Do you think a newcomer stands a chance against the Apple-Samsung duopoly?

by Daniel Petrov / Jul 07, 2017, 7:06 AM

Holographic display, stack-on 6k camera, and ingenious modular sandwich design - is this disruptive enough?

Love it or hate it, the flagship phone market is increasingly becoming a playground for two. Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S line are duking it out in the pit on a regular basis with varied success, barely leaving a space for the other fighters. There is a good reason for that - both are gigantic companies that offer unique propositions that are hard to replicate. Apple has the aura of the richest, most successful company in history with its design, performance and brand recognition, while Samsung's vertical integration of in-house flexible OLED panels, chipsets and memory, are almost impossible to copy on that scale even for established companies.

That is why we wanted to ask you if you think that a newcomer in the field of $600+ phones can be disruptive enough to change the status quo, and give these two a run for their (arguably great amounts of) money. If you are skeptical, recent announcements like Andy Rubin's Essential phone, and RED's Hydrogen One prove that there can be unique propositions, stellar ideas and enough potential for disruption outside of the Apple-Samsung duopoly. That still leaves the question of marketing, supply chain and distribution scaling wide open, though, so we were curious what you think on the matter. Can a newcomer still go from underdog to the next Apple or Samsung in the flagship phone industry, or do you think the cards are already dealt?

Do you think a newcomer stands a chance against the Apple-Samsung duopoly?

Absolutely

29.53%

It might, in certain niche markets

42.79%

Not a chance

27.67%

Options

41 Comments

1. kiko007

Posts: 7383; Member since: Feb 17, 2016

I'll keep it brief: Probably not.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:08 AM 9

16. vincelongman

Posts: 5579; Member since: Feb 10, 2013

Yep no chance at all of breaking Apple/Samsung's flagship duopoly But it will still be great to have another competitor to push camera technology forward

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:18 AM 0

26. pixel_ftw

Posts: 83; Member since: Jun 19, 2017

Yes, I fully agree with you. If any company can break this duopoly is probably google with their pixel phones. Other companies Don't have enough money or technology or brand image of Google.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 9:17 AM 0

33. PenTiltoKet

Posts: 552; Member since: May 18, 2016

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2017/07/tidbits-from-smartphone-wars-carl-zeiss-htc-sammy-and-look-out-for-huawei-vs-iphone-next-two-quarter.html Samsung is hard to beat, but huawei manage to beat apple.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 10:54 AM 1

2. naveenstuns

Posts: 184; Member since: Feb 19, 2012

Apple has 2% share in India lol

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:13 AM 5

6. Bankz

Posts: 2454; Member since: Apr 08, 2016

Apple i reckon is safe because of their OS an services. However, if yesterdays leak is any indication then yes its going to be nokia (assuming it comes with its own unique take and top of the line hardware). Otherwise, i'll put my money on the surface phone. Its at times like these that someone from somewhere just comes out of the blue and changes everything. No other oem has as much goodwill as nokia in the smartphone industry. Every single person on earth loves them or at least has a history with nokia (nostalgia). So, if any oem can change it then its either Nokia or the surface phone by microsoft. So i think this nokias for the taking or at least the surface phone (my money more on the surface phone tbh).

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:41 AM 4

8. jack123

Posts: 274; Member since: Jan 07, 2013

you will never see Nokia made by Finland anymore, it's just like Moto.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:46 AM 0

17. vincelongman

No phone gets made outside of Asia HMD Global designs their phones and has them made in China/Asia, like Apple, Samsung, Google, Moto, etc... HMD Global is a Finnish company made up of mostly ex-Nokia workers

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:21 AM 1

20. Bankz

This is every bit the nokia we all know and love. Hmd is a finnish company and was created for the sole purpose of aquiring nokia. Out of the 20 board of directors 18 are ex nokia staffs and the hmd ceo is the ex nokia vice president. Plus nokia still has all its engineers, patents and technologies in place. The only thing missing is the here maps that was sold to an automobile company.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:34 AM 1

25. hemedans

Posts: 746; Member since: Jun 01, 2013

Nokia now they have factory with just three employees, robots do everything including repairing their fellow robot, in future with 5G they will have human less factories. if this became successful soon you will see Nokia made in Finland https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2017/06/18/robots-managing-robots-nokias-digital-factory-of-the-future/#109ce24040bb

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 9:04 AM 2

34. PenTiltoKet

Apple is not safe, because tim cook is not steve jobs. Tim cook prefer cheap stuff (intel modem vs qualcom modem). Tim cook will ruin apple. Huawei beat apple in q2 2017http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2017/07/tidbits-from-smartphone-wars-carl-zeiss-htc-sammy-and-look-out-for-huawei-vs-iphone-next-two-quarter.html

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 10:56 AM 0

3. pokharkarsaga

Posts: 544; Member since: Feb 23, 2012

Maybe Nokia.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:16 AM 4

14. Reluctant_Human

Posts: 910; Member since: Jun 28, 2012

That partnership with Zeiss and running android OS is becoming very appealing. Have yet to see a phone camera as revolutionary as the one on the Lumia 1080.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:03 AM 3

18. Bankz

Sadly, we arent getting anything like the 1020 anytime soon. The partnership with carl zeis wouldnt be too much of an advantage anymore because the competition is steeper now.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:26 AM 0

