Smith 1 Glen Smith Professor Presnell English 1103 4 Nov.

2013

Apple Popularity: A Beauty Contest? Can you even see the screen anymore? I asked a classmate as we sat in homeroom. No, but I get the new iPhone next week when it comes out. I have been destroying this one for days, he replied as he dropped his phone by his desk. He proceeded to pick up the desk leg and repeatedly crush the screen on the already destroyed iPhone 3G. This is the first memory I have of the iPhone craze sweeping across my school, as it did the world. I could not comprehend why someone would take a piece of technology such as this and destroy it. I thought it was crazy and financially irresponsible to waste that much money. This was a common practice I observed for several years as Apple released the iPhone 3Gs, 4, 4s, and 5. Ever since this destructive act, I have wondered why the iPhone is so popular. Apple has been a large competitor and innovator in the computer and technology market for many years. In the 70s and 80s Apple was at the cutting edge and introduced the first home computer. Along with this massive step in technology Apple was the first commercially successful company to use a mouse as a part of the user interface. Since then Apple has refined their marketing plans and advertising to become one of the most successful and recognized companies in the world. I want to know if their semi monopoly on the phone market is due to the

Smith 2 technology, or their proficiency in advertising and marketing. To begin, the hardware of the iPhone must be examined alongside one of Apples top competitors to determine whether Apple has superior hardware. Technical comparison As I was doing research I found a video on the iPhone 5s specifications that blew me away. Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD on his well-known YouTube channel, does very informative consumer reviews on technology in the form of videos. In his video called, Apple iPhone 5s review! Marques makes a comparison that I was not expecting. The iPhone 5s has almost identical specifications as the Samsung Galaxy S2 that was released in February of 2011! The Galaxy S2 has a 1.2-gigahertz dual core processor running 32-bit with one gigabyte of RAM. It has an 8-megapixel camera on the back with a 2-megapixel face camera. The battery capacity of the S2 is 1650 milliamp hours. Apple has the specifications for all of their devices on their main website and the following specifications were pulled from there. The iPhone 5s has Apples new A7 processor is a 1.3-gigahertz dual core processor running 64-bit with and the phone has one gigabyte of RAM. This is not a significant change in clock speed, but the huge leap
Figure 1: Samsung Galaxy S2

to 64-bit technology is impressive. Another thing that sets the iPhone

apart is its separate chip the M7 that handles the accelerometers and GPS. The iPhone has a slightly different 8-megapixel camera and a 1.2-megapixel face camera. The battery capacity of the 5s is smaller at 1570 milliamp hours. To most consumers this is slightly confusing so I will do my best to unpack the information that I have stated. The most important factor when it comes to a smartphone, or any

Smith 3 computer is its ability to process information. The faster a processor is the better. The way that a processors speed is judged is a bit more complicated (computer pun noted). For example, the Galaxy S2 has a 1.2-gigahertz processor that runs at 32-bit. This means that every second 1.2 billion packets of information containing 32-bits are processed. I will explain this again when I explain the difference between the 32-bit and the 64-bit. All the information is then sent from the processor to the RAM, an acronym for Random Access Memory. RAM is how much information you can use at a point in time, or how many bits of information can be used. It is a temporary holding cell for the information that is being used at that moment. Once a process is closed or an action is completed that information is removed or deleted from the RAM. Through my readings I have heard it said that RAM is like a worktable, it holds what you are working on and is cleaned off once you are done. Another interesting commonality between the iPhone 5s and the Galaxy S2 is that they both use a dual core processor. To explain this in basic terms, the more cores there are the more the phone can multitask. There are some phones that are using quad core and even otacore processors, so the fact that Apple stuck with a souped up dual core was slightly surprising. On a side note quad core and octacore processors are in the beginning stages of use so they cannot really be compared yet. Both phones have dual core, but the iPhone is using the new 64-bit A7 rather than a standard 32-bit. What this means is that they move information at the same speed, but the iPhone has 64
Figure 2: Apple's A7 Processor

lanes of traffic to move information on at the same time where

32-bit processors can only move 32 lanes of traffic, or information, at a time. With all of that

Smith 4 said, the faster information can be moved and the more of that information that can be utilized, results in a faster and more powerful phone. For the cameras, more megapixels means higher quality clearer pictures, and with just the specifications it looks as though the S2 would be a step ahead with the better face camera. In his review on GadgetReview.com Christian Hokenson explains that the iPhone does not have the best camera, but they have taken a great camera and made it better. As Hokenson explains, the 5s has improved construction to improve the resolution of the photos, and the new iOS has given the iPhone many new features. The batteries are also a very important part of these phones. Hokenson also notes that the iPhone has a very small battery compared to many phones these days. The S2 definitely has a leg up on the 5s in this category. Current Competitor Comparison Now that some of the technical information is out of the way I can compare the iPhone 5s with one of its competitors. The Galaxy S4 is the newest phone from Samsung and is an equal competitor for the iPhone. Both of these phones boast some emerging technology that will definitely change the mobile market. The iPhone has Apples new 64-bit processor that is a large step for the mobile phone area and does speed up the phone significantly. The Galaxy S4 is still using the 32 bits, but it is using a Snapdragon
Figure 3: Samsung Galaxy S4

