Samsung is innovating and that too furiously. To stay in the race to the top, this South Korean manufacturing giant will soon announce its next flagship Smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, on March 14. The speculations that were doing the rounds on the release of this new device have been proven right by the company officials at the ongoing MWC, 2013. This act of making announcement is more or less on the lines of its arch rival, Apple.

Apple has the unique shots of covering up its releases, until the last minute, thereby keeping a unique mystery about its products. Though, the exact details of the specifications remain locked, the rumors and leaks about them surface and consumers get a bleak information about them. Apple tends to tease, lures you to fall for the devices, but never pre-announces anything.

This brings Samsung in great contrast to Apple as the giant did unveil the name of the device well in advance. But, launching a major product at its own marquee event is very much like Apple. This draws as much attention to Samsung as it demands, which is in comparison to Apple. Though, Samsung’s Galaxy phones lead the way when it comes to android devices on a worldwide basis, the iPhone5 is still the single most popular phone in the world. The company has come a long way, but still has miles to cover.

Touted as the Smartphone that can overtake Apple’s iPhone 5 and emerge as the best phone till date, Galaxy S IV, has the momentum to take the manufacturing giant way ahead in the race. Samsung with this product is keeping its fingers crossed and pinning hopes of actually beating Apple at its own game.

It took quite a while for the iPhone to be the world’s best in the Smartphones category, with a well-rounded Eco-system. Samsung’s Galaxy range might not have in it what it takes to be touted against the best, but wait Galaxy S IV could get it there. Underlined are the features that can work wonders.

1. Let the Magic Begin

Apple has a tendency to include the word “magical” to give a description about its products. Though it may sound cool to many, there’s a justification for everything. The company has always looked to include some “awesome” factor in its mobile devices since its inception, which has resulted in its expansion and outrageous global presence. It was Apple that had mastered fluid animation that responds instantly to touch and had greatly improved the users mobile experience.

The new Blackberry Z10 uses sensors to detect the finger swipes even in sleep mode, so that you can wake the phone up without making any contact with the physical buttons present. Now, Samsung’s trying to catch on its Smart Stay feature that uses the the front-facing camera detection to keep the screen away from timing out. May be Galaxy S IV can take it to the next level by making you turn on the phone by just looking at it or by speaking to it. This might give it a kick start to acclaim some part of the Apple magic.

2. Extraordinary Ecosystem

Apple’s association with iTunes, in terms of the software and the store, has been phenomenal. This has played a great part in its success. Another feather in the cap has been added by iCloud, which provides seamless backing of the images and other content.

Samsung, on the other hand has a comparatively weak ecosystem. The company caters to a mixed bag of multiple digital storefronts, namely hubs, has a cloud storage system called AllShare and partnerships with some third-parties that includes Dropbox and SugarSync. Apple has a distinctive, single-storefront, which is a set-up system, whereas Samsung’s system is a mess.

The South Korean giant itself can resolve the problem and look to provide a clear ecosystem. What it can do is provide an out-and-out system of its own or team up with Google Play and stay consistent.

3. Load It with Features

Samsung’s approach towards its Smartphones has changed dramatically since a couple of years. This has been particularly noticed with the invention of the Galaxy S III. Loaded with features galore with unique customer luring capabilities has been the USP of the company in recent times. Some of the features though haven’t been spot on, like the GSIII camera’s automatic suggestion of tags hasn’t gone down well. This is due to the fact that the tags don’t have compatibility with Facebook and thus hasn’t proved to be that useful.

Features are consumers high point of acceptance. Apple’s done that with the iPhone as well. It has introduced features such as Retina Display, Facetime, iCloud and Siri to lure in users and throng a better user-experience.

Samsung’s approach should be of quality over quantity and provide the users those features that have tasted the waters of success and have the capacity to lure in consumers.

4. Durable Is In

Samsung, in order to cut on the production costs or put an end to the heavy-weight devices has resorted to making use of plastic backs, which give the devices a cheap feeling, when compared to the aluminium-unibody HTC One. To add spice to the existing falters, S III failed its share of drop tests as well. This has left the users craving for the iPhone 5. The main bone of contention that keeps it away from being durable is the fact that saving a 4.8-inch screen is hard to protect than a smaller display.

Consumers have a fetish for durability and companies have had a notion about this. Phones tend to drop out of the hands, they get dinged and submerged at one point or the other. Thus, fulfilling the desires will be a great issue that S IV should look to for topping the charts.

5. Catering to Mobile Payments

Samsung phones have this criterion working. Apple’s loss is Samsung’s gain. Certainly in the works, mobile payments are the future. Such types of payments are a huge form of success in the US, where many carriers are present that have to be taken care of. Thus, the focal of attraction is this feature that can make heads and hands turn towards Samsung.

Apple has left near-field communication (NFC) out of iPhone 5 and instead uses its slow Passbook app for catering to the needs of the users. At the MWC, Samsung has announced that it has partnered with Visa to include NFC mobile payments on its phones. Samsung could be the company to take NFC payments mainstream in America in the near future.

Wrapping Up

Samsung is a modest player in the Smartphone market and has a strategic plan for marketing, when it comes to the campaigns. The market share for the company has skyrocketed in the recent years and has left everyone chewing their nails. Apple has been taken by surprise and Google is reportedly worried about its expansion mode. Some major developers have even started building versions of their apps that cater specifically to the Samsung’s product line.

However, Samsung should deliver a great product and take the feather out of iPhone. Being a game-changer, Samsung has to take the bull by its thorns and this can be thought of by an upright take on the marketing quotient.