{"id":646890,"date":"2013-03-14T18:55:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T22:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betanews.com\/?p=136625"},"modified":"2013-03-14T18:55:58","modified_gmt":"2013-03-14T22:55:58","slug":"why-apple-fears-samsung-galaxy-s-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/646890","title":{"rendered":"Why Apple fears Samsung Galaxy S IV"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Early this evening, during a New York soiree, Samsung launched the Galaxy S IV smartphone. The venue is atypical. The South Korean electronics giant usually starts from home, offering new smartphones globally before reaching the United States. Now, in a dramatic change, a flagship Galaxy phone lands on Apple’s home turf first. <\/p>\n

The companies are in a struggle for smartphone supremacy, with Samsung leading in most countries. With one glaring exception: The United States<\/a>. Today’s venue clearly marks the South Korean manufacturer’s intentions to take the share lead from its American rival.<\/p>\n

Apple responded to today’s launch S4 by sending out marketing chief Phil Schiller to talk down Samsung<\/a>, its products and Android generally. But big headlines from blogs and news sites fall far short of offering a competitive product. The fruit-logo company rarely sends anyone on such a talking-down door. Surely someone is worried in Cupertino, Calif.<\/p>\n

Even a year ago, the electronics giant wouldn’t have been so bold as to launch here, but Samsung’s brand acceptance is up, in part because of the success of Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II and some aggressive and creative marketing. Samsung also benefits from high-profile conversions, like prominent Mac journalist Andy Ihnatko switching<\/a> to the S3 from iPhone 4S.<\/p>\n

Samsung Soars<\/strong><\/p>\n

To say Samsung is on a roll<\/a> is an understatement. During 2012, the company captured the No. 1 spot<\/a> for all handsets and also smartphones. For the full year, as measured in actual phone sales to end users, Samsung share reached 22 percent — that’s from 385 million units, according to Gartner<\/a>. Share was a tad higher for fourth quarter: 22.7 percent. Meanwhile Samsung smartphone sales soared 85 percent or nearly four times that of Apple. <\/p>\n

Samsung’s sales success strongly weighs against Android, not just Apple. During fourth quarter, Android smartphone share rose to 69.7 percent from 51.3 percent a year earlier. By comparison, iOS fell to 20.9 percent from 23.6 percent. Samsung sold so many smartphones, it accounted for 42.5 percent of all<\/i> Android sales in the category.<\/p>\n

“The Android brand is being overshadowed by Samsung’s brand with the Galaxy name nearly a synonym for Android phones in consumers’ mind share”, Anshul Gupta, Gartner principal research analyst, says. Samsung’s success is mixed for Android as a platform. The South Korean company, and not Google, largely controls customers’ experience via TouchWiz UI and other features. <\/p>\n

Dollars and Sense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mobile makes huge contributions to Samsung’s bottom line. For Q4, the South Korean electronics giant reported revenue of about $52.45 billion and $6.55 billion profit. Mobile division revenue was $25.35 billion, and Samsung credits success largely to two devices — Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II. Interestingly, Samsung mobile ASPs are rising, and analyst data shows expansion across the globe — particularly markets once dominated by Nokia, China among them. Samsung credits sales to emerging markets as a bright point for the quarter.<\/p>\n

They also happen to be where all the big sales growth is and where Samsung displaces, or replaces, leader Nokia. IDC predicts that emerging markets — Brazil, China and India, particularly<\/a> — will be the biggest growth areas for smartphones, which accounted for 45 percent of all handset sales in Q, according to Gartner. <\/p>\n

Apple struggles to get beyond the wealthiest consumers in this markets because:<\/p>\n