There is a reason for me not writing "The eternal battle". The reason is that there is no fight if, instead of placing a fighter against each other inside a ring under controlled environment, you just place them in front of a TV screeen and brag their strong point off at one another.
In a true fight, each fighter has to be in the same weight class and age class or it would be an annihilation instead of a fight. Today's iPhone vs Samsung Galaxy is a fight as such. It's unbalanced as it was back when apple launched the iPhone. It's just inverted it's way through time...and it's all apple's fault.
iPhone 5 = iPhone 4s = iPhone4 = iPhone 3 = iPhone 2 = iPhone
And the 4 to 4s "evolution" is so stupid that they might just drop their act and call today's phone the iPhone sssss!
The first iPhone WAS a clear evolution to all smartphones and I'm grateful for Apple cause they kicked off the actual smartphone revolution. But that's just about it. The phone was good for being able to gather in on package several good ideas that weren't even developed by apple, but they had the vision to pick and integrate in a good product. This is an important part.
A lot of people talk about the apple better and unique design...sure-thing
Still on the Design, the iPhone was a copy of Samsung F700, launched a full half year earlier than the first iPhone.
And a lot more talk about the grid-like icons...that Nokia also had years before the iPhone and ERICSSON with the M610i, Pli and p700.
And more will say that the IOS is the thing... well, IOS is the cut-down version of famous MacOSx. Now the OSx is a brilliant concept. Apple decided to cut down hardware and software production costs in able to free resources for the concept team. So they done a very bad thing (they switched to the crappy intel platform) abandoning the mighty RISK architecture, but an excellent thing developing the MacOSx on top of the UNIX FreeBSD Kernel. So while Microsoft was making a "crusade against" opensource, apple went right the opposite way. Apple realized that what they were actually good at, was the Graphical User Interface and the conceptual Look&Feel thing. So they grabbed a robust and efficient Kernel (the FreeBSD) and built on top of it. Brilliant, but ultimately an improved copy of something that wasn't made by them.
Still on the IOs subject, the slide menu navigation that make the user love-it so, was present in the very first AndroidOS preview 1...and that was released 3years earlier.
Some will say that the "Slide to answer" is an apple improvement, but 2 years earlier than the iPhone, any device running Microsoft Windows CE platform would do that :S. You see, apple designs good GUI's, but Microsoft conquered the world precisely by building good GUI's. And in mean time, even managed to save apple from bankruptcy.
This goes on and on... The SIRI? Ever wondered why the IRIS was so fast to surge against it in the Android market? Well, because the code was already present in the XIAOI BOT android app...since 2010!?
Conclusion: Apple is excellent copying separate ideas from others and integrating them into a full winning product.
So back to the text:
From that point in history forward, the iPhone is just something with no place. As time passed, apple developed it into progressively smaller steps and maintained or increased the cost.
Today, it costs twice as much as it should and delivers half as much as it should... so in comparison with the android rivals, the iPhone is a merely 1/4th of what others are offering.
Is the S3 perfect? No. There is a big problem with Samsung High end phones: they are over priced. Not twice the price as they are worth in hardware (like anything from apple), but still a good 20 to 30% over price. It's getting trendy and the market trends are a stupid reason to make necessary profit.
Back in the iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S2 war, I used to advise people to buy the LG Maximus X2. It has the right price for the hardware.
So S3 vs iPhone? yup that's right... the question is also the answer. There is no iPhone5, it is just a repacked, overpriced iPhone.
It's got no chance against the pinnacle of android phones evolution to date.
So why does the iPhone sells? Because human beings are in their majority strangely illogical.
Why does Gucci shoes sell? you can buy a set of Nike for 1/100000000th of the price. You would run better, walk better, feel better and your bank account would be infinitely better.
Gucci sells because it's Gucci and for some reason some hollywood star told everyone that they look better and cost millions more because they are exquisite.
Period!
The iPhone sells because the same Hollywood star uses an iPhone. The latest Samsung movie draws this fact in evidence.... the iPhone fans are pictured as futile, dumb and un-knowledgeable people (just like the typical Hollywood stereotype)...while the Samsung users are sensible, self-aware and intelligent people.
As any add its an exaggeration, but sadly this does represent over 50% apple fans. Still Samsung should watch their own sales department and cut their phones at least 15 to 20% in price if they don't want to get into what I call the "Apple zone" - too expensive for the offer.