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I suppose it was inevitable — you don’t lose $1 billion to your arch rival and just stay quiet about it. But this looks like sour grapes to me.
Samsung has launched an advertising campaign that swipes at Apple’s recently announced iPhone 5. “It doesn’t take a genius” reads the tagline on one, followed by a side-by-side spec list comparing Apple’s handset and the Samsung Galaxy S3. The thing is, it’s weighted quite heavily in Samsung’s favour.
Admittedly Samsung does come up trumps in some of the categories (“A totally different plug” is one, and “2GB RAM” another), but at the same time it’s filled out the list with as many features as it can, while missing out plenty of Apple’s.
It compares the screen size and resolution of the two phones, for example, with Apple’s 4-inch screen offering 1,136×640 pixels, whereas Samsung’s bigger 4.8-inch screen has 1,280×720 pixels. Bigger numbers! Winner! Not necessarily — the number of pixels per inch is significantly higher on the iPhone, at 326 compared to the S3’s (still impressive) 306.
Samsung forgets to mention that, along with the fact it offers 4G from the get-go, whereas you’ll have to buy a new version of the S3 to use 4G in the UK. Also conspicuous by its absence is any comparison of the two phones’ app stores.
The Korean company took out another ad in The New York Times which reads: “On Sept 12th the next big thing was revealed” along with a picture of the Samsung Galaxy S3. “The Next Big Thing Is Already Here”, the ad proclaims.
As I say, I can’t see this as anything but bitter sniping. Samsung must still be feeling red-faced after the court case that saw Apple awarded $1 billion over copyright infringement, while every single one of Samsung’s claims were quashed. But I’m not sure this is the way to win any sympathy — or sell more phones.
The iPhone 5 has already sold out, despite not coming with an adaptor to make it work with current docks. But it’s not like the Galaxy S3 is struggling. It’s shifted 20 million units in just 100 days since going on sale, which isn’t bad going at all. Surely Samsung would be better off innovating and focusing on making its own phones, rather than sniping at competitors.
What do you think of the ads? Let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.
Update Monday 17 September: Added more comparison points between the two phones.
