Comparison of Samsung and iPhone Smartphones

Since the manufacture of the world’s first mobile phone on April 3rd, 1973 by a Motorola engineer Martin Cooper to date, the mobile phone industry has gone through numerous changes. The initial mobile phone companies were Motorola and Nokia with some of their phones weighing up to one kilogram. These changes have seen a new smartphone generation which is dominated mostly by Samsung and iPhone products. iPhone made its first smartphone launch in 2007 when they introduced a multitouch screen and a digital keyboard. Since then, the product has regularly been upgraded to meet more customer demands and offer better services. Samsung made its entry into the smartphone industry in 2010 by introducing the S series which is currently at S9. The two companies have grown to be giants in the market having 66% of all smartphone users using either of the products. Different people have different tastes thus whether one prefers to use Samsung or iPhone is relative to his wants. This essay will critically analyze these two products looking into specific characteristics of each, their similarities and differences.

As smartphones have evolved, more concentration has been given to improving processors and cameras until recently when both smartphones had remarkable design changes. The release of iPhone X saw a new edge-to-edge screen model. This new screen model covered almost entirely the whole front of the phone with a 5.8-inch super retina screen. The model also enables users to have a larger screen and makes the phone so easy to use and hold. Newer Samsung smartphones have also adopted the use of edge-to-edge screen model though with minor differences. Samsung S8, for example, has the edge-to-edge design giving more screen space and its slickly look. Samsung smartphones have their cameras located across the top of the screen depending on the type. iPhone X has its camera located at the top center. Its predecessors thou have their cameras situated at the top left. The camera of iPhone X has been improved to enable facial identity so that one’s face is their password. This feature has been due to the need to incorporate biometrics verification in phones to improve security (Rattani, n.p).

Both iPhone and Samsung smartphones have been made to have exemplary displays. iPhone X has an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen and a resolution of 2436 x 1125. Samsung S8, on the other hand, has an organic light-emitting diode screen with a 2960 x 1440 resolution (Samsung, n.p). Samsung smartphones though have more color emphasis than iPhone smartphones.

Most smartphone users want a phone that has a battery that can withstand a busy day use with Wi-Fi connection, video streaming, and social media updates. Samsung and iPhone smartphones have been made to meet the demand of these users with their latest phones being able to stay on for over six hours.

Samsung smartphones are made from a combination of both Samsung accessories and other outsourced accessories. The main reason for outsourcing is that the company does not need to invest in the production of such components. iPhone smartphones too have most of their accessories from Apple Inc. Some of them though are taken from other companies to complement their production. Both companies in some cases have ended up contracting the same companies to provide them with the similar products. These companies include; IBM Corporation, Quanta computer, LG Philips Co. Ltd, Toshiba Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, among others. Despite the two companies being bitter rivals, Samsung has been the only supplier of microprocessors to iPhone. Samsung has also supplied the company with NAND and DRAM memory chips. It is rumored that iPhone gadgets contain up to 26% of Samsung accessories.

The primary element used for the manufacture of Samsung smartphones is coltan. Coltan occurs naturally in several parts of the world including Democratic Republic of Congo, Brazil, and Australia. Due to the demand of coltan, Congo has been in political disputes regarding its sale and mining and its effects on both the environment and their wildlife. These conflicts have led to the company adopting new policies to avoid purchasing coltan from the country or purchasing the product indirectly from intermediaries so as not to affect their reputation in the market. iPhone too uses coltan as their primary production component and has had challenges to getting the product from DRC.

Samsung smartphones have bigger tiles than those of iPhone. This component is an essential consideration mainly for customers who have visual related problems. Although iPhone appeared to be far much ahead of their counterparts regarding applications and user-friendliness, Samsung has made intriguing efforts to cab the gap and has seen both products being relatively at the same level.

