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00:00People say the best thing about buying an iPhone is that you get to be in this
00:04lovely, warm, cozy Apple ecosystem, right? As soon as you've got your iPhone then
00:08you're gonna get yourself a pair of AirPods, maybe an Apple Watch, maybe, you
00:12know, AirPods Maxes. You might even think, I need a bigger screen, get yourself an iPad
00:16with an Apple Pencil, or even, you know, a MacBook. This is my MacBook Pro here, and
00:22if you've got very deep pockets, maybe even an Apple Vision Pro. Although
00:28probably not. There's some fantastic hardware and equally fantastic software
00:33that ties it all together with AirDrop and iMessage and FaceTime and using your
00:37iPad as a second screen. You can use your watch as a camera preview, Apple Health
00:41making you feel guilty for not closing your rings, and newer stuff like iPhone
00:45mirroring to your Mac and Apple Intelligence. And also fundamentally the
00:48benefits that come with Apple owning everything. The hardware, the software, the
00:52App Store, that vertical integration that makes everything just simple and
00:56seamless and safe. We're not dealing with Android and Windows here. The Apple
01:01ecosystem is fantastic, but can you get the same experience or maybe even a
01:06better experience with Team Samsung? I mean straight away you've got a huge
01:09range of phones from the more regular S24s, you've got the S24 Ultras, you've got
01:14the Folds and the Flips, arguably the best foldy, flippy phones you can buy
01:19right now. You've got your Galaxy Buds Pro 3, you've got your Galaxy Rings, your
01:22Galaxy Tabs with S-Pens, and of course your Galaxy Books. This is the new
01:26Galaxy Book 4 Edge with a Snapdragon X-Series chip. All this stuff and so much
01:32more, from TVs to home appliances. And crucially they match pretty much every
01:36single one of Apple's features with Quick Share and phone mirroring,
01:39multi-control, second screens, Samsung Health, smart things, and of course we've
01:43got Galaxy AI. Now to be fair, most of the tech brands, the big ones these days, have
01:47their own kind of ecosystem. Huawei in particular, you've got Xiaomi and Honor
01:51and OnePlus, but I would argue these guys are the big ones, the best in terms
01:55of having a fully fledged ecosystem. But which one is better? Well I'm going to
02:00break this video down into eight different categories. I want to point to
02:03one of the two and then hopefully by the end we'll see. And of course being an
02:07Apple versus Samsung video I'm sure I'm gonna get a few comments saying how
02:10incredibly wrong I am and that's absolutely fine. Do let me know which one
02:14you think is the best ecosystem in the comments below and also if there is
02:18actually anything that would make you jump ship between them. And finally a big
02:21thank you to Apple for sponsoring this video. Can you imagine if I did that?
02:26That'd be ridiculous. No sponsorships here, completely my opinion. Let's get
02:30into it. Number one, let's talk about phones. This is an iPhone 15 Pro Max,
02:35although we are due the 16 series late September, so getting to the end of its
02:39life here. And then also we have the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Right now
02:44these are the flagship rivals. We're probably gonna get S25 in January-ish. So
02:50the release window is a little bit different between these two. Both
02:52exceptional phones. You could argue the case which is better all day long. But
02:55that is it from Apple. Whereas Team Samsung we also have the Galaxy Fold 6
03:00and also the Flip 6. We don't have anything like this on Team Apple. Simply
03:06put, Samsung just has a much greater range of options with the Z, the S, the M
03:10and the A series. Which actually if you rearrange those letters, it doesn't
03:14actually spell anything. That would have been fun. But given the cheapest iPhone
03:17is the SE from two years ago at about 430 quid, I would definitely take a
03:21Galaxy A55 over that. Especially as it gets a 120Hz screen.
