Apple Narrows Gap in U.S. Advertising Spending With Rival Samsung

How is Apple doing catching up to Smasung in kickbacks to salespeople to push Samsung over others? A LOT of people just get whatever the salesperson says is "best," especially at similar prices.

I have always been an iPhone user. I decided to go into the android world unbiassed by switching over to the HTC One first, then the S4. Both are good phones, but their downfalls is Android, and the User Experience that both companies implemented with their customer interfaces. NFC is useless, all the eye stuff for the S4 are just gimmicks. Both phones can get annoying to use. The only thing I miss from both phones are the Bigger screens, and the swipe to text features. Other than that, I don't see why Samsung likes to bash Apple when their Galaxies are full of flaws that far surpass the iPhones. The build quality of the HTC is an illusion as well. It's a beautiful phone, but some of the plastic parts are just pathetic quality, even dye from your jean pockets will get stuck to it, and it will be hard to take off. I had the silver HTC One with white trim, and wore it with some red cargo shorts I had once, and it turned into an silver HTC one with a pink trim.

True.

The SIZE of the phone is the main feature that makes the purchasing decision of an Android over an iPhone - not what the phone can do.

Galaxies are full of flaws, but you can't count on the media to report it. Apple needs to step to the plate and ADVERTISE the flaws.

But features that don't work well ARE flaws (like Samsung-specific additions to Android that people end up turning off because they are so bad, or that support very few apps). And any Apple flaw gets reported to death in a way Samsung doesn't get--it may get noticed, but not shouted to the rooftops and immortalized.

Galaxy flaws include a lack of easy, free full-system backup and restore so all your "stuff" and customizations are exactly as-was when you get a warranty swap or your next upgraded phone. And tons of malware. And poor battery life (not for everyone, but it's VERY easy for apps to do that compared to iOS--my Samsung friends carry chargers all day). And lack of timely updates to the latest software. And lack/delay of the best quality apps. And preloaded bloatware. And problems connecting to D-Link brand routers. And flimsy construction (especially the thin plastic back-pieces). And slow cameras. And poor viewing angles (and sometimes the awful pentile matrix.) And does use of child labor count as a flaw? Because while Apple roots out such problems in public, working to solve them in an unprecedented way, Samsung sweeps them under the rug.

Imagine the D-Link problem--just that one--if it were on an Apple device. It would be "D-Gate" and remembered for generations, and if Apple fixed it the next week, the media and bloggers (astroturfers?) would conveniently overlook that.

Narrow margins for who? The phone company? I don't see them inventing smartphones. And they aren't exactly busting their rears to make the biggest baddest ubiquitous networks. Were it not for having a competitor or two they would do absolutely nothing at all.

We must be looking at different media outlets. Samsung phones generally get so, so reviews. The tech press loves to harp on plastic body and saturated colors. The public thus far has basically ignored the tech press, otherwise we would be talking about HTC and not Samsung.

Bolded: All smartphones have their flaws. We're at a point now where a smartphone is a smartphone is a smartphone. There's hardly anything you can do with one that you can't do with any other. The differentiation tends to be more style than substance. Then there's size. For me it was easy. I looked at the functionality of handsets (same), app environment (same), and price (same). Screen real estate was a tangible difference. It was the tipping point in my decision. Apple could have been my choice. Unfortunately, it lacked the final piece of the puzzle to get my money. I think more people are like me rather than someone who just wants a bigger phone. I could be wrong. It's just opinion.

This is not a surprise. People bash me when I say the success of Samsung's Galaxy line is an affect of their drastic marketing.

True.

The SIZE of the phone is the main feature that makes the purchasing decision of an Android over an iPhone - not what the phone can do.

Galaxies are full of flaws, but you can't count on the media to report it. Apple needs to step to the plate and ADVERTISE the flaws.

This is not a surprise. People bash me when I say the success of Samsung's Galaxy line is an affect of their drastic marketing.

Apple might be narrowing the gap in phone advertising, but Samsung still spends a boatload overall.