Earlier today I posted about the comparative merits of Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III, and in doing so it turns out that no matter what my conclusion, I probably helped Samsung move a few Galaxy smartphones. That’s according to new info from analytics firm Localytics, which says that Samsung sees a GSIII sales spike whenever it gets compared with Apple’s phone.
There was a huge spike in GSIII sales when Apple won its case against Samsung in the U.S. over patent infringement and was awarded $1 billion in damages and there was another when the iPhone 5 was announced and the Internet lit up with comparison charts and articles. Device growth for Samsung’s handset slowed before and following both of these events.
Locatytics thinks this might be the start of general ambivalence among consumers when it comes to mobile OS choice. Comments on our articles suggest otherwise, but of course we’re speaking to a highly engaged, technical audience in a lot of cases.
OS agnosticism could indeed be a growing trend among smartphone consumers, who are comparing devices on other measures instead, but there’s also the old saying that any press is good press. Samsung’s name being out there more often in articles is good for the brand, especially when it’s being used as a measure for a brand with the reputation of Apple. That’s a far cry from a few years ago, when virtually every other hardware manufacturer was lumped into a general category of potential “iPhone killers,” most of which stood no chance of really standing up.