Samsung's Galaxy S III VS Apple's iPhone 5

Once again, it's that time of the year when Samsung takes another shot at Apple after the latter has released the iPhone 5. Not to be outdone by the American company, South Korea-based Samsung has come up with an advertisement that not only shows how far more advanced the Galaxy S III is over the new iPhone but also adds insult to injury by adding a copy that reads: "It doesn't take a genius." Surely, it doesn't take a genius to know their differences and the Galaxy S III's purported advantages but is it all just about specs?

It's been weeks since Apple won over Samsung in a high profile patent infringement case in the US, which cost the latter more than a billion dollars. It seems that Samsung is not bowing down to Apple easily without giving another fight... and yet again guns at Apple's most amazing iPhone yet. Take a look at the ad below and tell me what you think of it.

Image by CNET

From the ad above, you can see that Samsung has listed the specs of its Galaxy S III opposite the specs of the iPhone 5. Clearly, based on the ad, the Galaxy S III is far superior than the iPhone, or is it really the case? I'll try to be as fair as possible. (Note: I own a Galaxy S III and a slew of Apple products.)

So Samsung was on the spot on claiming that the Galaxy S III has a larger screen (Super AMOLED HD to be exact), a standard micro USB plug, 2 GB RAM (only 1 GB for the iPhone 5), an expandable memory, a longer talk time and standby time, plus a whole lot of other features.

First of all, the perfect screen size for a smartphone is highly debatable. My Galaxy S III barely fits into the pockets of my skinny jeans so I have to carry it on my hand all the time. Sure, the iPhone would easily fit in your pocket but with a smaller screen (compared to the Galaxy S III's), watching Full HD videos and playing hardcore action games would seem a compromise. But then again, the screen size is subjective. It depends on the user and how s/he intends to use the smartphone.

Let's move on to the iPhone's Retina Display versus the Galaxy S III's Super AMOLED HD screen. Clearly, it's LED-backlit LCD versus a true LED. Both have its pros and cons. LED is known to be a power-saver. It also has the highest contrast levels and the deepest blacks but it tends to over-saturate colors, making the screen very vivid that it already looks fake. For the Retina Display, well it has wider viewing angles and a more accurate color rendering on the screen. So, when it comes to the quality of the screen, everything is debatable as well.

As for specifications like the 2 GB RAM and an expandable memory for the Galaxy S III. It's true that a 2 GB RAM is better than just 1 GB RAM because it allows better multi-tasking and more applications working in the background at the same time. When it comes to expandable memory, clearly, having a hot-swappable SD card is more convenient for transferring data. And since the Galaxy S III's memory is expandable, then you'll also be able to store more songs, videos, and applications. But to be fair, an average smartphone user seldom stores more than 50GB of data on his/her smartphone, so iPhone 5's 64GB maximum memory offering is beyond modest.

For the battery life, standby time, all these depend on how heavy a user of smartphone you are. Most of the time, what Apple and Samsung is claiming is usually different from the actual one. So, this one is not much of an issue.

When it comes to Siri and the S-Voice, I believe that the former is better equipped as the latter usually does not understand some of the words I utter. Also, the latter cannot do several things that Siri does. But then again, the Galaxy S III will have Google Now soon, that will come with its Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Update. And based on what I've read online, Google Now seems to load and operate faster than Siri. Plus points for the Galaxy S III indeed.

As for the slew of features Samsung enumerated like NFC, Smart Stay, Direct Call, and all those motion and gesture-based sensors and controls, I think that what Samsung failed to enumerate are the features that the iPhone 5 offers, which the Galaxy S III doesn't. The iPhone 5 has flyover view of Maps, the new Passbook app (to easily book game, movie, and airline tickets), AirPlay, AirPrint, iCloud, and whatnot. With all these features of the iPhone 5, it seems like a fair fight. However, I still believe that the Samsung Galaxy S III is better equipped when it comes to these extra features, even if some of them border to being gimmicky already.

Lastly, and most importantly, what ordinary netizens and geeks do not realize is that when consumers are purchasing a certain smartphone, innovation is not just the criteria but is only part of the criteria. There are other factors to consider, such as price, availability, possibly color, design, resale value, personal beliefs & preferences...and brand image. I think it is with brand image that Apple products, such as the iPhone 5, trumps all its competitors. Apple has the highest brand value of any consumer electronics manufacturers. Apple products are regarded as "prestigious," "classy," and considered a "social status indicator." And these are the kind of attributes that no amount of innovation can easily match. The emotional appeal of Apple products makes them irresistible despite their supposed lack of innovation and much higher price tag. And this is something that continues to amaze marketing professionals, like me. These are also the things that engineers, inventors, scientists, and ordinary netizens don't easily comprehend. Am I right or am I right?

So that's it. It's true that the Samsung Galaxy S III is indeed more advanced than the iPhone 5 in terms of specifications but I still believe that it lacks the emotional appeal Apple products have on ordinary consumers, and this is where the iPhone 5 triumphs.

Please do check both my iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III reviews.

Til then...

xoxo Nash