Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. have been engaging in a fierce marketing battle since the introduction of the Korean firm’s latest flagship Galaxy S4 in New York last week.

Following a big-budget launch event Wednesday at Radio City Music Hall in the heart of New York, the world’s biggest handset maker posted a video on YouTube stressing the uniqueness of the new smartphone.

As Samsung took the fight to Apple’s home turf, the Cupertino-based company did several media interviews just a day ahead of the unveiling of the Galaxy S4.

Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, played down expected competition from Samsung’s new flagship device, stating his belief that smartphones operating on Google’s Android mobile platform were inferior to the iPhone in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The Galaxy S4 video, which was more than 4 minutes long, depicted the Galaxy S4 as making life more convenient and more fun, enhancing relationships and caring for the user’s wellbeing.

In the video watched by more than 2.33 million viewers by Monday afternoon, it provided a run-through of its features, such as the “Smart Pause” function, which pauses a game or video when the user looks away, and the “Dual Shot” feature, which enables using both cameras on the front and back to take pictures or record videos.

It also showed how the smartphone could be used while wearing gloves and how users could monitor their own health by tapping on a function called “S Health.”

Apple, on the other hand, has put up a new Web page, arguing its case of why iPhones are superior compared to “everything else.”

When clicking on the site, it reads, “There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else.” It goes on to talk about how the iPhone has received eight straight awards for customer satisfaction and that it is the only handset equipped with the Retina display among other reasons for picking the iPhone.

Schiller also said that its own research shows that four times as many iPhone users switched from an Android phone than to one in the fourth quarter and that “Android is often given as a free replacement for a feature phone.”

According to global market research firm International Data Corp., Apple’s iPhone made up over 19 percent of global smartphone shipments in 2012, whereas Android phones accounted for 70 percent of all shipments. Samsung is the biggest vendor of Android-powered devices, with its global smartphone market share estimated to have reached 30.4 percent last year.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)