The relationship between Samsung and Apple has always been like that of two teenage siblings. They bicker, fight, trash talk each other, and indulge in the unhealthy rivalry. Among real siblings, this translates into a whole lot of nuisance; but, in the tech world, it assumes the form of legal battles and liability worth millions of dollars.
Although there have been more instances of Samsung copying Apple, at times, the situation does get reversed. If you ask me, with the heaps of money Apple pumps into R&D, it doesn’t need to copy anyone. But then again, the smartphone market is seeing a slump for the first time in decades, and it’s quite likely that Apple needs some external source of umm… “inspiration”.
Take, for instance, the famous case of the Apple Watch, which, many claim, has been copied from the Samsung Gear line of smartwatches. Apple launched the Watch just a year later, and because of all the secrecy Apple likes to indulge in, we never really knew when they conceptualised the product. So who’s to say Apple didn’t come up with the idea originally? Why do we just assume that they lifted it off the blocks from Samsung, repackaged it, and made billions off it?
Android, until the recent times, had pretty much dominated the smartphone world, mostly because of Samsung’s strategy, for which it was heavily criticised. When Samsung decided to sell various phones at different price points, many people said that Samsung was trying to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Now, it looks like Apple is trying a similar approach to dominate the smartphone world. Analysts are calling this strategy by Apple as the ‘expansion of the high-end‘ which is catering to all target audiences.
Let’s go back in time a bit. I am talking about the time when Samsung’s Galaxy phones were the talk of the town, having commercialised large-screen phablet phones. Apple strongly condemned these huge phones, claiming that the 4-inch model was “the most suited design for human hands“. And yet, one year down the line, Apple launched the iPhone 6 Plus, with a 5.5-inch screen. You could say that Apple succumbed to market pressure, but there’s no denying that Apple did follow in Samsung’s footsteps.
In the coming year, we might be seeing a repeat of this behaviour. Nikkei Asian Review dropped a hint in its report that Apple was working on a curved screen iPhone for 2017. Um, Samsung Galaxy Edge, anyone?
It’s also conjectured that Apple will launch three phones next year – a 4.7-inch phone, a 5.5-inch flat phone and a 5.5-inch phone with a curved display. This strategy is also quite similar to that of Samsung’s when it launched the original Note Edge back in 2014.
Giving weight to this rumour is the patent that Apple has filed for a curved phone. Now, for such a device to exist, Apple needs to either switch to OLED display (like Samsung) or POLED display (like LG). Either way, it will be lifting off features and hardware from other giants.
Like I said before, these incidents of Apple supposedly copying Samsung could just be coincidences and unfortunate timing. However, there’s only so much you can blame on bad fortune.
But that’s a discussion for a later date. What I care about right now is just how beautiful an iPhone with a curved screen will look! Just the thought gives me butterflies in my stomach.