Samsung and Apple have long dominated the consumer electronics market for several years now. But the inevitable has arrived. Startup companies around the globe are now making waves and making their brands known to a wider scope of the mobile device's market share. Most notable would be the arrival of Xiaomi.

Xiaomi Inc., tagged as the "Apple of China," is an electronics company based in Beijing, China, that sells, develops and innovates mobile apps, consumer electronics and smartphones. In a report by Business Insider, Samsung's earnings for July drastically declined despite its move to focus on newer products like smartwatches and smart home entertainment systems. Revenues from these consumer electronics were not enough to augment the Korean tech giant's profits.

So what could be the factors affecting the apparent slump in Samsung's sales compared to that of Xiaomi's Mi 4? Let's dig deeper into the specs, features and price of the two companies' flagship smartphones, the MI 4 and the S5.

Form and Feature

Xiaomi's baby has a 5-inch display, 1,080 x 1,920 resolution with 441-ppi pixel density and uses IPS LCD technology. Meanwhile, Samsung's smartphone only has 432 ppi and uses Super AMOLED technology with its 5.1-inch display. The water- and dust-resistant Galaxy S5 is a bit bigger in terms of length and height but is thinner in comparison to the other phone. The Mi 4 was introduced in two colours black and white, while the S5 has four colour variants, namely blue, black, white and gold.

Hardware, Camera and Price

While both smartphones have LED flash to boot, Xiaomi Mi 4's back camera has lower resolution and smaller aperture size at 13 MP and F1.8, respectively, compared to Samsung Galaxy S5's 16-MP shooter with F2.2-sized aperture. The Chinese brand, however, takes the lead with its 8-MP front camera as opposed to Samsung S5's 2.1-MP resolution.

When it comes to hardware, both mobile devices have the same Adreno 330 GPU and quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2,500 MHz. However, the Xiaomi Mi 4 once again beats its Korean competitor with its 64 GB internal storage and 3072 MB RAM. The S5 only has 32 GB built-in storage and 2,048 MB RAM.

With some similarities and differences, Xiaomi managed to release this superb smartphone with about AU$400+ price tag compared to the Samsung Galaxy S5's approximate cost upon introduction which is around AU$800+.

The Verdict

Based on the above comparison, the Xiaomi Mi 4 is jampacked with features that are tantamount to, or even better than, specs of the Samsung Galaxy S5 at a relatively low price. The Korean manufacturer has yet to justify the price of the S5, as it sticks to the high-end phone bandwagon. But while its doing that, Xiaomi has all the reasons to enjoy and reap the profits of its cheap-in-price but high-in-quality smartphones.

Disclaimer: The verdict provided in this article is the reporter's own and does not represent the views or opinion of IBT media.