03:25Something that even the iPhone 15, which cost twice as much, still doesn't get. Now
03:30this won't be controversial at all, but between the S24 Ultra and the 15 Pro Max,
03:34I tend to carry the iPhone with me every day. The main reason for that is video
03:39stabilization, being able to shoot in ProRes log and also the cinematic mode,
03:43and also with a new file cut camera. The iPhone for me is just as much a work
03:47device as it is like my personal phone. Having said that, I do still bring the S24
03:52Ultra with me most time as well. I've got two pockets, why not have two phones? But
03:56one of the most underrated features of the Samsung is this anti-reflective
04:00screen. If I find my studio light, I absolutely love that. It's so much less
04:05reflective, it's similarly bright, much easier to use outdoors. The Samsung has
04:09an extra camera lens, it's still the long-range zoom king and you just have a
04:12whole bunch more camera options with 8K video, director's view, you've got expert
04:16raw, even just the basic stuff like being able to pause a recording and switch the
04:20cameras from the front to back and vice versa while recording. I miss all this on
04:24the iPhone. And you've got Samsung DeX, you can have, you know, two apps side by
04:28side, which bizarrely you still can't even on the iPhone Pro Max. They're both
04:32fantastic phones and really it's gonna come down to do you want iOS or Android.
04:35Between the flagships, I'm gonna call a tie, but just because of the sheer range
04:40of options you've got with Samsung from the, you know, budget end all the way to
04:43folds and flips, I'm gonna give it to the blue team. Samsung get a point. Number two,
04:47headphones, earphones. These are the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, this is the AirPods Pro
04:52second gen, about the same price as like a tenner between them, 230 quid, 220, near
04:58enough the same. These are the pro level earphones, they're also non-pro versions
05:01so a little bit more affordable. Very, very similar and I'm not an audiophile, I
05:05will hold my hands up to that, so I'm not gonna tell you which one sounds better.
05:08They're both very, very good, active noise cancellation, similar battery lives.
05:12The only problem with these new Buds 3 Pro is that Samsung recalled them at
05:17launch. Apparently these ear tip things were tearing too easily, so they've
05:21actually paused the launch of these. It will probably be fixed by the time you
05:25watch this, so it's not gonna trouble anyone who's actually bought one, but it
05:28was initially a bit of a launch issue there. However, Apple do have an over-ear
05:32option. These are the AirPods Max, but they're also a couple of years old now
05:36and they're still £500. I probably wouldn't recommend them, I mean
05:41they've got a lightning port, we'll do a refresh version soon. There is so much
05:44great over-ear competition now, so a little bit hard to recommend these, but
05:47still an option that we just don't have with Team Samsung, at least not yet. So
05:51realistically, whichever phone you pick will likely be the deciding factor over
05:54which earphones you buy, but these are very evenly matched. But I suppose with
05:59some of the quality control issues with this and the fact that we have an over-ear
06:02option, even if it is a bit old, there's not much in it, but I'm gonna give the
06:06point there to Apple. Number three, let's talk about wearables. And it's quite
06:10funny because throughout we see these brands kind of copying each other a
06:14little bit. Often Apple is slower with features and then they roll something
06:18out and say, oh look, now you've got iPhone mirroring, or now you've got
06:21customizable home screens, it's the best thing ever, but we've had on Android for
06:24a million years. But then on the flip side, sometimes Samsung takes design cues
06:29from Apple or, you know, new formats of hardware and they kind of do their own
06:33thing. But this just takes the biscuit. Apple makes a watch ultra, Samsung makes
06:37literally a watch ultra. Even matching the 3,000 nits of brightness, we get the
06:42same red night mode, and this is hilarious. Apple has the ocean band for
06:46the watch, Samsung has their marine band. It's like their meme of can I copy your
06:51homework, but just change it up a bit. But then in the end, who cares?
