Samsung Had iPhone 6-Like Products a Year Ago: Google's Eric Schmidt

Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been receiving impressive response from the market, as the company sold more than 10 million new iPhone models globally over the opening weekend. Not everyone is impressed by Apple's latest smartphones however.

(Also see: Apple CEO Tim Cook Personally Kicks Off iPhone 6 Sales at Palo Alto Store)

Google Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, on tour to promote the book How Google Works - written with former Google product chief and SVP Jonathan Rosenberg - in rather typical fashion made some a rather controversial statement in an interview with Bloomberg's Market Makers. When asked what he thought of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones, Schmidt said he thought Samsung had products like Apple's in the market a year ago.

Excerpts from the Market Makers interview come to us courtesy 9to5Google, with Schmidt and Rosenberg discussing everything from the way Google thinks about innovation, to how Apple and Amazon are both competitors and partners for the Mountain View giant.

Ruhle: You mentioned smartphones. How do you feel in the last week when you drive by any Apple store, San Francisco, LA, New York, and there are people lined up around the block? So even though way more people carry Android phones, how does Apple have that desire factor?

Schmidt: I'll tell you what I think. Samsung had these products a year ago.

Ruhle: And nobody had a huge party. In the last month when Samsung came out with new products people weren't losing their mind camping out. How does - what do you think about it?

Schmidt: I think Samsung had the products a year ago. That's what I think.

Schmidt is all likelihood referring to Samsung's high-end Galaxy smartphones like Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 that were launched last year. With comparable specifications, and obviously, the larger display catering to the burgeoning market for converged 'phablet' devices, Schmidt seems to saying Apple has only just rejoined the race - and is still lagging behind.

(Also see: Saudi Man Demands an iPhone 6 as Dowry for Sister's Hand in Marriage)

When the anchors countered Schmidt's answer, pointing how there is not as much buzz around Samsung products, Schmidt just repeated himself.

Samsung's latest phablet the Galaxy Note 4 will go on sale in Korea starting Friday before being sold in 140 nations by the end of next month.

Apple's CEO Tim Cook has also been taking swipes at competitors in recent times, and last week referred to Google users as the Mountain View company's products. Tim Cook was quoted, "A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realise that when an online service is free, you're not the customer. You're the product."

He further added, "Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don't build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don't 'monetise' the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don't read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple."