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Among all the major smartphone makers,Samsungsaw the threat fromApples iPhone earlier than most.

Only Samsung changed course quickly to meet the iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra home screen with clock and weather

The Nokia N95 was the coolest phone ever before the iPhone came along

Unfortunately, Samsung thought the iPhone was all about features.

It was terrible, especially compared to the iPhone.

But it looked like an iPhone, if you squinted just right.

Nokia N95 closed

The Nokia N95 was the coolest phone ever before the iPhone came along

It was a poor replacement, but it checked most of the same boxes.

Before the Galaxy came along, we got theSamsung Behold, which was the worst smartphone I ever used.

It stacked that TouchWiz feature phone interface on top of Android.

iPhone X

The iPhone X was the first iPhone to match Samsung’s OLED display

What made the original Galaxy phone great, especially compared to the iPhone, was theOLEDdisplay.

Why is OLED better?

In practice, its a small advantage, maybe 5% per day, but its measurable.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 side angled closed

Samsung can make phones that fold in half but not good software

Samsung had a spec win.

It won with a feature the iPhone wouldnt match.

It would aspire to beat Apple in terms of specs and hardware features.

iPhone 14 Pro with purple contact poster on screen for author

Admit it, iOS 17 just looks cooler than anything from Samsung

It would win on paper.

It would launch phones with more and more.

First we gotphones with larger displays.

We got a stylus built in, even though we all knew styli were dead.

We got more cameras, zoom cameras, thenspace cameras.

We got glass that curved, thenglass that folds.

No improvement to the software.

In all those years, Samsung never made its software better, not better than Apple.

It never improved significantly.

Somehow, it never cared enough about improving its software.

Or else, it never thought beating Apple at software would be possible.

Maybe Apple is winning because … it’s better?!

Id say that Apple simply makes a superior product.

Unless you are buying the absolute bestGalaxy S24 Ultra, you are buying an inferior phone.

The reason is software.Apples iOS 17software isnt just better, it is an entire experience.

The features and the hardware and the software all work together seamlessly.

Sometimes itworks so wellit canbe frightening.

Samsungs Galaxy phones are good in spite of the software, just barely.