2008 iPhone 3G und Galaxy
2010 iPhone 4 und Galaxy S1
2011 iPhone 4S und Galaxy S2
2012 iPhone 5 und Galaxy S3/S4
2014 iPhone 6 und Galaxy S5/S6
2016 iPhone 7 und Galaxy S7
2017 iPhone X und Galaxy S8

Apple and Samsung Galaxy

The introduction of the iPhone changed the way smartphones were designed. All other smartphone manufacturers copied the principle introduced by Apple (although not necessarily invented by Apple). A large screen under glass with a multi-touch display. Apple and Samsung in particular continued to further develop the smartphone from that time onwards. The development is therefore recorded here using the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S series as examples.

2007

The first iPhone was introduced in January 2007 and released in the summer of the same year. It didn’t have 3G technology yet, but still used GPRS/EDGE for internet access. The main features of the iPhone, in addition to the design, were the introduction of a multi-touch display with gesture control and the principle of APPS in user navigation.

2008 – 2009

Innovations:

• 3G modems
• APP stores
• Push mail
• Video recording
• Compass
• 3-5 megapixel camera

iPhone 3G

The new iPhone 3G came onto the market in June 2008. The main innovation, as the name suggests, was a W-CDMA modem for UMTS/HSDPA. A new feature was push mail. Emails no longer had to be actively loaded, but instead arrived on the iPhone automatically. The introduction of the APP Store was also new. This meant that APPs could be downloaded, even those that were not developed by Apple itself. The iPhone 3G was significantly cheaper than the first iPhone. “Twice the performance for half the price” was an advertisement for this product. The modem still came from Infineon. A year later the iPhone 3GS was released. The main feature of this phone was above all the video functionality, voice control and a digital compass. In addition, the camera has been significantly improved. It had 3 megapixels and it was possible to interactively set the focus area.

Galaxy

At the same time as the iPhone 3Gs, Samsung’s first phone with an Android operating system was released. It had a number of salient features. It had a high-quality AMOLED display with high brightness. A 5 megapixel camera and a compass. Unlike the iPhone, it was possible to expand the storage using microSD cards. This made the phone significantly cheaper. It was the first phone in a successful series called Galaxy.

2010

Innovation:

• Metal housing
• Video calls
• 5-8 Megapixel Camera

iPhone 4

A major leap in innovation occurred in 2010 with the introduction of the iPhone 4. It had a new, very slim housing and a so-called Retina display. Here the resolution of the screen was so high that the pixels could no longer be seen with the naked eye. The iPhone had an additional front camera. Together with the new APP Facetime, video calls to other iPhones were possible for the first time. Since the exclusivity with AT&T ended, an iPhone with a CDMA modem was released for the first time.

The CDMA modem came from Qualcomm. From the iPhone 4 onwards, the main processor was no longer a Samsung chip, but came from Apple itself, the so-called A4 processor. The camera now had 5 megapixels. The iPhone4’s metal casing also served as the phone’s antennas. Different antennas were integrated into the housing for the different bands, which were separated by thin slots. It happened that the reception was worse when touching these slots. People spoke of “Death Grip” or “Antenna Gate”. This brought bad press to the otherwise successful iPhone. In order to reduce the antenna problem and also to protect the glass that now surrounded the front and back of the iPhone, protective rings were introduced. Later also entire protective covers.

Galaxy S

With the Galaxy S, Samsung created a smartphone that could compete with the iPhone and other Android phones such as the HTC Dream. For the first time, a Galaxy phone like the iPhone only had a home bottom and two additional buttons, while the previous model still had a large number of navigation buttons. It looked surprisingly similar to the iPhone. The operation was also similar to the iPhone. This was the reason that Apple took Samsung to court starting in 2011. The Galaxy S was built for all regions and all cellular standards including TD-SCDMA, while Apple only served GSM/UMTS and CDMA markets.

2011

Innovation:

• Speech Assistant Siri
• Near Field Communication (NFC)
• LTE

iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S, which was released in 2011, did not differ from the iPhone 4 from the external. But it had a significantly more powerful A5 processor. This enabled excellent speech recognition and speech synthesis called Siri. The camera also be improved to 8 megapixels. The iPhone 4S was first introduced by Tim Cook. Steve Jobs died the day after the public introduction of the 4S.

Galaxy S2

The Samsung Galaxy S2 was similar in design to the S1 but slimmer to match the iPhone 4. It had a better camera at 8 megapixels and a better screen than the Apple iPhone with its SuperAMOLED display. The Galaxy S2 was the first smartphone with Near Field Communication technology and had this feature two years before Apple. There were also versions with an LTE modem, a year earlier than Apple.

2012-2013

Innovation:

• 64 bit Processor
• Fingerprint Scan
• Airdrop
• Barometer
• Voice over LTE
• 13 Megapixel camera
• HD Video

iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 was similar to the iPhone 4 but significantly longer to allow an additional row of APPs. It was released in September 2012 and was the first iPhone with LTE. So it was quite late with LTE. The modem for LTE came from Qualcomm because Infineon (now acquired by Intel) did not yet have an LTE modem available. Although the iPhone 5 was larger, it was lighter. This was done using a new aluminum based frame.

