Have you seen those TV ads for Samsung’s new Galaxy smartphone?
In the spots, the company does a killer job of pointing out new and very welcome features.
In my mind, they drove home what seems to have become more apparent over the last several months: Apple has a lot of catch-up to do to create a product that really captures customers’ attention.
Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones, out March 11, are water resistant, which is great. They bring back the expandable memory slot, for those of us who hate getting those out of memory messages, and more importantly, come with 32 GB of storage, which is twice what Apple offers on entry-level phones.
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The phones aren’t cheap, starting at $669 and $779, without a contract. Best Buy offers the phones for $199 with a two-year subsidized contract.
Apple’s last iPhone, the 6S, starts at $649 without a contract, and was the first to show sales that didn’t grow substantially over the previous model. Consumers either thought their current iPhones were good enough, or the new features Apple touted for the 6S, like 3-D touch for shortcuts, improved camera that can shoot videos in 4K resolution and having personal digital assistant Siri always on, was a meh.
While Galaxy is clearly no. 2 to iPhone sales roughly 800 million iPhones sold to over 250 million Galaxy S phones Samsung’s recent models haven’t seen huge growth.
Apple is expected to introduce a new iPhone in a few weeks, and based on initial reports, it’s a total yawn. It’s the same iPhone as the 6S, but in a smaller body, for those who think the current iPhones are too big. The phone is expected to have a 4-inch screen, compared to 5.1 for the S7 and 5.5 for S7 Edge, and basically replace the iPhone 5C, which was initially released in 2013.
Beyond the new features of the Galaxy S7, Samsung buyers are poised for the next big thing 360 degree virtual reality, a movement we’ve yet to hear a peep from Apple on.
Galaxy buyers who pre-order get a free Gear VR, the $199 headset that sold out in days after it went on sale last year.
So, will customers choose a new phone with extra memory, water resistance, an improved camera that promises better shots in low light, or the same ol’ iPhone, in a smaller package?
Maybe Apple has some huge surprise for its March event we haven’t been signaled on yet. I hope so. And we do know that traditionally, the real new iPhone, the one with a major re-design that comes every two years, is in September, not in the spring.
Who knows what Apple will come up with for the fall, but this is clear it really does has a lot of catch-up to do.
Date: March 1, 2016