One Samsung exec described the Galaxy S8 as the 'dream to overcome Apple' (AAPL)
Business Insider
Samsung takes its rivalry with Apple seriously. They are the two biggest smartphone makers by market share.
Samsung's competition with Apple is prominent enough that one exec told Mashable's Pete Pachal that its latest phone, the Galaxy S8, had a codename that was in fact a reference to Apple.
Pachal writes:
The Galaxy S8, codenamed "Dream," was three years in the making — about a year longer than most product development cycles, Samsung's Gaeyoun (Robert) Kim, vice president of global product planning for mobile, said in an interview at Digital City.
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The Dream may have double meaning, at least to Kim. In an unguarded moment, he said the Galaxy S8 was conceived as the "Dream to overcome Apple" — a bold admission from a company that's been repeatedly accused of lifting features from its rival in Cupertino, California.
However, the company tried to walk back that statement, especially given the long-running patent lawsuits between the two companies, as well as the the public impression that Samsung copies Apple's features:
Samsung reps later backpedalled Kim's comments, saying it was simply his own retroactive interpretation of the codename, and not an internal mandate, so make of that what you will.
It's hard to mistake Samsung's latest for an Apple iPhone. The Galaxy S8 has lots of features that the iPhone 7 doesn't, including slim bezels, an iris scanner, and a dock that lets you access your phone's contents using a traditional PC setup (monitor, keyboard, and mouse). It also doesn't have a dual-lens camera, one of the big features Apple introduced last year on the iPhone 7 Plus. "In low-light conditions, [the iPhone 7 Plus dual camera] just uses the digital zoom, so what's the value of it?" Kim told Mashable.
Mashable's feature on the Galaxy S8 is a fascinating look into a critical moment for Samsung, and is worth reading in full.