It’s been like a techy game of tennis for four years, now both manufacturers are up to their fifth generation of handsets it’s about time we looked through the gadget archive and compared how each iteration stacked up and how far they’ve come.

While Apple was revolutionising the mobile scene since 2007, it took three years later for Samsung to release their competitor Galaxy range in 2010. It has taken until now for the race to really be neck-and-neck.

With every new release we wait with baited breath (some people camp outside for days) for what it could look like. We’ve gathered together each of their flagship phones to see how they’ve evolved over the years.

The Samsung Galaxy

Samsung Galaxy S:

Launched in 2010 it came with a 4-inch AMOLED screen that had the bright and punchy colour we still associate with Samsung screens. It also boasted a 5-megapixel camera, but no flash. It was lauded for its low price and slim chassis. Running Android it sped away from the likes of Nokia and was chasing Apple, but despite the positive response, it was competing with the iPhone 4, which was the biggest design overhaul seen on an iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy S2:

Arriving in 2011 the squarer S2 offered a dual-core smartphone for faster performance along with a slightly larger screen of 4.3-inches. Its camera got 8-megapixel power and improved battery life. Its plastic design, however, still felt too cheap to the majority of reviewers.

Samsung Galaxy S3:

Samsung started to make some noise with the S3 back in 2012, claiming 10 million pre-orders before it hits shelves. It rounded off those square edges, got an HD screen and beefed-up with a quad-core processor as well as almost doubling its battery life. The home button got enlongated and menu buttons became soft keys, only appearing when you touch them. While the polycarbonate body was still getting criticised its Gorilla Glass screen toughened it up.

Samsung Galaxy S4:

Was this the handset that gave Apple users something to think about? With a 5-inch, Full HD, screen iPhone users would stare at this display with green eyes and realised what they’re missing out on with the extra screen space. The familiar Galaxy design stayed largely unchanged but its clever features got people talking. You could control website scrolling with your eyes, it had 4G, NFC, a built-in infra-red controller. You could even control the phone with gestures, so you didn’t even have to handle it.

Samsung Galaxy S5:

Arriving this year, the Galaxy S5 stole the show at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Again, it still had the familiar Galaxy design, so no revolutionary overhaul was seen. This was intended as Samsung wanted to go back to basics to deliver a mobile that had improved in areas consumers most wanted: battery, camera and toughness. It got a slightly larger screen at 5.1-inches, a 16-megapixel camera, a dimpled back for extra grip and waterproofing. If there was ever a reason to legitimately call the Galaxy an “iPhone Killer” the announcement of octo-core processing could be it.

The iPhone

iPhone (2G):

The original smartphone. The “Jesus Phone” as it was hailed. It arrived in 2007 after much speculation Apple, just a manufacturer of iPods and computers back then, would move into the mobile market. It revolutionised the whole game. A metallic back offered the premium feel, while a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen meant you didn’t have to push your screen in like the others on the market then. It glided and swooshed to the joy of consumers and its iOS interface ripped up the rule book on how our phones looked and worked. It also had an iPod built-in. But it was criticised in some departments having poor call and camera quality, plus a proprietary headphone socket.

iPhone 3G:

Launched a year after the 2G, Apple sought to fix the gripes from the previous version and introduced 3G, GPS and changed the metal back for black or white plastic. With the newly introduced GPS Maps got its debut, but as a result the battery took a pounding and was seen as a fault. Back in those days most mobiles couldn’t be called smartphones and lacked the functions of the iPhone so therefore had longer battery life. A faster 3GS version was released later, which improved processing speed.

iPhone 4:

In 2010 came the biggest design overhaul seen in an iPhone to date. Because of this phone the Apple Fan boy was born and the consumer craze of queuing around the block arrived. Gone was the plastic back, instead Apple found its groove with the glass and aluminium theme with the slimmer and sleeker iPhone 4. The screen quality was improved, as was the camera for HD (not full) video capturing, plus a front-facing camera for the first time. The gyroscope was introduced for the first time also so gamers could twist and turn their handsets for gameplay. A 4S model was released with the same chassis but an overhaul of innards including an improved camera to 8-megapixels, faster processor and graphics chip.

iPhone 5:

While many were disappointed by the 4S and not seeing a design overhaul, the 5 came along in 2012 to make up for it. Along with a bigger screen going from 3.5-inch to 4-inch, which gave it the 16:9 shape we use now it was also slimmer, thinner, faster, a higher resolution screen and the shatter-prone glass back for metal were the big physical updates.

iPhone 5s:

Apple fans have been longing for that major design overhaul for sometime and the 5s delivered. Sort of. Its size and weight, plus 4-inch screen size remained the same despite calls for a bigger display to play with. But it introduced a fingerprint scanner to save us all time by unlocking your phone and buy apps by simply touching a digit to the home button. The camera improved with a bigger sensor plus dual flash. But inside is where it made the most difference, becoming the first mobile to rock a 64-bit core.