Ah, the ageless debate: Apple or Samsung?
I won’t pretend that I once didn’t instantly respond — no hesitation — “Apple.” But over the years, I’ve realized that I answered that knowing absolutely nothing about the actual technology used by Apple and Samsung. I simply answered, “Apple” because it was all I knew, all I had seen and all I had heard.
I had Apple products my whole life. To be fair, Apple’s iPhone was released in 2007, and Samsung’s Galaxy S was released in 2009, so Apple was the first to premiere — kudos to them.
My first Apple phone was the iPod Touch, which came out in 2007. I then upgraded to the iPhone 4. Eventually I got the other products as well — the MacBook Air, the iPad, the AirPods and the Apple Watch. I was Apple-everything. However, the reason I bought Apple was for no reason other than it was marketed to me.
Then my brother got the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge in 2016. He was the only one I knew who chose Samsung over Apple, and I made sure he knew that. I personally did not have any issues with my Apple products (aside from constantly losing my AirPods), but then again, I was not using them for anything other than social media and texting.
That changed when I went to college. I was studying film for the first time, so I needed the technology on my phone to be the best it could be. I had a friend who had a Samsung, and they were constantly showing off the better video quality that their Note Ultra 22 had. I needed that quality.
I went to the store to check out the Samsung phones, this time with an open mind. I was instantly fond of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. The Galaxy S20 FE (2020) had better features by far than Apple’s newest product at the time, the iPhone 11.
For one, the screen was 6.5 inches, and the iPhone 11’s was 6.1 inches. The Galaxy S20 FE’s memory could also be expanded via memory card while the iPhone’s could not. Lastly, the Samsung front camera had 32MP, whereas the Apple front camera had 12MP, and the regular camera had 8MP (3X telephoto), whereas iPhone 11 had no telephoto. These features sold me, and, thus, I joined the Samsung team.
My biggest worry about changing sides was compatibility. I would no longer be able to AirDrop things to people, and some apps are only available for Apple products. However, this worry soon diminished because my Samsung was so much easier and smoother to navigate and use. My screen was clearer, my download speed was faster and the charge lasted longer.
I currently have the Samsung Flip 3, a full-sized smartphone that flips in half, a phone that Apple has yet to design — not to mention Samsung’s Fold, a foldable smartphone that has three full-sized screens. I switched my Apple Watch to a Samsung watch and I did not even need to replace the AirPods, as I lost them again. Now, I have the Samsung Buds. They all instantly pair to my phone, no further action required. They all have incredible battery charge and have yet to have any issues, even with over a year of usage.
Samsung Flip and Fold are not the only technological advancements Samsung has over Apple. The newest iPhone, the iPhone 14 (released Sept. 16), introduced features that Samsung phones have already had. To name a few of these features, there is the always on display (first launched on the Galaxy Note 7, according to Samsung), dynamic refresh rates (Galaxy S22 Ultra), ProRAW photos (Galaxy S22 Ultra) and eSIM (Galaxy S22 series).
If you still doubt that Samsung focuses more on the technology aspect whereas Apple is more concerned about marketing, in April 2021, Apple lost a lawsuit and agreed to pay $3.4 million to more than 150,000 Chilean consumers who claimed their Apple products were programmed to have a limited lifespan to force them to replace their phones sooner than necessary, according to FirstPost.
All this to say, I do still have my MacBook, but do not worry — it is the last of my Apple products, and soon I will upgrade to a different laptop. As my last Apple product, it starts to get on my nerves when it takes hours to download a simple edited video clip. Take it from me — if you want to get work done, use Samsung.
