Samsung indeed has the next big thing on its hands with the Galaxy S4. Even if there is a gap between how Americans think about their phones and the way Samsung might want them to, many will find the combined economic and ergonomic case for the S4 compelling once they walk into a store of one of the six carriers selling it come May (AT&T, Cricket, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon.)
Samsung has inadvertently revealed the approximate retail value of the S4 to be $579 U.S. in the terms and conditions of a contest to win one of 48 promotional units. Assuming the promotion is for the base 16 GB model, that would place it $70 cheaper than the comparable unlocked iPhone 5, at $649. Contract subsidies and upgrade offers will affect the prices that U.S. consumers actually pay, but apples to apples, so to speak, it would seem that Samsung will be pricing the S4 aggressively.
But apples to apples is only half of the story—quite literally. Because of the S4's large screen size and ultra high resolution, the "phablet" also competes against Apple's iPad mini. The Galaxy S4 is certainly a more convenient web browsing and video-watching device than the iPhone 5. Is the absolute color or image quality on the iPhone 5 superior? Perhaps, but absolute quality has not stopped MP3's, for instance, from dominating downloaded music. The absolute ease of navigation provided by the larger screen and the reduction of squinting will make a compelling case to many users.
A 16 GB iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular will set you back $459 with a month-to-month contract from AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. It may arguably provide a superior content consumption experience than the S4 on all accounts—but you still need a phone.
So on the economic front, you would need to pay Apple (and its assigns) a total of $1,108 to get the combined functionality that $579 buys from Samsung. That's almost twice as much! Plus a second data plan. And, on the ergonomic front, you have to carry around two devices.
For all of Apple's design, engineering and marketing smarts, its perfectionism may be maneuvering itself into a tight niche of other well-heeled perfectionists! The S4 is not perfect. It's a little big for a phone and a little small for a tablet. Not to disparage Samsung's efforts, but if it can make a single device that provides a "good enough" approximation of the combination of two of Apple's flagship devices, that's not too shabby.
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