Will Apple’s 4G LTE iPhone 5 Survive Against 'Awesome Foursome'?

Apple is rumored to release its most anticipated iPhone 5 in September, witha spate of new features in store. But it is already facing all kinds of threats from the group of four android smartphones that are expected to give Apple a very tough time once it hits the market.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company is pitted against the likes of the rumored Samsung Hercules, Google Nexus 4G, Motorola Droid X2 and HTC EVO 3D, which are also expected to take the market by storm and will look to challenge the iOS 5-powered smartphone’s popularity in the market.

Samsung has already proved a point by selling out 3 million units of the Samsung Galaxy S2 (or S II) globally, and has not even released it in the U.S. The Galaxy S2, at the moment, is being rated as one of the best smartphones on the planet, and Apple will surely keep that in mind. The smartphone comes with a primary 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash camera and is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset. The Galaxy S2 runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and has NFC support. The Galaxy S2 can shoot videos at 1080p at 30fps (frames per second).

If that was not enough of a concern for Apple, the company has more thinking to do with the rumors of Samsung Hercules looming in the air. The Hercules, which is expected to be available for nearly $350, is set to flash a 4.5-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus display, similar to Motorola’s Droid Bionic and Samsung’s other smartphone Infuse 4G, when the display screen is compared. The Droid Bionic, however, sports a better resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. iPhone 5, in comparison, will have a 3.7-inch curved glass screen. The iPhone 5 will cost around $600.

The built-in processors will also play a major role in the smartphone war. iPhone 5 is expected to come with a dual-core A5 processor, which presently powers the iPad 2, and have a 1GB RAM owing to the fact that the iPhone 4 already has a 512MB RAM. The Hercules, in comparison, will run on Gingerbread and will be powered by a 1.5 GHz dual core Qualcomm APQ8060 processor, which can make Hercules the fastest smartphone in the planet next month.

The other phones, Google Nexus 4G, HTC EVO 3D and Droid X2, are also present in the race to the top. HTC EVO 3D also runs on Gingerbread, but is powered by 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8660 chipset which is enough for a serious buyer to stop and think over. The NFC support, however, is missing. Motorola’s Droid X2 is expected to run on Android 2.2 (Froyo), but will be shipped with Gingerbread on board. The upcoming Motorola smartphone will be powered by a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 AP20H processor with a built-in 512MB RAM.

The Google Nexus 4G AT&T, expected to arrive around Thanksgiving, is the monster of the group. The smartphone is expected to run on the new Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and will be powered by a dual-core Snapdragon processor that will include Krait chips from Qualcomm with a built-in 1GB RAM. The krait based Snapdragon processor will have the ability to run at a lightning speed of 2.5 GHz per core at the least -- which will make it far faster than a normal ARM based CPU. The Nexus 4G will have NFC support.

Apple is expected to release the iPhone 5 with an 8MP dual-LED flash camera that will support 1080p full HD videos, but where will it stand even then? The Samsung Hercules is also expected to have an 8-megapixel 3264×2448 pixels camera and will be able to shoot 1080p 1920×1080 pixels full HD video, but with a single LED flash compatibility, which Apple may or may not use to their advantage. The Google Nexus, in reply, is expected to come with a 5MP rear and 1MP front-facing camera but will be able to record HD videos and provide playback at 1080p which will give sensor support and optimum output even during a low-light situation.

The HTC EVO 3D also has a primary 5 MP, 2560?1920 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash camera and secondary front-facing 1.3MP camera. The Motorola Droid X2, on the other hand, is expected to come with an 8MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED camera, and will record videos at 720p HD at 30fps and playback at 1080p HD, that can be the nearest competitor to Apple’s iPhone 5 and the camera can be the area where Apple can have a hold on the smartphone market.

The battle begins next month, when Samsung's Hercules hits the market.

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