South Korean firm brings hostilities to iPhone maker's home shores by debuting its latest smartphone in New York
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Samsung's new Galaxy S4 at its unveiling on 14 March at Radio City Music Hall, New York.
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The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 on Thursday marks the latest skirmish in the longrunning and often bitter battle between the South Korean firm and Apple for supremacy in the smartphone market.
The
launch event is seen as Samsung bringing the fight to Apple's home
market, with a rumoured production run of 100m S4 handsets. Apple and
Samsung account for one in two mobile phones sold.
Worldwide, Samsung dominates the smartphone market, with analysts estimating that it shipped 63.7m smartphones
in the fourth quarter of last year. But Apple remains the market leader
in the US with ComScore, which tracks phone ownership, calculating that
there were 48.9m iPhones in use in the US by January 2013, compared
with 27.7m Samsung smartphones.
The number of iPhone users grew more than Android
– including Samsung – users in the US last year – by 19m to 48.9m,
compared with a rise of 18.5m to 67.7m respectively, with consumers
buying almost half a million more Apple handsets in December compared
with Android. The higher growth in Apple sales is attributed to the
launch of the highly-anticipated iPhone 5 last October.
But
industry analysts believe the Galaxy S4 could change the situation,
with some suggesting Android users have been waiting for the phone's
launch to buy a new handset.
Apple is still bristling from a setback in its mobile patents battle with Samsung.
Earlier
this month, a US judge slashed a $1.05bn (£698m) award by more than 40%
($450m) and ordered a new trial to decide how much – if any – damages
Samsung should pay for infringements by 14 handsets and tablets. Both
companies rely on each other for components and business.
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