06:54Imitation is just the highest form of flattery and it means we get great
06:58rugged options with multiple day battery lives from both brands. And that's
07:02alongside cheaper regular watches with different sizes, different band options,
07:06all with fantastic fitness tracking. There's not much between them there. And
07:09so despite some clear homework copying going on, wearables go beyond just a
07:14watch because Samsung has just launched this guy. This is the Galaxy Ring in this
07:20very smart little charging case. I like this a lot. And this is gonna go up
07:23against your Aura rings and your Ultra Humans. You can see here next to my
07:27wedding ring it's a little bit chunkier. But this is a 400 pound smart ring. It's
07:33titanium. I've got the black one here. It's got a ton of sensors built in. The main
07:37use case for me is sleep tracking because I find it a bit uncomfortable
07:40wearing a smartwatch to bed. I also like to charge it overnight. So that's useful.
07:43And also if you do pair it with a Galaxy Watch, it'll actually use the best
07:47sensors between them and give you more accurate readings and also extend the
07:50battery life of both devices. It is an independent accessory but it is improved
07:55if you use a Galaxy Watch. And also you can use this with other Android phones
07:58but you will get the most features if you pair it with a Galaxy phone. But it's
08:01a nifty bit of kit. I'm excited to use this a bit more and it's something that
08:04Apple just doesn't offer. However, what we do have from Team Apple is a headset. The
08:10Apple Vision Pro which has now launched in a lot more countries. It's not just
08:14US only. I've got that a bit mixed up there. But it is still three and a half
08:20ish thousand pounds. Now I've had this on my desk for, well, since it launched. I
08:29actually imported one myself. I bought this from the US when it launched. And
08:33the first two weeks, absolutely magical. You can watch my full review on it.
08:36Really really cool bit of tech. I don't think there is a device in the last few
08:40years that have given me so many holy moments. Like proper wow tech. But since
08:45then, after say the first two or three weeks, I don't think I've used it once. I
08:49know I took it to a friend's house because I'm one of those people to show
08:52it off because they really wanted to try it. But beyond that, it's just sat on my
08:56desk. And it's a very impressive technically bit of kit. And the Vision
09:00OS 2 software is coming with some improved gestures. We get better Mac
09:03support with ultra-wide display modes which I'm very excited about. The travel
09:07mode's been improved as well, particularly for trains. So they have
09:09addressed a bunch of the criticisms I had in my review. But I still just don't
09:13want to wear it. There's no point in my day, whether I'm relaxing in the evening
09:17or I'm working during the day, where I think, you know what, I want to go into my
09:21own little VR, AR, whatever you want to call it, spatial world. Look at some videos by
09:27myself. Although you can share play now actually. But then, you know, 10, 15, 30
09:31minutes later come out and go... Without fail I will get a bit sweaty. It'll ruin your
09:36hair. It's a cool idea but it's too expensive. And it just doesn't have that
09:40one killer use case that I can't do, you know, to some extent on other things. So
09:44very much like the Galaxy Ring, it's a nice to have. It's a cool bit of tech but
09:48probably not something I'd recommend. So in terms of the wearables, I think it's a
09:52tie for smartwatches. Samsung's got the Galaxy Ring. Apple's got the Vision Pro.
09:55I'm gonna be really annoying and call this a tie. Number four, tablets. This is
10:00the latest 2024 iPad Pro 11-inch. And this, if I don't drop it, this is the
10:06latest still Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. Both absolutely stunning flagship
10:12tablets. You get keyboards and styluses with both. In fact, you get it bundled
10:16with the Galaxy Tab. Separate pencil, pencil Pro with the iPad. Both brands
10:21offer a great budget, mid-range and high-end options. However, Samsung does
10:26offer a super duper cheap A-series. So again, a slightly bigger range of options
10:30from Samsung. So what do I like about the Galaxy Tabs? Well, firstly, the aspect
10:35ratio is obviously much wider than an iPad. So for watching videos and movies,
10:39you'll get less letterboxing. Also, if you want to use it vertically, that's more
10:42mimicking the aspect ratio of a phone for social apps, for scrolling through
10:46websites. Also, this Tab S9 Ultra is 14.6 inches. The biggest iPad's 13 inches.
