Abstract

For the first time since 2003, Apple saw a decline in its year on year quarterly sales in April 2016, with a 13 percent dip in the sales of its flagship product — the iPhone. On the other hand, Samsung saw a rise in the shipments of its Galaxy smartphone during the same period. With both companies taking each other on more directly and openly through advertising and sales promotion, the competition between them was heating up. The case captures the evolving competition between the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy, with both companies looking at each other’s product mix, marketing mix, and changing competitive strategies. Moving forward, it looks as if it is inevitable that both majors will take each other on in a challenging smartphone market.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the competitive strategy of Apple and Samsung.
• Analyze and compare the marketing mix of Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy.
• Analyze the rivalry and competitive environment between the two smartphone firms.
• Understand how companies can capture market opportunities by catering to customer needs and wants.

Keywords

Marketing Mix, Product Strategies, Pricing Strategies, Competitive Advertising and Promotion Strategy, Apple Ecosystem, Platform Strategy, Tizen Operating System, Steve Jobs, Product differentiation, Customer experience, Competition and Rivalry, Chinese Market, Russian Academy of Science