Samsung is enjoying its journey to the top as it drops Apple's mighty iPhone to second place in smartphone shipments.
According to "Strategy Analytics" Samsung's first quarter shipments of 44.5 million tops Apple's 35.1 million.
"The race between Apple and Samsung remained tight during the quarter, even as both companies posted growth in key areas," said Ramon Llamas, IDC senior research analyst. "Apple launched its popular iPhone 4S in additional key markets, most notably in China, and Samsung experienced continued success from its Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet and other Galaxy smartphones."
"With other companies in the midst of major strategic transitions, the contest between Apple and Samsung will bear close observation as hotly-anticipated new models are launched," added Llamas.
Samsung's meteoritic rise is credited to the success of its lineup of Galaxy smartphones. The variety ranged from hardware, touchscreen, to physical QWERTY keyboards. The iPhone 4S offered superb quality and features but one thing that Apple never released in its iPhone models was a physical keyboard.
When Apple came out with its first ever iPhone in 2007, there were considerations of including a hardware keyboard in its design. This was revealed by Tony Fadell, a former Apple executive who worked as a senior vice president of the iPod division and now the CEO of Nest in an exclusive interview with The Verge.
Fadell told The Verge that when Apple was developing its first iPhone, the inclusion of a physical keyboard was a very much discussed topic. He was among those who were there during the inception and creation of the iPhone.
"We did three different types of iPhones. There was an iPod plus phone and then there was the iPhone and then there was the next generation iPhone and that's the one that actually showed up," Fadell told The Verge. Fadell also told that he was sceptical about the touch screen concept speaking from his experience with the technology.
"Fadell worked on the iPhone up until the 3GS - and was involved with a whopping 18 generations of the iPod line - before stepping away to start Nest," reports The Verge.
Apple known for its innovation and in trying to stay ahead with its competitors went on to launch its first ever iPhone without a physical keyboard of course. But with recent success from Samsung, the iPhone may possibly reconsider keyboards in future models.
From Apple's conception and launch of its first iPhone in 2007, the company is now all set to launch its next generation iPhone most probably called iPhone 5 sometime this year.
The phone is speculated to boast of features like 4G LTE connectivity, 3.5 inch screen powered by a 1.5 GHz quadcore A6 processor along with 1GB or RAM and retina display of 1280 x 720 resolutions. Keeping the company's tradition of innovation intact, the newest iPhone 5 will come with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
Could we see a physical keyboard as well? Apple certainly has investigated the possibilities and the world will find out later this year how the next gen iPhone will fare against Samsung. Samsung has already scheduled its next gen smartphone launch ahead of Apple's iPhone 5.
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