10:52It's nuts. If anything, it's actually a bit too big. And importantly, all Tab S9s,
10:56even the cheapest one for 350 quid, have an S Pen bundled in the box and have at
11:01least a 90 Hz refresh rate. You literally have to buy a £1,000 iPad Pro
11:06to get a higher than 60 Hz refresh. You've also got the book cover
11:09keyboard to turn it more into a laptop. And of course, we've got Samsung's DeX
11:12mode, which gives you a full desktop. And since it runs Android, you do have a lot
11:16more flexibility for installing third-party apps and stores versus the
11:20closed App Store you get on the iPad. The only downsides are that this is
11:24actually a little bit old now. It came out mid-2023. So we actually haven't had
11:29a 2024 refresh yet. The rumors are that we'll see one probably in October-ish.
11:33And also, while for some people they will want an Android tablet, I suspect most
11:37people probably won't. Genuinely because apps just aren't as well optimized for
11:42these bigger screens for Android tablets with the Google Play Store versus iPad
11:46apps on the Apple App Store. So in favor of the iPad, we have iPadOS. We have
11:51the Apple App Store, which is just generally a smoother, better optimized
11:54experience for a tablet with Apple Arcade, with specific Apple-exclusive
11:58apps like Procreate and Final Cut. Also, while the Apple Pencil is bought
12:03separately, I would argue that the Pencil Pro with the Magic Keyboard, while
12:06expensive, are the best you can get for a tablet. I also really appreciate Apple
12:11has discontinued the older 9th Gen iPad with the chunky bezels and the home
12:15button. But instead, they've dropped the price and made the 10th Gen the new
12:18default cheap option. And for most people, that is all you need. Although I do
12:23really like the new 13-inch Air because you get a big-screen iPad for 500 quid
12:27less than the same size Pro. And so between these two specifically, the iPad
12:32gets brighter, we've got a more powerful chip. Again, it's gonna come down to do
12:35you want iOS or Android. For me though, I'm gonna give the point to Apple when it
12:40comes to tablets. But what about these laptops, PCs? Well, I can tell you that
12:45for the longest time I used a Samsung Galaxy S whatever and a Dell XPS
12:51laptop. For like five or six years, I just used those constantly because it's a great
12:54combination. But then Apple came out with the M1 chip, which actually made me
12:59switch to the MacBook Pro 16 with the M1, ditching my XPS. And then because I
13:03use this, I thought, well, it'd be nice to have an iPhone as well so I could use
13:06AirDrop. Got myself an iPhone, I thought, well, it'd be good to have, you know,
13:09AirPods and then watch. So it was actually the laptop that first got me into the
13:13Apple ecosystem. And obviously this is just my opinion, but even with their
13:16flaws, I still think MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros are the best all-arounder laptops.
13:21Unless you want to play some proper games. But things are getting a little
13:25bit more interesting on the Windows side. This is the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge.
13:29And I mentioned earlier that this is actually one of the first wave of
13:31laptops to come with a different kind of chip. This is the Snapdragon X Elite. So
13:36it's an ARM-based chip rather than traditional x86 that you get from Intel
13:40and AMD. And so for the first time, we're seeing MacBook level, MacBook quality of
13:45laptop on a Windows device in terms of the performance, also the performance on
13:50battery. It doesn't suffer much at all being away from the charger. The battery
13:53life, how cool and quiet it runs. These are fantastic laptops. Now there is a bit
13:58of a caveat because with this new architecture, like we saw with the Apple
14:01transition, although that was pretty seamless, there are some app
14:04compatibility issues. Not all apps will run. The vast majority will, but not all
14:08of them. They're not all as well optimized. But this is just one of, I think, six
14:12different models of Galaxy Book 4. With regular Book 4s, the Pro, the 360, the Pro
14:18360, the Edge, and the Ultra. And only this Edge has the Snapdragon chip. All
14:23others have a traditional Intel Core Ultra chip with the Ultra offering a
14:26dedicated RTX 4070 graphics card. There's Chromebooks, there's a 360 flip option,
14:32there are touchscreens, and there are also a lot of advantages to Windows,
14:35especially for enterprise and gamers. So some really bloody good laptops from
14:39Samsung. But on the other hand, Apple offers the iMac all-in-one and also the
14:43Mac Studio and the Mac Pro desktop. Although all three are due an M4 upgrade,
14:47hopefully later this year, and there's also a reason. The MacBook Airs, the
14:50MacBook Pros, like I have here, are so popular because there isn't a better
14:55combination of design, power, performance, battery life, webcam quality, the
15:00fantastic keyboard and touchpad, and, you know, just the simple ease of use of
15:04macOS. The downsides are that you have fewer options to choose from. Also, it's
15:08not as well optimized for games. By any stretch, that's definitely Windows
15:11territory. Also, the cheapest MacBook, realistically, is like a £1,000 MacBook
15:15Air. So really, it's going to come down to whether you prefer Windows or macOS.
