Apple marketing chief blasts Android ahead of Samsung launch

Apple has gone on the offensive ahead of the launch of Samsung's new flagship Galaxy smartphone on 14 March. Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller gave interviews to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Reuters to underline the superior user experience on the iPhone compared to phones running Google's Android system. "What I see is a reality that we’re doing really well, and it’s not always being reported," he told Bloomberg. 

Schiller cited a survey from research firm ChangeWave that found that around three-quarters of iPhone users say they are "very satisfied" with their device compared with around half of Android users, the WSJ said. The Apple executive said Android phones were often a "giveaway" phone, used in promotions to attract customers, Bloomberg reported. 

Schiller told Reuters that Google's own research showed the vast majority of Android users were stuck on older versions of the software, and that Samsung's new phone itself may debut with a year-old operating system that will need updating. He said this fragmentation poses a problem for consumers. 

He also said that Apple's internal research shows four times as many consumers are switching to iOS from Android than the other way.