Apple Inc. (AAPL), Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY), Samsung: The High-End Smartphone Space Takes an Interesting Turn

Several U.S.-based carriers have exhibited interest in carrying the all new BlackBerry Z10. Thus, BlackBerry’s revival looks very likely, however if it can gather momentum and capture market share from Apple, and now Samsung, still remains to be seen.

Where is Samsung relative to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)?

Samsung, last year, exhibited its ability to compete with Apple in the high-end segment of smartphones. However, it is still playing catch up to Apple in the high-end market as the Galaxy S3 sold lesser units than the iPhone 4S during the final quarter of 2012.

Considering that the 4S is an older variant of iPhone, and still ended up selling more units, Samsung must be prepared to throw the kitchen sink at Apple in order to compete with it in the higher segment. The difference in sales was not a staggering one, and going forward Samsung will expect S4 to catch up at some point.

Nevertheless, the lack of any radical developments in the new phone may not be a highly attractive proposition for the current S3 users. It is important to identify and question, if Samsung plans to attract current S3 users into switching to S4, who already have a 2 year contract, or offer an upgrade to users that use an older generation of Samsung.

Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY)‘s last stand

It is essential to mention BlackBerry in the mix of this ongoing high-end smartphone battle. BlackBerry’s market share fell from 3% in 2011 to an all-time low of 1.8% during 2012. Early Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) 10 adopters are expected to be loyal BlackBerry fans, which primarily are the existing users. Going forward, BlackBerry 10’s success will depend heavily on how many current Android and iPhone users make a switch to BlackBerry.

I don’t expect BlackBerry to dominate the smart phone space as it once did, however, if it manages to take back some of its lost market share from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung, then we may witness an upside in its stock price.

The takeaway

In any case, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), and Samsung are set to challenge Apple’s dominance in the high-end smartphone market. Constant innovation and coming up with radically disruptive technology is the only way for both, if they expect to grind out a lead over Apple in this segment.

The article The High-End Smartphone Space Takes an Interesting Turn originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Ashit Gulati.

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