15:19So I'm going to call it, frustratingly, a tie, even though I tend to use this
15:23myself. So I've got a lot of devices on the table here, but what about the more
15:26extended family? Because we're talking about the ecosystem, and it does go
15:30beyond what I've got on the desk here. I mean, Apple has the desktop Macs,
15:33they've got Apple TV, HomePod, the Vision Pro, of course, plus you've got AirTags
15:37and some extra services. But Samsung? Well, Samsung just make everything. TVs,
15:42projectors, washing machines, fridges, vacuum cleaners, air conditioners,
15:45monitors. They've got their own smart tags as well. They make everything and
15:49the kitchen sink, most of which is tied together through their SmartThings app.
15:53Kind of like Apple's HomeKit, except for a billion different products.
15:57Does the fact that you can buy a Samsung TV fundamentally change your experience
16:02using one of their phones or their headphones or their laptops? No, not
16:05really. But this video is all about the ecosystem and, unquestionably, Samsung
16:10has the biggest extended family. It's all broadly connected. I think that
16:14deserves a point. However, while we've got all this lovely hardware, equally
16:18important, the thing that actually, you know, connects it all together and makes
16:21an ecosystem and not just a lot of products that have the same logo is the
16:25software, the features. Now, this could be like an hour-long video by itself,
16:28so I'm going to keep it brief. Let's see if Samsung can keep up with what we
16:32get on Apple. One, AirDrop. Well, on this, we have QuickShare, which actually
16:36recently merged with Google's NearbyShare and is basically the same
16:39thing. And actually, it works with a whole lot more devices outside of just
16:42the Galaxy ecosystem, other Android phones, other Windows laptops. iMessage,
16:46well, there isn't a direct equivalent. Macs do now support RCS messaging with
16:51the latest software. We still have Blue and Green Bubbles and all that
16:54nonsense. But Samsung doesn't really have an iMessage equivalent, nor does it
16:58have a FaceTime equivalent, like a first-party video calling app. You can
17:02actually send a link from an iPhone or, you know, an Apple device to an Android
17:07user, and they can join your FaceTime, but it doesn't go both ways. You can't
17:10use SharePlay, which you can if you keep it within the Apple ecosystem. And, of
17:14course, you could just use Zoom or Meets or Teams or whatever you want to use,
17:17but there isn't like a direct equivalent to FaceTime. But then we have Apple's
17:21Universal Control, which includes Sidecar, using your iPad as a second screen,
17:25and also peripherals, like your mouse and keyboard, across multiple devices,
17:29and even be able to copy text from one device and paste it on another. I use
17:32this all the time. You've got Continuity Camera to use your iPhone as your
17:36Mac's webcam, and with the latest iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, we now have iPhone
17:42mirroring. Can your Samsung do all that? Well, the short answer is, yeah,
17:46actually, mostly it can. Broadly, their equivalent to Universal Control is
17:50Samsung Flow, with a few specific apps, including Multi-Control, which lets you
17:54control multiple Galaxy devices. I can rearrange them based on my setup and
17:58then use the laptop's trackpad and keyboard across all three. I can also
18:01transfer files this way. Anything I copy gets added to the clipboard, and I can
18:05paste it to any of the devices. Samsung's second screen feature also lets you use
18:09your tablet as an external display for your Galaxy Book. Both Apple and Samsung
18:13let you use your phone's camera as a webcam, and they both have phone
18:16mirroring. Feature-wise, it is very similar, and you've also got, you know,
18:20HomeKit, SmartThings, Apple Health, Samsung Health, you've got Notes,
18:24Samsung Notes, Photos, Samsung Gallery, and even the File Cut Camera app,
18:28versus Expert Raw on Samsung. There's like a one-for-one for pretty much
18:32everything. However, Samsung does offer DeX, and although I can't say I use it
18:36that much, I know some people swear by it. So feature-wise, very, very similar
18:40between them. What I would say from my own experience, though, is that it's all
18:43a bit easier, a bit more seamless, a bit more responsive, particularly using
18:47Sidecar with your iPad or the Continuity Camera or iPhone mirroring. It's all a
18:51bit faster and nicer to use with the Apple products. That's been my experience.
