Does Samsung Really Have an Edge Over Apple in Smartphones?

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Apple and Korean tech giant Samsung don't exactly have the warmest of relationships.

Even as Apple still relies on Samsung to make some of the components for its smartphones and tablets, the two companies are also battling it out in the courtrooms of virtually every major economy around the world.

For some time now, Samsung has held the crown as the world's largest smartphone maker. Samsung shipped over 300 million smartphones last year, versus 150 million for Apple in its recently completed fiscal year for 2013.

However, many of Samsung's smartphone sales come from the cheap Android-based devices that are exploding in popularity in emerging markets today. As it turns out, only a fraction of Samsung's total smartphone sales actually come from the same high-end, high-margin devices that Apple actually competes with.

Investors should note this important distinction. In this video, Fool contributor Andrew Tonner compares and contrasts the difference between Apple's and Samsung's strategies, and discusses why Samsung's smartphone lead might not be as valuable as you might think.

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The article Does Samsung Really Have an Edge Over Apple in Smartphones? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Andrew Tonner owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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