Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5: The S4 Is Technically Superior, But Is It Right For You?

Samsung's Galaxy S4 will be hitting U.S. shores anytime soon, and as consumers scramble to keep up with the latest technology, there's one important question that should be asked: Is it for you? Here, we take a look at how the Galaxy S4's stacks up against another behemoth, the iPhone 5.

The Galaxy S4 comes with bells and whistles that are quickly becoming the standard in the smartphone industry. The handset sports a 5-inch 1080p Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display, meaning it can push out an incredible 441 pixels per inch (ppi) while withstanding some torture. Under the hood, the Galaxy S4 houses a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 2GB RAM, and internal storage options between 16GB and 64GB. Some Galaxy S4s will come with Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa eight-core processor and others will ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor due to supply limitations. The Galaxy S4 runs Android 4.2.2, the latest version of Android.

Apple's iPhone 5, released last September, is equipped with a smaller 4-inch Retina display that spits out 326 ppi, and a weaker 8-megapixel rear-facing camera (the front-facing camera on the iPhone 5 is 1.2 megapixels). While the iPhone 5 is offered in 16GB to 64GB models as well, it has half the RAM the Galaxy S4 has, and its A6 chip has been clocked in slower than the Galaxy S4's chipset. The iPhone 5 also lacks NFC, which the Galaxy S4 has, and runs Apple's iOS instead of Android.

Both smartphones can run on LTE networks, and both are offered by the big four U.S. carriers.

Without going too much further, it's obvious: the iPhone 5 was released more than seven months ago, and it shows. The Galaxy S4 is a technically superior machine in almost every way, but that is not an indicator of which phone to purchase.

Interested consumers should ask themselves key questions: Do I prefer Android or iOS? Am I okay with a 5-inch smartphone, or would I prefer a smaller 4-inch display? Do I like the Galaxy S4's plastic feel versus the iPhone's aluminum backing? (Quick side note: if you want an Android smartphone with a metallic feel, check out the HTC One) All of these are more important than how fast your smartphone can overclock itself to. Sure, the Galaxy S4 is newer, but it's worthwhile to take a look at other competitors, even if it's one from last year.