, Samsung has leveraged the Android mobile operating system to assault the market with a range of smartphones to suit all wallets – from entry-level handsets to high-end devices that can give the best competition a run for their money.

Samsung has found great success in democratising the smartphone, bringing e-mail, the web and apps to all with the ‘Galaxy’ family of handsets.

The iPhone 4S and Galaxy SII jostle for position on an almost daily basis in the charts, illustrating the overlap between the two firms despite such divergent ideologies for how to dominate the mobile space. The argument is less ‘which phone is better’; it is more of ‘why are these two better than the rest’?

They may have vastly differing strategies, yet they share a similar ethos of trying to deliver a phone that homes in on precisely what the consumer is looking for – an intuitive and versatile mobile companion in the case of the iPhone or an approachable, affordable smartphone experience in the Galaxy range – and executing on it.

Whilst many of the other once lauded names in the mobile industry find it difficult to target their intended demographic, both Samsung and Apple have found their respective audiences and continue to iterate on them successfully.

With all eyes on this month’s Mobile World Congress for a showcase of the best new phones of the new year, it is interesting to note that both Apple and Samsung will not be unveiling their flagship efforts at the Barcelona-based event, instead choosing to host their own parties later in the year.

Whether shrewd release date tactics or hubris on their parts, it simply underlines how much the success of the two companies have placed them in a unique position, leading from the front whilst phone fans eagerly anticipate a new device.

Whether iteration or innovation, one thing is certain – both Apple and Samsung will be coming out swinging for 2012.