Aside from a couple of distinct ad campaigns taking hits at Apple after the iPhone 6 launch – including a horrible one followed by a more successful bashing approach – Samsung didn’t really try to ruin Apple’s iPhone 6 launch, although it could have at least given it a shot.
FROM EARLIER: Finally: Galaxy Note 4 launches October 17th, preorders start tomorrow
Instead of announcing launch details and prices for the Galaxy Note 4 in a more timely manner, the company decided to only mention such critical details a day before the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are available in stores, which is a week too late for many buyers who have already committed to paying at least $649 for a bigger iOS device. That’s even though practically anyone and their grandmother knew the new iPhones were launching in mid-September, and even though Samsung knew Apple would mention iPhone 6 pricing and launch dates during its September 9th keynote.
Sure, Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 4 almost a week earlier, but it didn’t want to share pricing or launch date, which could have been critical details for some of the more than 4 million people who ordered a bigger iPhone from Apple in the first 24 hours of preorders, until a day before the in-store iPhone 6 selling frenzy begins.
The price alone could have been enough to convince some smartphone buyers to wait for the Galaxy Note 4, even if that means having to idly sit by for another month.
The 32GB Galaxy Note 4 costs $825.99 full price or $299 on-contract. For that price, users get a beast of a phone packing high-resolution 2K 5.7-inch display, 2.7GHz quad-core processor 3GB of RAM and 16-megapixel camera. Comparatively, the 16GB iPhone 6 Plus costs $749 full price or $299 on-contract, featuring a Full HD 5.5-inch display, 1.4GHz dual-core 64-bit processor, 1GB of RAM and 8-megapixel camera. The 64GB and 128GB model cost $100, and $200 more, respectively.
Those buyers who are primarily looking for beefed up hardware can see that on the specs front alone, the Galaxy Note 4 is superior, even though when you add the actual user experience the iPhone 6 Plus may be the real winner.
The Galaxy Note 4 is Samsung’s best phablet to date, but for the first time ever in Samsung’s phablet-making history, it’ll have a matching rival from Apple. Knowing all this, Samsung still decided not to reveal any availability details about its upcoming flagship device once Apple made its plans official. “It doesn’t take a genius” to see that was a rather poor move from Samsung’s marketing department.
Sure, the iPhone 6 Plus would likely have sold out regardless or whether Samsung had tried to tempt buyers with a possibly cheaper Galaxy Note 4, but at least Samsung would have done more than take hits at Apple in TV commercials and Twitter campaigns.
