Right from the onset, iPhone 14 Pro Max has had a scintillating run at the sales chart, decimating every single rival to climb atop the leaderboard. Interestingly, the flagship iPhone has made light work of not only Android rivals but also iOS buddies. However, the arrival of Galaxy S23 Ultra has triggered a nasty face-off at the top with Samsung’s beast looking to cash in on rave reviews in order to topple Apple’s magnum opus.
While the direct showdown between the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max might seem to be lopsided from the outside, the real battle reveals an altogether different tale when you attempt to dig in.
So, what do the early numbers suggest?
Going by the latest report from reliable sources, Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has raked in 1.09 million pre-orders, which is a good 7% more than the Galaxy S22 received last year. Not just that, it is by far the highest amount of pre-orders ever for a Galaxy S lineup in the Asian country, according to GSMArena.
Now, the burning question is, “Have Galaxy S23 Ultra’s record-shattering pre-ordres taken the scene away from Apple’s phablet aka iPhone 14 Pro Max?” Not exactly!
As per Apple Insider, consumers in China alone pre-ordered more than two million iPhone 14 Pro/14 Pro Max in the first 24 hours. Such was the incredible rush for grabbing the top-tier iPhones in China that Apple badly failed to shield the servers from crashing. When the jampack for getting the iPhones did not seem to subside anytime soon, the Cupertino giant had to employ new watchdogs to keep an eye on the servers. (No pun intended!)
Unless Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra manages to have its servers in India or China crashed due to an outpouring of demand, expecting the Ultra to overshadow iPhone 14 Pro Max on the sales chart would be nothing short of a wild goose chase…
But that doesn’t hurt the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s prospects of being the most sought-after smartphone in the market. While S23 Ultra is the numero uno of Android, the 14 Pro Max is ruling the roost of iOS. Though Samsung’s offering has to compete with a gazillion smartphones designed to undercut flagships with raw specs at a much less price point, Apple’s top-tier smartphone has very little to no competition at all.
Without undermining iPhone 14 Pro/14 Pro Max lion’s share (around 60%) in the premium segment, the numbers might have told a different story, had there been some deserving challengers. Feeling the pulse, the 14 Pro Max might have cut a sorry figure…
Just a look at One Plus 11 and Google Pixel 7 shows the enormous defiance Galaxy devices are up against. Couple that with the plethora of exceptionally capable smartphones from Chinese brands and you could see why Samsung’s Galaxies get very little space for a breather.
Come hell or high water, the Galaxy smartphones must embrace nothing less than top-of-the-line specs and dare to take on risks head-on to survive and stay floating. For better or worse, Apple’s offerings neither have to fend off flagship killers nor have to rush to take risks either for survival or stealing the eyes to be the show stopper. Else, why would the iPhones despite having the age-old design and frustrating Lightning port could continue to be the cash cow of Apple?
By equipping the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus with a year-old processor and the same old-fashioned design, Apple has cleared the deck for iPhone 14 Pro models to grab all the limelight. This killer (or should I say self-inflicting) strategy has not only nullified the base iPhone 14 models but also put the iPhone 14 on the box seat vis-à-vis rivals both inside and outside of iOS.
Even though casting aspersions on the robust sales of iPhone 14 Pro Max would not be sacrosanct, stating that Galaxy S23 Ultra has failed to catch the eyeballs would be short-sighted. Man… time to cut some slack for Galaxy..!
