Samsung Trouncing Apple Gangnam Style

Forbes ^ | 4/26/2013 @ 8:36AM | Peter Cohan

[SmokingJoe]

Gangnam style is trouncing Cupertino’s when it comes to high tech pre-eminence. You may remember the wild popularity of Psy’s video celebrating the upscale Gangnam shopping district of Seoul, Korea.
And a look at Samsung’s latest financial report suggests that Cupertino-based Apple is falling behind fast. After all Samsung — the world’s leader in computer memory chips, televisions, mobile handsets and LCD panels — took a huge chunk out of Apple’s hide in the first three months of 2013.
How so? According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung took about 33% of the global smartphone market in the first quarter to Apple’s roughly 18%. And while Samsung’s smartphone sales surged 56% to 69.4 million units, Apple shipments grew a mere 6.6% to 37.4 million units.
And Samsung is not giving up profit as it gulps Apple’s market. According to the New York Times, about 75% of Samsung’s profits came from “the division that makes smartphones, tablets, personal computers and cameras.”
And compared to Apple, Samsung’s revenues and profits are soaring. While Apple revenue rose 11%, Samsung’s sales spurted 17% to $47.6 billion. And as Apple’s net income fell 18%, Samsung enjoyed a 42% profit explosion to $6.5 billion.
What is behind Samsung’s massive success? It certainly doesn’t help that Apple is turning into a lumbering dinosaur — it has no plans to introduce any major new products until the fall of 2013. And if the iPhone 5 that it introduced last fall is any indication, that may not be much to get excited about.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

I dunno how, but we need to create an America which innovates and produces again.

Now.

No more buying imports. Make good stuff here.

[yldstrk]

Can we please lose that stupid “word” gangnam?

[AppyPappy]

I’ve been helping my brother buy a Mac. They are grossly inflated. They call a 2 Core I5 Mini Mac with Intel 4000 GPU a graphics machine? Freeper please.

[spetznaz]

I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 and an iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 was given to me by my employer, which is why I own it. It compares well with the S3, which is good because the S3 made me give up my iPhone 4S (the S3 was simply that good). Unfortunately for Apple the Galaxy S4 is here. If it sells as well as the S3 did that will be another major win for Samsung.

[RightFighter]

I went in Best Buy yesterday, and they are in the process of setting up a “Samsung mini-store” that is going to be bigger than the Apple mini-store they already have in the store, and it’s also better positioned. I talked to the guy and he told me that Samsung is killing Apple in the smartphone market in their store.

[Jonty30]

Samsung has done it right, coming out with the absolute best phone that can be provided by current technology, whereas, Apple choose the path of only providing what it can control.

Nokia is following a similar path as Samsung, so I think the next premier Nokia will be very similar in quality as Samsung.

I’m personally very happy with my Nokia, just to be clear on my bias.

[BlueStateRightist]

Strong competition is only good for the consumer. I’m Apple with all my “stuff”, and having their clocks cleaned only means a better price and product for me long run. Microsoft wilted without a viable competitor for many years.

[wolfman23601]

I actually just bought an S3 (arriving today). Amazon is selling them now for $49 since the S4 is about to be released. The upgrades on the S4 simply weren’t enough for me to warrant paying an extra $200. Plus, I know the S3 is a great phone while the S4 may or may not run into some quirks. I have been due for an upgrade since September, but my Droid 2 is finally hitting the skids. Looking forward to having a functional phone again.

[Obadiah]

I own an Apple 4s and I like it. But every time Apple comes out with a new something they completely and needlessly change everything. The 36 pin connector (all previous iPhones) to the 8 pin connector (iPhone 5) rendered every clock, speaker system, etc. useless, save the Apple adapter for a mere $25!

Apple got greedy and changed everything because they had a religious fan base that worshiped everything Apple and paid twice the going rate for anything with an Apple logo on it. But these idolaters are a fickle bunch who really chase technology to have the coolest whatever.

I still like my iPhone and all iTunes music, although I hate the new iTunes platform because it sucks!

Yes, Apple has become a lumbering corporate giant that has resolved to create the best color screen available that no one can really notice any way rather than innovate and give the customer what he demands.

