Is Apple falling behind?

       

The Samsung Galaxy S5 alongside the iPhone 6

With more than 10 million pre-orders over the first week, Apple has never been doing better. So, you might wonder, why is someone writing about Apple 'regaining their lead'?

Let me first explain to you what I actually mean. You might be thinking, depending on how well you pay attention to the geeks of the Internet, what the heck is this guy writing about? You say, Apple has made a bigger screen with more pixels, faster processor, better camera, custom keyboards, etc. You might say: Apple is clearly in the lead!

But not to some of the geeks. There have been claims stating that what Apple is releasing now, is equivalent to the technology of Samsung 1 year ago. Now, I'm not going to go into all the specs here. I'm just saying that Apple is slowly falling behind. And I'm fairly certain that this can be fixed.

Firstly, from almost two years ago, Sony had made their first waterproof phone, the Experia Z1. Then followed Samsung. Here we are, as Apple fans, still waiting for a waterproof phone. Apple is falling behind, slowly but surely.

Next on the the list, there are custom keyboards. Apple fanboys were overjoyed when they heard that their keyboards could now be customised with the help of iOS 8. Samsung has had this feature in their Android software from way back. In fact, on Android, just about the entire display can be customised, from the layout of apps, to the lock screen.

Branching off from the previous point is customisation. Pretty much everything on Android can be customised. You can change the layout of the apps, change the way the lock screen looks and works, add on custom features through third party apps, etc. With Apple, we're just sitting there, with everyone's iPhone screen layout looking the same.

Then, there is the controversial topic of widgets. Apple had them before, but they were not open to third party apps. Only with the release of iOS 8 could you add widgets to the notification centre. On Android, third party widgets were running around for years. As you can see, Apple was clearly behind.

Then, Samsung devices can be used as remotes for just about everything, including your TV and gaming system. On Apple devices, you can't do anything without buying Apple TV or jailbreaking your devices, something that not everybody wants to do.

Then there is Bluetooth file sharing, something that users have been expecting for years, where you can send files from phone to phone without an Internet connection.

And lastly, an expansion slot. I've been struggling to maintain space for my 16GB iPad. Now, I could either upgrade my iPad, or buy a memory stick that connects to iPad. Both of these alternatives are extremely costly. Come on Apple!

Now, basically what I'm saying is, Apple needs to copy more ideas from other leading companies to get themselves back on track. I know this isn't very fair, but copying ideas happens all the time when it comes to technology. I've always been against it, but it looks like Apple could really use a boost.

For now, we can only hope that Apple will start to listen to consumers during the design process of the next iPhone.