Samsung vs Apple: who really won 2025?

Samsung and Apple went head-to-head in 2025, and the rivalry is only getting fiercer. Michael Thompson is joined by Stephen Fenech, editor of techguide.com.au, to assess who really came out on top. From Samsung’s aggressive release schedule - including foldables and even a trifold phone - to Apple’s late-year resurgence with the iPhone 17 and its professional-grade camera upgrades, Stephen breaks down the key battlegrounds.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Summer series. I'm Michael Thompson.
Today we are talking about Samsung versus Apple. Who won
the year between the two big tech giants. Stephen Fennick
is the editor of tech guide dot com dot au
and the person that we go to for all of
our tech news. Steven, Welcome back to Fear and Greed.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Gooda, Michael, Great to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Samsung vi Apple really the battle over phones. Let's start there.
Perhaps because we had the iPhone seventeen from Apple, Samsung
had the S twenty five earlier in the year, and
some announcements later in the year. Head to head, who won.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, I'd say I think well, Samsung may have got
the edge. They released their products earlier in the year
so they can get a real foothold in the market.
So the S twenty five was back in January, and
the z Fold seven, which was a really impressive new
foldable device that was that was launched later in the year.
I think was launched in late July early August, so

(01:05):
they sort of hit the ground running. Apple, as you know,
they don't have their launch schedule till after September. But
I think the seventeen. Really the iPhone seventeen, the entry
level model, really won them a lot of customers. It
was a great value device that had all the features
you'd expect in the flagship models of the iPhone, but

(01:26):
at an affordable price. And the seventeen pros also had
a remarkable camera technology and really pushed themselves in that direction,
truly made them professional devices. So Apple late in the
year had a bit of a resurgence. But I think
if you add it all up, i'd say Samsung and
they just recently, by the way, just dropped the trifold smartphone.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
I was going to ask you about this because this
I don't under I haven't even embraced the single fold yet,
and yet now we're talking about adding multiple folds. Yeah,
how does it work?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, well, the trifold. I actually wrote a story that
we will see it before the end of the year.
Will be released by the end of the year. Unfortunately,
it's not coming to Australia as yet. It's only going
to be released in a few markets. Has been released
in December. But it really just it's Samsung flexing their
technology and the big rumor. I think the reason they

(02:20):
did that is the big room. The next year is
that Apple is going to introduce its first foldable smartphone
as well, So I think that Apple joining in quite late,
whereas Samsung's got a decade of experience in infoldable devices.
So I think next year you're going to see an
even more fierce battle between the two. But I have
to say, I think Samsung in terms of releasing devices

(02:43):
at all levels, so they had smartphones that were really
affordable mid range phones, and then all their flagships, including
the remarkable z fal seven. I reckon that's my pick
for phone of the year is the z fold seven,
so thin and durable and yet has a great front
screen opened up to a big middle screen as well,
big tablet sized screen. So yeah, that's I think they

(03:07):
get the chocolates mate.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
In terms of customers moving between the two, are you
either a Samsung for life or an Apple for life?
Or are these products good enough to kind of coax
you out of one camp and into the other?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, that's a good question. I think I did ask
Samsung this, and yeah, you're right there. Once you're in
an ecosystem, it's pretty hard to get out of it.
You need you need to get a new watch, and
new headphones and all of that. So it's commitment. But
according to Samsung, their foldable devices are the ones that
attract Apple switches. So the Apple customers who want to
go to a folding device, they don't have an Apple

(03:42):
product of that kind, so often they reckon a high
percentage of new customers to the folder are old iPhone customers.
But next year, as I said, we could potentially see
Apple releasing that foldable device, So that appetite for a
foldable device is going to be met by Apple themselves.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Okay, what about wearables? Looking at say the watch, who's
doing a better job of making these devices that people
actually want to incorporate into their everyday life. Because a
watch is something that is it is on you at
all times, it's going to be functional, it's got to
look good, and increasingly that there has to be a
health element to it as well.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Absolutely, you know, I think or Apple have been leading
the way with the with their Apple Watch and now
the new Apple Watch Ultra. Samsung, though they're there, Galaxy
watches have been fantastic products for years and the latest range,
the Galaxy Watch eight. The Galaxy Watch a classic or
offer the same health features as iPhone as sorry as
Apple Watch. Apple Watch introduced like ECG and full detection,

(04:44):
and all these safety features and health features as does
app as does Samsung. They're all there on Samsung as well,
Like you can wear you watch to bed and it
will tell you if you may have traces of sleep apnea,
or you can get alerts for high heart rate, low
heart rate, or you can if you have a tumble,
it'll call triple zero contact of one of your friends
or family and give a share your location. So things

(05:07):
like that that both camps are doing. But I'd say
in the wearable space, I think Apple's attachment rate with
iPhones and among their own ecosystem I think is pretty strong.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay, one last question, because we are running out of time.
Big picture here from a business strategy perspective, which company
would you say is better positioned heading into twenty twenty six.
Is it one that's focused it seems on kind of
ecosystem lockin as in Apple, or the one that you
would say is probably pushing the innovation side of it

(05:37):
a little bit harder and faster, and further being Samsung
with their Trifoled phones and the like.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah, I'd say at this point, it'd be Samsung because
one thing I didn't mention was AI. Samsung is well
ahead of Apple in terms of AI. They've got their
own Galaxy AI, they've got Gemini Live on their devices
as well, and Apple Intelligence unfortunately, and by their own admission,
was it ready isn't going to be ready till twenty
twenty six. So that's one area where Apple's lagging. So

(06:05):
Samsung's going to start the new year with even better
Galaxy AI. They're going to launch the S twenty six
in the first couple of months of twenty twenty six
as well. So yeah, Samsung's gonna hit the ground running.
An Apple, of course, won't have a new iPhone till
September next year, so there's going to be a lot
of time for Samsung to make makes up some ground.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Okay, all right, Stephen, thank you very much for talking
to Fear and Greed summer series.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
My pleasure. Thanks a lot, Michael.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
That was Stephen Fennick, editor of tech Guide dot com
dot AU. Don't forget to follow on the podcast, new
episodes every day during our summer series and regular shows.
It back from January twelve to Michael Thompson and this
is fear and greet