Apple and Samsung, as two smartphone giants, have competed over years since Samsung, an Apple supplier, brought out a shockingly similar device with iPhone named “Galaxy”. They clashed on a scale over patent infringement almost unprecedented in business history. Apple accused Samsung to have copied the core design elements of its products such as the overall appearance, the screen, the icons and features like “rubber-banding” and “pinch to zoom”. However, Apple would have never gone for iPhones with bigger displays, if Samsung had not done so.
Their special attachment has gone far recently with the launch of new products. Right before the release of iPhone 7, Samsung has announced a global recall of their new launched Galaxy Note 7 due to a battery defect which has been known and may result in overheat and even explosion. According to Samsung, there have been 35 reported explode cases among 2.5 million phones have been produced, which the battery failure rate is relatively high. While Samsung is afflicted by the battery cell issue, it could be a great chance to save Apple out of the falling sales of iPhone among the past year in that samsung users and an amount of potential buyers may flock to new Apple iPhones due to safety reasons. However, Samsung’s sacrifice seems not to be appreciated by Apple. Of being a good fellow sufferer with Samsung, Apple played a dramatic “You explode, I explode” scene. Following the steps of arch-rival Samsung, an Apple iPhone 7 exploded while still in the package.
Unlike the case of galaxy note 7, the explosion of iPhone 7 was down to the handset being damaged while being transported but not about the battery. Apple responded that it might have had something to do with the delivery system. If it was only a single incident happened during the transit, then the iPhone 7 users could take a relief. Apple yet as the manufacturer still needs to take the responsibility for managing the delivery while wether iPhone 7 has the same battery problem as Galaxy Note 7 remains unknown.
Within the explosion series, although samsung did a great job in taking a swift and decisive action to recall all the exploding phones instead of keeping justifying or stagnating, the battery related issue still gave a heavy blow to Samsung. It could be now a great opportunity for Apple to build and gain more trusts among consumers as long as Apple keep aiming to offer their users a unique and innovative experience by raising the security of using the lithium-ion cells to comfort consumers’ worries and continuing to improve and optimize the performance of iPhone features.
*Recommend article about patent war between Apple and Samsung “The Great Smartphone War”: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2014/06/apple-samsung-smartphone-patent-war
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