Introduction

Globalization in the 21^st century has intensified competition, as witnessed among the multinational companies also known as “big companies.” As technology continues to ease transport and communication across countries, many companies are now finding it easy to expand overseas to serve the ever-growing number of customers. Additionally, international customers are knowledgable about the market, and this keeps the multinational corporations on their toes. For that reason, companies are devising ways that ensure their longevity in the industry as well as having a competitive edge over competitors. Since there are many strategies to compete, some companies use cost reduction strategies, others bank on quality and others depend on innovation. In the technology industry, Apple Inc and Samsung have been competing on the innovation front making their rivalry fiercer.

Competition between Apple Inc and Samsung

The rivalry between Apple Inc and Samsung is not new especially to the Smartphone and electronic appliance enthusiasts. They have been competing to win customers globally for very many years. The two companies control approximately two-thirds of the global Smartphone market where Apple Inc controls 44% and Samsung 22%, creating a duopoly over global premium Smartphone market (The Economist). The rivalry has been so intense to the point that the two companies were in court over infringement of property rights with Apple Inc claiming that Samsung has been infringing its property rights. Samsung formerly copied Apple Inc, but in the recent past, it has been in the lead in regards to innovation. For example, it was the first company to come up with OLED screens. In 2017, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO presented the companies new Smartphone, the iPhone X before a fully packed auditorium. While introducing the phone, the CEO claimed that it would set a path for the tech industry in the next ten years. In November 2017, Apple launched iPhone X, which had astounding features like a slimmer screen that did not use a backlight. Furthermore, it had facial recognition capabilities, and dual lens camera (The Economist). On the very same day, Samsung held a smaller similar occasion in Seoul where their president announced that the company would reimagine and launch a new Smartphone design with a foldable screen. On September the same year, Samsung released galaxy note 8, which offered similar features like those provided by iPhone x (The Economist). The two companies fight on three fronts; design, virtual assistance and augmented reality. Each of the two companies is competing to win customers from the other to become the market leader.

The Competition between Apple Inc and Samsung In Relation To the Fishermen’s Dilemma

The “do I do” type of competition exemplified by the two companies over the global Smartphone market is an example of the fishermen’s dilemma. The two companies have a shared resource, which is the worldwide Smartphone customers. Therefore, when one of them upgrades its smartphones and wins more customers, the shared resource is updated. Just like in the fishermen’s dilemma, each player faces the problem of hidden information in that they only concern themselves with their surroundings. In the dilemma, however, the players can strike a balance by agreeing with each other to fetch just enough out of the shared resource so that they can move to a higher level. However, the fishermen aim to create an externality for each to fetch more, but they can hardly do so because each wants to gain the maximum out of the shared resource. Similarly, both companies, Apple Inc and Samsung want to win the most out of the global customers, and, therefore there is no likelihood of an agreement on how much each should draw out of the shared resource. Based on this, the author acknowledges the fact that the fight between the two companies will only get fiercer.

Works Cited

The economist. “Rivalry between Apple and Samsung in smartphones will grow fiercer.” The economist 14 Sep, 2017. Web. 3 Feb, 2019.

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