iPhone vs. Samsung (500)

Although smartphones are manufactured by many companies, there are arguably no brands larger than the iPhone and the Galaxy S series. Apple and Samsung are the two manufacturers behind these two behemoths, and they continue to do everything they can to gain market share. For anyone looking to sell iPhone or Galaxy S products, knowing the ins and outs of each can be beneficial.

Both devices have strong software offerings behind them. The iPhone runs iOS, which is a very refined operating system with few issues. When Apple does add new features, they do so in a very conservative manner. They'll add one or two large features a year, such as Siri, and pour their energy into perfecting that feature and making it fit in. Galaxy devices, by contrast, tend to offer much more in terms of cutting edge features. The trade-off is that sometimes the features included aren't quite as tweaked as Apple's offerings.

The iPhone benefits from having a very rich ecosystem supporting it. Apple's App Store has more titles available than Google Play or any other platform, and that extends to other parts of Apple's ecosystem - iTunes typically has music and movies available on the day of their release or sooner. Samsung, on the other hand, doesn't maintain its own content ecosystem. Instead, they rely on the Google Play Store to offer apps to Galaxy S owners.

Then there is the matter of hardware. The most noticeable differentiating factor between the two phones is the size of the screen. When the Galaxy S3 was released, every iPhone up to that point had featured a 3.5-inch display. The Galaxy S3 launched with a screen that's nearly five inches, and the Galaxy Note II launched with an even larger display. Even with the iPhone 5 and its four-inch screen now available, there still exists a verey large gap between both devices when it comes to the screen. The Galaxy S3 invites users to spend hours of time looking at its gigantic screen, while the iPhone offers a scree that emphasizes maneuverability.

There are also major differences with approach to aesthetics and form factor. The iPhone looks like a designer piece of equipment, and anyone who sells used phones in order to buy one will notice. The Galaxy S3, on the other hand sports a plain finish and a mostly plastic build. This makes it very easy to tell the two apart. Where the Galaxy does trump the iPhone, some may argue, is in the curves built into the design. The phone feaures strong enough ergonomics that the large display doesn't feel all that large.

Differences also exist in terms of specs, but they are hard to measure because Apple usually resists putting out individual specs for a device. We do know that the Galaxy S3 features two gigabytes of RAM, and that the iPhone 5 runs the latest A6 processor. Overall, anyone who's looking to do some cell phone recycling and upgrade their phone won't be let down by either device.