19. NoAllegiance unregistered

If they wanted to they could make niche devices again. XpressMusic, sound is one of the things most OEMs lose focus on. Nokia 5800 and 5230 sold well. Another Pureview juggernaut with a big sensor and battery. N8, 808 and 1020 caused quite a stir. A military rugged device similar to LG V series/ Samsung Active, because Nokia is usually insinuated with sturdy devices that can take damage.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:26 AM 1

21. Bankz

Imagine having these in a single device. Btw, what's the closest we've come to having all of these in todays modern smartphone? My pick is the lg v10.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:43 AM 1

29. NoAllegiance unregistered

I hope the V30 is a huge success, V20 did not do get enough recognition even in the void of the Note 7.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 9:52 AM 0

22. Bankz

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:43 AM 0

5. bucknassty

Posts: 1252; Member since: Mar 24, 2017

Not in the United states... at least in the foreseeable future

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:36 AM 0

7. afrohoxha

Posts: 201; Member since: Mar 13, 2014

It needs best in class camera ( 2 generations ahead of Apple and Samsung), very good audio output, 15+ hours battery life with a sub 4000 mAh battery, oneplus 5 software performance, last generation oled screen, a solid build quality, in order to not compromise on charging speed and features, bezeless design, and price of oneplus 5... If there are no compromises in other areas, and with some heavy marketing, it will get stellar reviews throughout the web and much needed recognition. Any small compromise and it's DOA. It's difficult but doable.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:41 AM 0

9. NoAllegiance unregistered

I think it is more of a battle between iOS and Android. Apple has the upper hand because unlike Samsung, you can still get the Android experience on other devices. However, Samsung is tough competition for other Android OEMs because of it's massive marketing and R&D department. They also use their flagship's success to push those who cannot afford it to buy their J, A series. Hence, many other OEMs such as Sony and HTC dropped out of it. LG may soon follow suit with their K series. Just a side note, I doubt the Chinese will overthrow the duopoly in the rest of the world.

11. droidnator

Posts: 92; Member since: Mar 10, 2011

I'll say this about newcommers with ambition: OnePlus.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:51 AM 1

12. gigicoaste

Posts: 429; Member since: Feb 21, 2016

Is like a deja vu, same nonsense. Although didn't happen too long ago.. remember Nokia and Motorola? Were giants in this business, where was Apple and Samsung back then? Of course there is a lot of space for any brand out there, new or old as long as they deliver what customer wants. Next poll!

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 7:52 AM 1

15. Dr.Phil

Posts: 2225; Member since: Feb 14, 2011

I agree with some other commenters, I foresee Nokia being the plausible newcomer (or the company that came back from the dead) to possibly get rid of the duopoly between Samsung and Apple. So long as they stick to what they do best and they offer the value, reliability, innovation, and software updates then they are set to take it to the top.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:06 AM 3

23. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

When Apple came into the game, Nokia and Motorola were the leaders.Anyone can come and shake up the market. Whether they will lead or not is definitely not in the picture. I don;t see anyone selling 300M phones anytime soon, so at least Samsung is sure not gonna not be on top for quite some time. However, Apple may have more to worry about, as Chinese OEM's make headway in China, which could/will result in Apple dropping in world market-share. Apple could easily take over the market, but they refuse to make an affordable option in countries not as well off as Europe and North America. One phone can be snuff out an beaten easily, Samsung makes lots of phones and an OEM that only makes a product for a certain segment has an option to gain that segment.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:47 AM 0

39. Canaan

Posts: 351; Member since: May 25, 2014

I think BlackBerry was the leader early in the smartphone days along with Nokia. The issue with them though is that they didn't use either android or IOS. Both those systems grew massively while Symbian OS and BlackBerry system failed to grow their app market. Even a giant like Microsoft failed to get apps into its system. So I think it's going to be very difficult for any manufacturer to come in soon even if they adopt android into their system.

posted on Jul 09, 2017, 1:16 PM 0

24. SupermanayrB

Posts: 1188; Member since: Mar 20, 2012

No. People don't even say Android anymore. They just say Apple or Samsung completely ignoring the fact that Android is a platform with multiple manufactures like LG, Motorola, HTC, Sony & One Plus to choose from not to mention Huawei, Oppo, BLU & those other dudes.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 8:57 AM 0

32. BullDozer

Posts: 144; Member since: Dec 18, 2015

Maybe it is so in US. But elsewhere other brands (eg Huawei) play much more important role. In biggest market area China both Samsung and Apple are niche players.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 10:36 AM 0

27. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

Google just needs to buy HTC while it's down and manufacture their own phones. They would instantly become the 3rd place manufacturer with the Pixel line if they kept quality under control and produce at mass quantities. Right now, Nokia is the dark horse to take that slot after it starts releasing near vanilla flagships with Carl Z tech.

posted on Jul 07, 2017, 9:29 AM 1

36. Canaan

Do you think Google even cares? Their Nexus 5 sold rather well, yet instead of capitalizing on that success they didn't put much effort in promoting the Nexus 6, then followed it up by not even offering their next phones on any carrier (in the U.S.) and now with the Pixel they opted for only 1 carrier; based on the downloads of an app exclusive to Pixel its estimated that the phone may have only sold 1 million units thus far. Had they sold it at other carriers it probably would have done better?