[Maelstorm]

Its going to get really bad for Apple and I can’t say I’ll feel bad for them because its their own damn fault. I’ve seen this play out before during the 80s. Apple cast itself as the smug yuppie computer and pcs though inferior in design whooped them till the company was almost dead. Apple came back and for a time it looks as though it had learned its lesson but again it has demonstrated that it loves its proprietary smugness and peddles products for a premium that don’t even exceed the specs of competitor products as if the brand is enough. Well it isn’t.

Samsung has continued to improve its products steadily. I’ve had my frustrations since switching from an Iphone but those have been reduced to nothing. My Galaxy Note II is an excellent phone and there is nothing I desire to do with it that I can not. The new Galaxy S4 is not just an improvement over the iPhone but is in a whole other league. Apple will always have its minority loyal following but its products are no longer the best designed nor the best performing but they are still the highest priced and if they don’t learn to be more customer oriented they are going to find themselves back in the place where they were before the iPhone.

[Maelstorm]

I got frustrated. At first my Iphone was the best thing since sliced bread but it ended up having all the same kind of problems I had with other phones plus I couldn’t replace the battery nor use a micro sd which I could do with previous phones. The Iphone was the first Apple product I’d bought for myself and unfortunately for them it was the last. I just like the freedom I have with my Android phone.

[txhurl]

This is my 4th Samsung, Galaxy II, absolutely love it, with no guilt since there’s a Samsung plant here in Austin. I even my have my old phones, I’m that loyal.

[txhurl]

Well, except the charging, which is never-ending. They need to
work on a better battery.

[kevkrom]

completely and needlessly change everything. The 36 pin connector (all previous iPhones) to the 8 pin connector (iPhone 5)

A 36-pin connector doesn't fit in the iPhone 5's casing unless they remove other stuff. At some point, you've got to let go of old designs (the 36-pin connector goes all the way back to 2001, IIRC). I do think their converters and replacement cables are ridiculously overpriced, though.

[Zhang Fei]

I dunno how, but we need to create an America which innovates and produces again. Now. No more buying imports. Make good stuff here.

Apple used to source and assemble its products within the US. Then it had a near-death experience. Jobs moved it all overseas. Apple shareholders have seen the stock move up 50x in the past 16 years, based on its recently deflated stock price.

[SengirV]

There are actually a few value products, but most of it are overpriced products.

iMacs are not a value. I’d suggest going to the refurb area of the website. Refurbs are returned machines, problems corrected, innards placed in a new shell, and tested. They are often tested better than new machines.

As far as value, you can not find a windows machine that match the specs of a retina MBP. If you don’t need those specs, then of course it looks overpriced.

In closing, it depends on what you need. If you would be satisfied with a $400 windows laptop, then of course you are silly for looking at a mac.

[Defiant]

They are great machines, but expensive. However, the so-called Ultrabooks are just as expensive as MacBook Pros these days. It turns out that if you try to make something small and elegant and powerful, it costs more.

I can make a Mac desktop myself for about half the cost. It would look something like this:

Not as elegant, but it runs Apple's OS just as well as the real thing.

I can also convert certain models of laptops into Macs. I have done that with 3 HP laptops and a Toshiba. My sister didn't have the budget for a new Mac laptop for her son. But she got him an HP Probook for under $500, and I converted it so that it can dual boot either Mac or Windows 8. He loves it. For more info on how to do it, check out www.tonymacx86.com.

But if you have the money for the best, then get the real thing. My main computer right now is a MacBook Pro from 2011, core i7, still very powerful.

[AppyPappy]

Intel 4000 graphics is Intel 4000 graphics. A similar outfitted Windows box is always cheaper than a Mac. They all use the same parts except maybe for the displays on a Mac.

It’s all in the software.

[TalonDJ]

But every time Apple comes out with a new something they completely and needlessly change everything. The 36 pin connector (all previous iPhones) to the 8 pin connector (iPhone 5) rendered every clock, speaker system, etc. useless, save the Apple adapter for a mere $25!

Your kidding right? They had the same style of connector for around TEN YEARS! That is unheard of in the tech world. That is hardly changing 'every time'.

I hate the new iTunes platform because it sucks!

Have you tried turning the side bar back on in the options? Because the new version is much better than the old one once you turn that back on.