E

veryone remembers the kid who 
sat next to you in high school and 
conveniently turned his head 
toward your Scantron to “cough” during 
an exam. Even worse are the ones who 
peer pressured you into letting them copy 
the entirety of your homework. Copycats 
are a nuisance — a fly you just can’t seem to 
swat for good. Even in the team-oriented 
corporate world, there are colleagues who 
ride the coattails of your work. But what 
happens when a $700 billion company 
strategy is rooted in these very grounds?
Apple has created an ecosystem that 
most students at the University of Michi-
gan have bought into. Send a text on your 
iPhone, track your workout on an Apple 
Watch, write your essays on a Macbook 
and indulge in your morning podcast on 
those AirPods. When you run out of stor-
age, make sure to upgrade your iCloud 
storage for only 99 cents. Every picture 
you take, place you go, thought you have 
and person you talk to circles back to 
these environs. But beware: The ecosys-
tem comes with a side effect of allegiance. 
The easiest way to start a friendship on 
the wrong foot is observed when you care-
fully type a new number into your phone 
and watch the green text fail to turn blue.
When the iPod became wildly suc-
cessful after its release in 2001, Apple 
looked ahead and accurately predicted 
the inevitable smartphone takeover. Thus, 
it quietly began creating the iPhone. The 
iPhone was groundbreaking when its first 
few models came into fruition, capturing 
3.4 percent of the smartphone industry’s 
market share within the first quarter on 
the market. And by 2012, the iPhone made 
up more than half of Apple’s revenue.
A quick glance at Samsung and Apple’s 
timelines show the iPhone broke grounds 
first. The debut iPhone was released 
in January of 2007, while the Samsung 
Galaxy was released in 2010. While the 
first 8GB iPhone cost a whopping $600 
(approximately $740 today), it was widely 
regarded as the most anticipated gadget 
of the decade, and thus saw booming suc-
cess. But since its first few models, Apple 
has let its branding and consumer loyalty 
take the lead, working in the shadows of 

Samsung while carrying the gold 
medal.
Excited for the AirPower wire-
less charging technology set to 
release later this year? Samsung 
debuted this capability back in 
2015, even featuring it in an ad 
mocking Apple. Tired of getting 
the “Not Enough Storage” notifi-
cation right as you’re about to snap 
the perfect photo? Samsung intro-
duced microSD expandable mem-
ory in 2014 with the Galaxy S5 — it 
can now expand up to 400 GB. And 
while your water-resistant 2016 
iPhone 7 may save your life during 
a poolside Instagram photoshoot, 
the Samsung Note7 introduced 
waterproof technology that same 
year, after implementing water 
resistance since its S4 in 2013. The 
2016 Note7 also debuted facial rec-
ognition technology, which Apple 
picked up for its iPhone X in late 
2017.
The 
mimicry 
pattern 
runs 
deeper than surface-level fea-
tures. After Steve Jobs bashed 
OLED screen technology in 2012, 
Tim Cook ultimately implement-
ed it in the Apple Watch in 2015, 
then the Macbook and iPhone 
soon after for better picture quality and 
power efficiency. But while Samsung has 
used OLED screens since its 2010 Nexus 
S, Apple deserves some credit, as OLED 
technology has been argued to be primi-
tive until used in Apple products.
Though the Samsung versus Apple 
rivalry can often feel as bitter as that of 
Coke versus Pepsi, what many tend to 
forget is that Samsung actually produces 
a substantial number of processors and 
OLED screens for Apple. While their sup-
plier relationship altered in 2018 with 
Apple’s decision to bring on a second 
OLED supplier to reduce their reliance on 
Samsung, the South Korean mogul once 
made $110 off of every iPhone X that was 
sold. And while both companies continue 
to play tag in legal battles year after year, 
they still lead a critically symbiotic rela-
tionship. As they say, keep your friends 

close, but keep your enemies closer.
It is hard to deny Apple is winning in the 
smartphone race in the U.S. Despite Sam-
sung being a global leader in market share, 
their smartphone market share in the U.S. 
hovers near 25 percent, while Apple’s sits 
at 45 percent. Apple was also the largest 
company by market cap last year, while 
Samsung took 12th place. Beyond getting 
kids acclimated to their products through 
elementary school classrooms equipped 
with iPads and Macs, Apple also continues 
to offer features that are deeply integrat-
ed in our daily lives: iMessage and Face-
Time. It can be argued Apple is leading in 
the U.S. because of these features, while 
other countries use third-party apps, such 
as WhatsApp, and thus find more value in 
Samsung products. While Samsung often 
innovates earlier, Apple still capitalizes 
on a rare pairing of luxury branding and 
ubiquity to hold on tight to their domi-

nance.
But perhaps Apple’s lack of innovation 
will eventually catch up to them. Three 
months ago, Goldman Sachs slashed 
their stock price forecast of Apple, citing 
a lack of success in China as well as the 
iPhone XR’s flop in performance. And just 
4 weeks ago, Apple announced they too 
are slashing their own revenue forecast 
for these same reasons, ultimately caus-
ing their stock price to plummet by 10 
percent. Minor model changes and steep 
price jumps may no longer be the ticket to 
success in Apple’s playbook.
You can only play copycat for so long. 
But for now, as enticing as cutting-edge 
technology and waterproof systems are, 
no one wants to be a pixelated Snapchat, 
or worse: a green text message.
Want to defend the brainchild of Steve 
Jobs? Feel free to spark conversation at 
rsharm@michigandaily.com.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019 // The Statement
2B

BY ROMY SHARMA, STATMENT COLUMNIST

Apple has played copycat for a 
decade — and is winning

Managing Statement Editor

Andrea Pérez Balderrama

Deputy Editors

Matthew Harmon

Shannon Ors

 Designers

 Liz Bigham

 Kate Glad

 Copy Editors

 Miriam Francisco

 Madeline Turner

Photo Editor

Annie Klusendorf

Editor in Chief

Maya Goldman

Managing Editor

Finntan Storer
statement

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | JANUARY 30, 2019

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