18:55And while that's not something I'm particularly bothered about, I know a lot
18:58of people do want iMessage and FaceTime, and so for those reasons, I'm going to
19:02give the point to Apple. I can't believe we're this far through the video.
19:05Basically, at the end, I've not even mentioned the word AI yet. Well, maybe I
19:09have. Anyway, it's a tricky one because right now, Apple Intelligence isn't
19:14really here yet. You can get it in the beta software. It's coming to the U.S.
19:18with, I think, iOS 18.1. It's been a little bit delayed later in the year, but
19:22U.S. only, U.S. English for now. So it's going to be a bit of a slower rollout.
19:26And quite frankly, Apple has fallen behind. Siri's useless. Currently, it'll
19:30be a lot better with Apple Intelligence, but they're playing catch up. And
19:33actually, I reckon Samsung is way out ahead here. But they also have one big
19:37advantage that it's not just tied to one ecosystem. We've got Google's Gemini
19:42on Android. We've got Copilot on Windows. But we do also have a whole bunch of
19:46Samsung's own in-house Galaxy AI features. With all these translation and
19:51transcription assistance, you've got interpreter modes, even taking advantage
19:54of the second screen on the flip and the fold. You've got image generation tools
19:58like Sketch to Image, which is kind of like Co-Creator on Windows. And we're
20:01getting something similar on Apple Intelligence. 3D moving photos like your
20:05mom does on Facebook. You've got Circle to Search. You've got AI-generated
20:09wallpapers. And probably more importantly, some very impressive photo
20:13editing tools in the Gallery app. You can do a lot of this in, say, the Google
20:17Photos app on your iPhone as well. But right now, in terms of AI, I'm going to
20:22give the point to Samsung.
20:24Eight categories down. Let's tally the points. And we're looking at three for
20:29Apple, three for Samsung, and two ties. F*** sake. Okay. It's a draw. Of course
20:36it is. It very much depends on what you are used to, what you prefer, and also
20:40what you can afford. Because while Samsung offers some fantastic high-end
20:43hardware, across the board they also give you more affordable options. It's a
20:47much higher, more expensive barrier to entry for this stuff. The good news
20:51though is that both have exceptional ecosystems. I would say Apple's tends to
20:55be a little bit more seamless, but then Samsung gives you a greater range of
20:58products. Apple hardware tends to hold its value for longer, but then you can
21:02often find better deals on Samsung hardware as they go on sale. But as the
21:05saying goes, if you sit on a fence then you'll get splinters in your arse. But I
21:09am fortunate enough to have access to all this tech. I can pick and choose what
21:12I want to use. And right now I am leaning more towards the Apple side of
21:15things. Predominantly for the MacBook, but I also love the iPhone. We've got a
21:18new one coming in late September, but that's me. What about you? Which would
21:22you go for? Which do you think is the better ecosystem? Let me know in the
21:24comments below, and also let me know if there is anything that would make you
21:27jump ship between these. A like and subscribe would be fantastic, and I'll
21:30see you next time right here on The Tech Jam.