600 quad core processor. The future of computing lies with quad core processors. As mentioned earlier, the main difference in the quad core and the dual core is the ability to multitask, the more cores the better. The main obstacle that is faced when using a quad core as opposed to a dual

Smith 5 core is the operating system and program format. Most programs are still formatted for dual core processors and there are not many companies releasing programs that can utilize the more complex and powerful quad core processors. The iPhone 5s sounds like a good comparison with the Galaxy S2, but when you set it side by side with the new Galaxy S4 it seems as though it lacks even more. Christian Hokinson from GadgetReview.com compares the S4 and the 5s and explains who would win in each category. The S4 has a quad core processor running at 1.9 gigahertz with twice as much RAM as the iPhone. The battery is a sizable 2600 milliamp hours, over a thousand milliamp hours more than the iPhone. The cameras are also better on the new Galaxy, supporting a 13 megapixel front camera and the 2-megapixel face camera like the S2. The Galaxy S4 sounds like it is significantly better than the iPhone 5s, but Apple has a few tricks that nudge its new flagship ahead. Apple has just released its new operating system along with the 5s. The operating system is the software that the phone uses to run. The operating system drives the phone and controls everything that you see. Without operating systems you would not be able to use any phone or computer unless you know how to program what you want the computer to do. Apples new operating system, so
Figure 4: iPhone 5s in silver running iOS7

creatively named iOS 7, really shifts the technology race in Apples direction.

Their operating system does not put as much strain on the hardware. This allows for faster

Smith 6 speeds with smaller processors. As Marco Tabini explains in his review on Macworld.com, Apple has refined their hardware and software to work seamlessly together and produce very fast and fluid program responses. In benchmark tests the iPhone 5s beat out the Galaxy S4 in speed. This was again a huge surprise for me. I figured that Apple was falling behind with their technology if they are using the same technology that they have had in their previous two phones. Although Apple has made very minor changes to their phones over the past few years these changes have been major improvements. My Thoughts and Conclusion The question I began with was whether or not Apple was still on the cutting edge of technology, or has their marketing and advertising kept them on top. I say Apple is on top only because I have observed many more iPhones than I have any other brand of phone. The conclusion that I have reached through my research is surprisingly, yes, Apple is still on the cutting edge of technology. I thought that Apple was basically taking old technology and stuffing it in a new shell and updating the iOS. In reality they are refining older technology that is still in use and making it better before moving on to the next best thing. I now see that this is a great way of increasing the speed of their phones. They are optimizing processors that are common so programs run fast. I now know that the quad core processors are not as useful because the majority of programs cannot utilize their full potential. This is making their products very fast, very compact, and very sought after. So the twist to this paper is yes Apple makes a great product that performs, and they also market their products in a successful manner. To touch on the destruction of that iPhone, I think this has to do more with the advertising side of Apple. The way Apple portrays products really plays on the fact that the majority of humans are jealous. The reason my classmate destroyed his phone was because he

Smith 7 was jealous that there was going to be a NEW phone. Apple makes it seem like everyone has an iPhone, which now that I am at college I see them more often than not. The fact that everyone has an iPhone, allows Apple to pressure people by saying, Everyone has one so why dont you? I believe that technology will continue to develop and people will continue to want the best that there is to offer, and Apple will continue to sell phones because people are jealous and want new, better, and best.

Smith 8

Works Cited Apple Inc. iPhone Team, "IPhone 5s." Last modified 2013. Accessed October 27, 2013. http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/specs/. Hokenson, Christian. Gadget Reviewer, "iPhone 5S vs. Samsung Galaxy S4 (spec comparison)." Last modified 09 20, 2013. Accessed October 27, 2013. http://www.gadgetreview.com/2013/09/iphone-5s-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-speccomparison.html. Brownlee, Marques. "Apple iPhone 5s Review!" YouTube Accessed October 13, 2013. Web, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBEaG6n0XDs&feature=c4-overviewvl&list=PLBsP89CPrMeNm71T5gYC6jebm9vPbLBiP. Tabini, Marco. Computer World, "How Apple stretched its wings with the iPhone 5s hardware design." Last modified 09 13, 2013. Accessed October 27, 2013. Macworld.com.