The never-ending battle between the two largest phone companies never seems to take a break.  The two companies have along history dating back to last summer when Apple began their lawsuit against Samsung for infringing on their patents.  Apple pleaded that Samsung had copied their home screen, application organization, which had been patent by Apple years before.  The lawsuit concluded when a jury in California recommended that Apple be rewarded over $1 billion to compensate for Samsung’s “willful” violations of Apples numerous patents.

 

A few months after the dust had settled from the lawsuit, Apple released the new iPhone 5, which took over the mobile market, selling over 2 million devices in the first 24 hours after being released.  Apple has completed dominated the market since the iPhone 5 was released, selling over 50 million devices in 2 quarters, not to mention the iPad mini.

 

While Apple had the mobile game in its hand, Samsung was doing some digging of their own. What Samsung discovered was that Apple was violating a patent of Samsung’s and decided to start a lawsuit against Apple.  The ITC (International Trade Commission) ruled that several of Apple’s older devices violated a Samsung patent and can no longer be sold within the United States.  The devices that were banned are the AT&T compatible models of the iPhone 4, 3GS, and 3, as well as the 3G connected versions of the iPad 1 and 2.  Although not being able to sell some of their older, AT&T, devices was a set back; Apple still has had control of the market.

 

Apple’s dominance came to an end last month as Samsung out sold the beast.  The stunning Samsung Galaxy S4 took the market by storm with its new Nexus software, completely redesigned by Google.  Samsung sales in the month of May surpassed Apple in all carriers except AT&T, where the iPhone 5 was still the top selling device.  The Galaxy 3 III and Note II helped Samsung compete with Apple.