Smartphone companies tend to launch newer and improved versions of their older smartphones every year. This is a way for manufacturers to keep up with customer demand and continue to deliver innovative features. It also allows the companies to iron out any unwanted bugs or features of the previous smartphone iterations. Every new launch in a smartphone series aims to attract new and returning customers that invest in the ecosystem of that particular line-up. Some of the most popular smartphone line-ups globally are the Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy series, Google Pixel, and many more. Going purely by sales numbers, the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy series are two of the best-selling smartphones in the world and are the primary rivals of each other. This long-term form of rivalry ensures good faith competition, leading to better quality products and a higher rate of innovation that ultimately benefits the customers. Competition between different types of manufacturers also keeps the cost of products in check as customers will tend to purchase lower-cost products given two similar products. Learning about the origins of these two popular products will provide us insight into the development of smartphones in the recent era.
Apple iPhone
The iPhone line was first launched in 2007 by Apple Inc, with its development spearheaded by Steve Jobs and his engineers. It was one of the first smartphones to come up with a nearly all touchscreen display which led to the form factor eventually becoming the status quo for most smartphones today. This key innovation, along with the iPhone being wireless, proved to be a popular choice among consumers and skyrocketed the sales of iPhones in its launch year. It also contains applications that has games, the best online pokies and other apps. With every consecutive year and the addition of features into this phone, the popularity of the iPhone continued to soar despite the cost being towards the higher side. The presence of the iPhone proved to the companies that a customer will purchase a product despite higher cost as long as the product delivered is of excellent quality and reputation. Not only did the iPhone launch help the sales of iPhones, but it also popularized the concept of digital ecosystems. This digital ecosystem refers to the accompanying products, free or paid, that come with purchasing a product or operating system. Hence Apple products come with software such as iTunes, iMovie, iBooks, etc. It was not soon after that other companies adopted this approach to promote their own products. And it was a significant success for manufacturers, and we see it all around us now. Hence, the impact of iPhones on the smartphone industry can not be understated.
Samsung Galaxy
First launched in 2009, the Samsung Galaxy series is a line of computing and mobile devices from the Korean manufacturer Samsung. The smartphone line comprises various smartphones that are designed to fit the need of every type of customer. Hence there are low-end, mid-range, and high-end devices such as the S series, Z series, Note series, etc. These attempt to serve a large case of customers worldwide. The Samsung Galaxy products do not use a native operating system, instead of using the Android operating system developed by Google with a custom interface called the One UI. Samsung has its own ecosystem as well, comprising a wide range of software that comes installed with its devices and other accompanying physical products. This provides an additional incentive for the customer to remain loyal to the brand.
Other Smartphone Brands
There are other influential brands from the past that first set a foothold in the industry with their innovative features that brought something new to the market. Some of them are LG Prada with its first-ever capacitive touchscreen launched in 2006, the Blackberry phones, which popularized the QWERTY keyboard on the phone, and the early models of phones by Motorola that were one of the first flip phones to come to the industry. Hence the smartphones we see today have taken inspiration from many different sources in the past.
