Samsung’s new top-end smartphone, the Android-powered Galaxy S4, has set the benchmark that other manufacturers, especially Asian rivals such as Sony, HTC and Huawei, are going to have to beat in 2013. The S4, launched at a no-expense-spared event in New York two weeks ago, packs the sort of technology into its thin frame that was found only in desktop computers until recently.
Building on last year’s hot-selling Galaxy S3, the S4, which goes on sale in South Africa in a month’s time, features an eight-core processor (until recently only common on high-end PCs), a 13-megapixel camera and an enormous 5-inch screen that has the same 1080p resolution as a large flat-panel TV.
Samsung’s even turned the S4 into a rudimentary weather station. The S3 came with a barometer; the S4 adds a thermometer and hygrometer, perfect for amateur weathermen.
But it’s in extending Android, the free, Google-developed operating system that powers most manufacturers’ smartphones, where Samsung is really hoping to extend its lead.
For example, hovering a finger over an e-mail or text message, rather than touching the S4’s screen, shows a summary of its content. And if you’re watching a movie and look away from the screen, the S4 will pause playback until your gaze returns. Want to scroll through a Web page or document? Simply tilt the phone slightly. There’s even a built-in translator supporting 10 languages at launch: speak into the phone — “Where is the train station?” — and the S4’s software will translate your input and speak it verbally in the language you select. No Babel fish required.
This must be giving Apple CEO Tim Cook sleepless nights. There’s a growing view that Apple’s iOS, the software that powers the iPhone and the iPad, is getting long in the tooth, while Google hasn’t let up in its frenetic innovation with Android. If the past is any indication, Apple is likely to release only a minor update to the iPhone this year — the iPhone 5S? — and leave the next big move forward to 2014. But Cook may not have that luxury this time.
What’s clear is that the race is now dominated by Samsung and Apple, at least at the lucrative top end of the market. Other manufacturers are having to fight hard to remain relevant. HTC’s new One, which will arrive in South Africa at around the same time as the S4, is a formidable contender. But, as with last year’s One X, which was every bit the S3’s equal, the Taiwanese company needs to be much more aggressive in its marketing if it has any hope of taking on the Koreans.
Japan’s Sony has its strongest-ever smartphone offering — the beautifully designed Xperia Z. The Android-powered Z shows that Sony still has what it takes to be a player in the smartphone business. Like HTC, though, it’s going to have to work hard to get itself noticed over the S4.
Nokia, meanwhile, continues to plug on with Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. Though its flagship Lumia 920 device has been well received by critics, consumers don’t appear to be warming to Windows Phone. It’s a problem for the Finnish company.
And then there’s BlackBerry, which chose to develop its own new operating system, BlackBerry 10, rather than licensing Windows Phone or Android. BB10 is great software and the first phone it runs on, the Z10, is well designed and workmanlike. But that may not be enough.
These smaller industry players are going to have to double down on innovation and marketing if they want to be noticed by consumers enthralled by the battle on centre court between Apple and Samsung. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
- Duncan McLeod is editor of TechCentral; this column is also published in Financial Mail
