The smartphone market is around $220 billion, according to Bloomberg, and companies everywhere are scrambling to take advantage of it. In the process, however, these companies get embroiled in battles against each other, some of which begin to take place in our courts.'
Enter Samsung and Apple. The two high profile, most dominant companies in the mobile handset business have become intertwined in a series of legal battles against one another.
The latest one? Samsung accusing Apple of infringing upon its patents with the iPhone 5.
That's right, the iPhone 5. The holy grail (until the iPhone 6 one would presume) of smartphones.
Samsung has accused Apple of abusing two standards patents and six features patents that it holds.
The latest lawsuit simply exacerbates the relationship the two biggest manufacturers of smartphones.
"As soon as the iPhone 5 was available for purchase, Samsung began its investigation of the product," said Samsung in its court filing.
Samsung was hit with a lawsuits around the world by Apple over claims that the South Korean electronics manufacturer blatantly ripped off Apple's iPhone and iPad. Apple won in the United States, forcing Samsung to pay a $1 billion fine. Apple has also submitted a wishlist of Samsung devices it wants banned in the United States.
But Samsung retaliated as well. With a few lawsuits of its own, and an appeal, Samsung was able to lift an earlier ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The ongoing legal battle highlights the different features of each company. Samsung is the world's most successful smartphone maker, gathering its revenue from a variety of models. Apple, however, only relies on the iPhone, which has by itself, propelled smartphones and touchscreen handsets to the forefront of the consumers' minds.
It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit plays out, given that the last Apple win gave many a sour taste in their mouth at Apple's "bullying." Now its Samsung on the attack, and the company has chosen to attack the biggest consumer electronics device in history, the iPhone 5.
Will Apple or Samsung win? More importantly, do you care, or are you simply happy to have more than one high-end handset to choose from?