Asian firms challenge Apple with snazzy new smartphones

HTC is a Taiwanese company...

AFP are suck apple fan boys, needs like a "don't worry your apple investment is still safe"

Apple's PR cachet is so strong that they don't need shows like CES and the World Mobile Congress to publicize their latest products. And the profit margins for each iPhone sold is the envy of every Android handset maker out there, too.

While I like the design of the new Galaxy S 6 (especially the camera if it lives up to Samsung's promises and wireless inductive charging), the new phone in many ways just reminds me too much of the iPhone 6. Samsung may have to price the Galaxy S 6 below that of the iPhone 6 to be viable--and that will hurt Samsung's margins.

New packaging for the same low quality operating system. No thanks, I'm waiting for my contract to run out to buy an iPhone, even the operation of my old iPhone 4 was superior to the successive versions of Android that I have mistakenly gone for, for various reasons such as battery life and carrier options etc.

Apple phones get upgraded software for years beyond what Android phones get, which is just one area where Apple provides real value to its users. That, and the high resale amounts, means I will keep being an Apple user, thanks.

Yawn

bence8810: AFP love apple, they always get the competitors wrong, in a previous article they said Samsung is from North Korea, I'm starting to think they are on the take from apple.

Won't happen, in terms of actual challenge. A few die-hard Samsung fans (not sure why, but oh well) will buy the new products, but many have already switched to and love their Apple products. What's more, with the smart watch coming out and now talk of iPhone 7, these Asian companies are just playing, and losing, at a game of catch-up where they simply copy the leader's "movements". Far too little, far too late.

Comparing my HTC M7 to wife's I-phone 5c, Apple may have a few better features, but I am still an Android fan. Simply for the fact I am not limited in what I can do by Apple. I-phone can't add additional storage, you must go through the cloud. If you are not tech savvy enough to know when to switch to wifi, all you wind up doing is using your carriers data usage to the max for the month and then you are forced to pay for additional speed. Andorid, just add a micro storage card. Now that ScanDisk has come out with a 200 GB micro, never need to worry about sending to the cloud.

I will say this, the latest episode of Modern Family was done entirely based on the family communicating through various Apple products and software, and it was a good show case for what it can do. But I still prefer the android and looking forward to the HTC M9.

One thing about Japan, now that they have started to allow people ot "unlock" their phones and get away from the stranglehold au, docomo has on the market, I imagine that the market here will change somewhat and you will see more people switching from the still popular "flip" phones to either smart version.

Android needs a push strategy (MWC Barcelona) vs Apple's pull strategy.

Playing catch up to a smart watch? Umm, Android smart watches have been out for years now. All apple does these days is play catch-up.

Unfortunately in this case, Samsung went back and started copying the follower. Goodbye water resistance, goodbye removable battery/external SD. Hello almost identical design.

They can both follow each other into the ground, while Chinese manufacturers are taking over.

I currently own Samsung's Note 3, and while the S6 looks very nice, I won't touch another Samsung phone until they provide timely updates for their older models. My phone was released in the winter of 2013, and I am still waiting for Android 5.0; an operating system that was released 4 1/2 months ago.

Unfortunately in this case, Samsung went back and started copying the follower. Goodbye water resistance, goodbye removable battery/external SD. Hello almost identical design.

Unforuntately, that's what the market wants. The users have been vehemently complaining about the plastic material that allows removable battery and external SD card. It's damned if you do, and damned if you don't. But the greatest criticisms against the Galaxy has always been the plastic design, and the sales numbers showed. Samsung just chose the bigger group of customers who wanted better design over better functionality.

BooDooSy's complaint about lacking timely updates is more of a legit complaint. That is exactly what holds back the Android users, due to so many variations and fragmentation of the Android O/S. There should be a way for huge manufacturers like Samsung to push their updates in more timely fashion, bypassing carriers.

My phone at present is a Huawei Honor 6. Yeah, I know, it was a bit of a risk and it's not all good news. The system is capacious and quick, it has the all important extra slot for a micro SD card and is pretty good if you have the right case for it (DON'T use it without as it's a bit flimsy, IMHO). The big downers are the finish (plastic everything though the glass front and back aren't too bad) and the non-removable battery. That last is the biggest fault in my eyes as I kept its predecessor, a Huawei Ascend G330, going for quite a while because it was possible to replace literally everything should anything go wrong. I'm also not a great fan of the Huawei "Emotion UI" though I suspect that Apple converts might take to it.

Otherwise it works well and is a good enough reason (especially given the price point) for seriously questioning the need to buy big name brands for their own sake.

Last year two of my friends bought each a smartphone. One bought the 5S and the other a Samsung Duos-somenthing. Fast forwarding one year, the one with the iPhone is upgrading to the the 6. The other with the Samsung Duos will the friend's 5S. And the Samsung goes to the trash can, as she told me.