Having competition has always been the motivation that keeps the best businesses performing at the best levels. So when you have two tech firms boxing it out in the real world, product innovations become awesome. There are even cases of pillaging in wars, and now Apple and Samsung are going nuts. While Apple is suing Samsung for copying features of the iPhone, Samsung is taking it to the iPhone 5 in a series of ads touting the Galaxy SIII and poking fun at iPhone fans.

This war between the two technology giants is, as a matter of fact, fascinating. In the tablet race, Samsung is raking in higher consumer scores than Apple – thanks to their advertising. Even though this sounds great for Samsung, statistics also show that iPads will continue to dominate markets despite Samsung and even Google and Amazon pushing out fancy tablet campaigns. Regardless of what consumers consider is “great advertising” for Samsung, studies and researchers suggest that people will continue to buy Apple. Why?

The answer to this goes back to the power of the brand name.

Despite Samsung putting forth competitive feature after competitive feature, Apple is still winning the market share battle even in the face of superior designs offered by the competition. Apple’s brand has been built up over time, long before they got into iPods and iPhones. They have always had a brand around innovation and celebrating individuality while keeping things fundamentally simple. They came up with products before consumers even realized they had a need for them.

“Apple apps are very effective because they compress a myriad number of tasks, such as music, games and calculators, all into a small, light phone,” Sanath Nagaraj ’16 explains.

As a result, Apple has garnered a loyal following and established an iconic image. Similar to any good brand, it has created an imbalanced playing field tilted in favor of their products – so much that they can win despite conspicuous product failures. For example, the iPhone 5 did not redefine the industry like its predecessors; instead it only just caught up to the standards in the smartphone industry. Apple is actually lagging behind in the market, as the iPhone 6 is a product that Apple should have released earlier.  However, they will, without a doubt, outsell the competition thanks to their brand and cult-like mass following and popularity.

Samsung, then, would be wise to consider how their brand defines themselves. Poking fun at the certain products that Apple has an edge in may not win them as much popularity as they hope. At the same time, Apple may want to come back and truly own their longtime reputation for being innovative, as Samsung and other smartphone companies are beginning to expose a few cracks.

Srinithi Vasudevan ’16 confirms this phenomenon: “It is not uncommon to see ads of Apple and Samsung on YouTube competing hard with each other. They both produce awesome goods but I wish they could stop disrespecting each other.”