It can be hard to gauge the success of both hype and sales totals when you are comparing a smartwatch to a smartphone, but when said smartwatch is the new Apple Watch and the smartphone is the new Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, there are going to be inevitable comparisons. In the world of smartwatches, many people are content to do without, but when it comes to smartphones, almost everybody will end up buying a smartphone.
Apple and Samsung have been in a long-standing battle, but each has entered the battle armed in a different way. Samsung won many of its battles because it tried to be all things to all people…and that philosophy worked when smartphones were in their infancy. Apple always had the idea that if we built a high-end device, charge a premium price, customers will come and spend their hard-earned money…and that always worked for them. Apple almost dipped their toes in the cold waters of lower-end device with the short-lived Apple 5C, which they quickly abandoned. Samsung started to see sales figures drop from both ends in 2014 – the smartphones from China and India were quickly killing off their low-end sales and the new iPhone 6 with larger displays were killing off Samsung’s Galaxy S5 flagship.
Samsung responded with their new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge – now with an aircraft grade aluminum unibody and Gorilla Glass 4 on the top and the bottom and top-notch electronics in between. Apple is not ready to release their iPhone 7, however, they did release their new Apple Watch the same day as the Galaxy S6 series hit the stores – they are always vying for an advantage, although Samsung execs said they were “delighted” that Apple entered the smartwatch market.
Both products are competing for a share of your mind and your wallet, and from what we can see so far according to our source is that Samsung is winning on both fronts. Oh, the Apple Watch is garnering its share of the spotlight, but no analyst is willing to place a firm number on sales – saying they may have sold a million watches over the weekend, but nobody is even venturing a guess of how many Watches will be sold during their 2015 fiscal year, ending in September…possibly 14 million.
Google checked out which of the two – Apple Watch or Samsung Galaxy S6 – were piquing people’s interest based on searches and so far the Galaxy S6 has a sizable lead. Samsung believes, as do most analysts, that the Galaxy S6 will hit the 10 million mark faster than any other Galaxy S model. Last year, it took the Galaxy S5 25 days to reach the previous record, but the Galaxy S6 is so hot right now that T-Mobile said that early sales of the S6 are “nearly double” that of the S5. Of course, smartwatches and smartphones are not the same – the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus hit 10 million in sales in a single weekend last year – go figure. And while all smartwatch sales may reach 28.1 million this year, smartphone sales reached 1.3 billion last year.
So we can say that Samsung has won the thought-share and money-share so far, and even with record sales figures for their new Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, it is doubtful that they will dethrone the iPhone 6. We can be thankful that there are the two kingdoms of Android and iOS and two ruling kings – Samsung and Apple – it helps keep both parties on their toes and innovating new products as they fight for our loyalty and money.