Coming to a big screen near you: Samsung versus Apple in battle of the phone giants

With the Galaxy Note, the South Korean company did what it does incredibly well – it marketed a product to the world.

After years of resisting the allure of big-screen smartphones, Apple finally relented and released the iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5” display. Krisztian Bocsi / Bloomberg

Let’s take a walk down memory lane. Most people wouldn’t really appreciate the significance of the year 2011 in the mobile world; but for those of us who do, we know that this was the year that the world was introduced to the Samsung Galaxy Note.

This was a device of Godzilla proportions, sporting a 5.78" x 3.27" body and a 5.3" display. Samsung even included a unique piece of hardware with the device – the S Pen, its distinctive stylus. And many other exciting functions were also crammed into the device.

To put things into perspective, Apple was on its iPhone 4s iteration at the time, sporting a 3.5" display that was generally in line with the other smartphone screen sizes of the day. Samsung placed the Galaxy Note in the space that sits between the traditional smartphone and the tablet, propelling the term "phablet" into the public consciousness.

With the Note, the South Korean company did what it does incredibly well – it marketed a product to the world. Plenty remained unconvinced over the phone’s size; there were concerns about how it would fit into a pocket and about how strange people would look talking on a device that large in public. But it didn’t matter; the world embraced Samsung’s message, and the Galaxy Note was a hit that drove the phablet category to new dimensions.

Following up on the original Galaxy Note, Samsung released the Note 2 then the Note 3. These new versions housed 5.5” and 5.7” screens, respectively. The all-new Samsung Galaxy Note 4 went on sale in the region this month. The device will retain the 5.7” screen, and it will be the first Note device from Samsung to sport a metal frame, which is a clear sign that Samsung has heeded the calls for it to use more premium materials on its higher-end devices.

Various other vendors have been attempting to ride the phablet wave since the Note's introduction in 2011. HTC, Huawei and Nokia have all tried getting a piece of the action, although none has done much to trouble the Note's dominance of the territory.

But as Android and Windows Phone devices kept getting bigger, where was Apple?

In 2012, Apple finally roused itself to action. Following calls for a larger-screen phone to do battle with the other flagship devices available on the market, Apple released the iPhone 5, complete with 4” screen. This might have been a big step for Apple but it was still some way off the Android and Windows phone devices of the day in terms of size. Apple was holding firm in its belief that the iPhone should be comfortable and easy to use with just one hand, and the sales figures didn’t disappoint.

At the same time, the global trend has been for ever-larger screens. In the GCC alone, shipments of handsets with 5” to 6” screens have grown more than 40 per cent year- on-year. With such developments proving increasingly difficult to ignore, it has become clear to Apple that changing times and circumstances require a new formula.

In September, Apple unveiled not one but two new models of the iPhone – the iPhone 6 with a 4.7” display and the iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5” display, both of which are a considerable step up from the 4” screen of last year’s iPhone5s.

With the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple’s King Kong device, the colossus of Cupertino is going straight after the phablet market where significant growth, demand and potential lie.

The bigger picture is that Apple and Samsung now find themselves in very different places to where they were just a few years ago. The market is crammed full of new entrants, with brands and models arriving left, right and centre, and both of the traditional giants need to do all they can to remain at the top of the food chain.

Still, the signs look promising for Apple following its latest move. Many consumers had previously conveyed a willingness and desire to switch back from Android to iOS if the iPhone’s screen was enlarged. Well, that day has finally arrived, and Apple’s King Kong can now thrash it out with Samsung’s Godzilla in the phablet arena.

Initial figures from Apple were very impressive. In the US, the company broke iPhone sales records, shifting more than 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices in the opening weekend of sales. And Apple has a head start in the GCC region, with both of its iPhone 6 devices available in shops ahead of the Galaxy Note 4.

This early lead will leave Samsung feeling the heat. But regardless of which giant ultimately succeeds, one clear winner in all of this is the consumer, who can now add another valiant monster contender to their options in the phablet segment.

And just as in the 1962 movie King Kong vs Godzilla, in which the two behemoths went several rounds before a winner emerged, so it is likely to be in the phablet market. And even after that, new releases will keep providing fresh plot lines for years to come.

Saad ElKhadem is a research analyst at IDC MEA

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