In the packaging of Samsung smartphones, Samsung Company has adopted the use of an eco-friendly package too from Galaxy S4 onwards. This packaging technique will lead to a reduction in production energy and also enhance recycling of unused resources (Kelly, n.p). Smartphone companies have the responsibility to make sure that they produce eco-friendlier products. The Samsung S4 package has been built to be 100% recyclable. The arrangement would save up to an approximate one hundred and ten thousand trees. These efforts to make sure that Samsung products are eco-friendly have led to the Galaxy S4 being accredited by several countries worldwide as an eco-friendly product. These countries include Germany, The United States, United Kingdom, and Korea. Samsung packaging was also recognized at the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) 2013-2014 Green Award where the phone was selected as the Green Phone for having used highly efficient charging and less power. This aspect plays a crucial role in establishing the Samsung smartphone market.

iPhone smartphones packaging has been redesigned to use 84% less plastic, and that has been made possible having just one more paper than plastic tray in packaging. This technique is entirely different as compared to the previous packaging method where there was a stacked plastic tray for the earphones, charger, and phone. The packaging of the iPhone earphones has also been changed so that instead of having the earbuds wrapped in plastic, the headphones are now delivered in stiff cardboard carefully folded and if need be can be cut to fit into the box. This packaging cuts down on the use of fiber and plastic per packaging by approximately thirty grams. Considering that there are over eighty-two million iPhone smartphones users in the United States only, the effect of the reduction is commendable. iPhone has also had the size of the smartphones packaging box reduced by 23% in a move also to make the phones eco-friendlier.

iPhone smartphones have been described to be the most secure based on the fact that Apple controls everything installed on the phone. It means that to get anything on an iPhone smartphone, one will have to get it directly from the Apple software (Yixian, n.p). As much as some people find it is too restricting, it becomes advantageous since the user is not at all vulnerable to malware that is acquired from getting software from untrusted sites. This characteristic also enables Apple to offer a better experience to their smartphone users as their issues are commonly addressed.

Samsung smartphones operate on Android which is offered by Google. Google provides the Android software to several other smartphone companies including HTC, Motorola, and LG. Samsung smartphones are less restrictive, and Google, unlike Apple, does not limit their sales. Although quality control is a substantial concern, developers are capable of accessing more functionalities hence can develop more applicable applications and more user-friendly features. Using a Samsung smartphone too does not need one to have individual cables to connect to and can access data from any other computer.

Apple makes sure that they are always updating their operating system hence the iPhone smartphones are up to date with the recent features. iPhone also takes the responsibility of marketing and supporting their older versions so that these old phones do not lose the market. Apple continues producing these old versioned smartphones long after they have been outdated. By doing this, no user is disadvantaged, and one can keep using their phone as long as they want with assured quality. Android producers, on the other hand, are a little slaggy at updating their android versions and at times not updating them at all. Samsung operating on Android is hence affected too.

iPhone smartphones have risen to be among the best gaming platform outdoing some dominant companies like Nintendo’s 3DS and Sony’s PlayStation Vita. A combination of iPhone’s software and hardware components has enabled them to run some of these games at speed seamlessly similar to laptops.

Samsung smartphones are not well developed with gaming applications as compared to iPhone smartphones. The reason is that Android apps are free and easily accessed via play store. Developers have hence seemed to give precedence to developing gaming applications for the Apple and other payment companies rather than Android. Some companies have even halted the whole process of producing gaming applications for Android. Samsung smartphones are hence disadvantaged and are unable to match iPhone smartphones.

The main difference between Samsung and iPhone smartphones can be said to be in the operating system. However, the users are looking for specific aspects and what one wants is purely a personal decision. For example, some users may prefer to choose iPhone X due to the added face ID aspect. Others prefer to use Samsung S8 due to its perfect displays and its right and right edge curves. Generally, iPhone smartphones are considered elegant looking devices but at the same time delicate. iPhone Smartphones also have a restrictive a feature that has made more people prefer to use Samsung smartphones.

Works Cited

Kelly, Gordon. IPhone X Vs Galaxy S8: What’s The Difference? Forbes, 10 Oct. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2017/10/10/apple-iphone-x-vs-samsung-galaxy-s8-whats-the-difference-upgrade-guide/#2ac2a9023038. Accessed 31st March, 2018

Rattani, Ajita, et al. “ICIP 2016 competition on mobile ocular biometric recognition.” Image Processing (ICIP), 2016 IEEE International Conference on. IEEE, 2016.

Samsung. Samsung Applies Advanced, Eco-Friendly Packaging to the Galaxy Series. Samsung News Room, Samsung.com, 2018, news.samsung.com/global/samsung-applies-advanced-eco-friendly-packaging-to-the-galaxy-series. Accessed 31st March, 2018

Yixian, Xuanlong. Is There Really a Significant Difference between IPhone and Samsung. Quora, 2 Mar. 2013, www.quora.com/Is-there-really-a-significant-difference-between-iPhone-and-Samsung. Accessed 31st March, 2018