Just a year later in 2013, the iPhone 5S appeared. This was the first smartphone ever to have a powerful 64-bit processor, the A7. What was new was a sensor that could recognize and identify fingerprints. It was integrated into the home button and allowed the user to be authenticated during operation. A new feature of the iPhone 5s was AirDrop. Using an adHoc WiFi connection, data could be exchanged with a neighboring device at high speed.

GALAXY S3 UND S4

The Galaxy S3 was released with S-Voice and, like Apple, offered voice-controlled assistant systems. The Galaxy was not behind Apple in quality and performance. It was often referred to as the „iPhone killer“. In fact, more Galaxy S3 than iPhone 4 phones were sold, even though the price was higher than an iPhone 4S. The S3 had a barometer feature long before Apple introduced it. It was also the first smartphone with Voice over LTE functionality. A year later, the Galaxy S4 was released and became the best-selling Android smartphone of all time. It had a 13 megapixel camera and was capable of HD video recording.

2014 – 2015

Innovation:

• Apple Pay
• LTE Advanced
• 16 Megapixel Kamera

iPhone 6

The iPhone 6 was released in autumn 2014 and differed from its predecessors in its significantly larger screen. The iPhone 6 Plus in particular was even bigger. It followed a trend in which smartphones became increasingly larger. A new feature of the iPhone 6 was Near Field Communication. This allowed for the first time authentication, which was useful or even required for payment services. There was also a new Apple service called Apple Pay. LTE Advanced and Voice over LTE came with the iPhone 6. Like Samsung, the iPhone 6 now also has a barometer sensor. The iPhone 6 was the most successful phone of 2014 with 222 million sales. It was the third most successful phone after the legendary Nokia 1110. The iPhone 6S still sold 174 million units in 2015. Incidentally, the first Apple Watch came onto the market together with the iPhone 6, a year after Samsung.

GALAXY S5/S6

The Galaxy S5 was released in spring at the Mobile World Conference 2014. Even before the iPhone, this smartphone was now dust and waterproof. 16 megapixel camera. An innovation was the health sensor, which could measure the heart pulse.

The S6 broke away from the design with a removable back and replaceable battery. Instead, like the iPhone, there was now a glass back and a built-in battery. MicroSD cards were also dropped. Instead, like Apple, there was only built-in memory. Samsung Pay was introduced for payment services using NFC. The Galaxy S6Edge had an innovative new screen that extended over the edges of the phone and could be used for various innovative input modes. The S6 also had a fingerprint sensor for authentication.

2016

Innovation:

• Dust and waterproof
• Two cameras
• Portrait pictures
• High sensitivity to light

iPhone 7

The iPhone 7 came onto the market in 2016. In terms of design, it hardly differed from the iPhone 6. It was the first iPhone without a headphone jack. Instead, so-called iPods, i.e. wireless headphones, were released at the same time, but of course other Bluetooth headphones also worked. A novelty of this phone was that it was dust and waterproof. This means it can survive being immersed in water for a short time. A new camera for optical zoom was introduced. These were 8 megapixel cameras. With two cameras, an iPhone could distinguish between the foreground and background of an image. Above all, the background can be manipulated accordingly. Apple speaks of „portrait mode“. With the iPhone 7, Apple began using Intel chips in addition to Qualcomm for the modem in order to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm.

GALAXY S7

The Galaxy S7, released in 2016, was rated as one of the best smartphones of its time, often significantly better than the iPhone 7, which fell behind in some performance characteristics. The S7 reduced the resolution of the camera, but received significantly higher light sensitivity. To the delight of many users, the MicroSD card was reintroduced while still retaining dust and water protection. The S7 can now also be charged inductively without any problems.

2017 – 2018

Innovation:

• No home button
• Face recognition
• Iris recognition
• OLED screen also from Apple

IPHONE 8 AND IPHONE X

The iPhone 8, released in 2017, changed its design by having a glass back panel like the iPhone 4. One reason was that the phone could now be charged inductively without cables. Otherwise, this phone had a powerful new processor, the A11. In addition to the iPhone 8, the iPhone X also appeared. The iPhone X no longer had a home button, which enlarged the display. This meant that there was no longer any identification using fingerprints. Instead there was a new authentication via facial recognition. The display was an OLED display for the first time and was of significantly higher quality. This also made the iPhone X the most expensive iPhone to date. In 2018, the iPhone XR was released, which was essentially a cheaper version of the iPhone X.

GALAXY S8

The Galaxy S8, which was released in 2017, had a curved display in all versions. For the first time, the home bottom was omitted, making the screen even larger. Overall, the S8 phones were very large. The S8 still had a fingerprint scanner which was now mounted on the back of the phone. However, it also had facial recognition and even iris recognition, which were not rated as very secure. The Galaxy S9 had an almost identical design but a number of improvements over the S9