As we all know, the Apple iPhone 5 is the best seller among the current high-end smartphone offerings. When shopping a new smartphone it is sometimes hard to choose as there are many options available. A recent report says that HTC One is one of the most gorgeous phones ever made, that the Galaxy S4 is too much like its predecessors, while iPhone 5 has taken the lead at the top.

Well, like many other things, when we think of these expensive gadgets to equate the better one can prove quite difficult. If we start by comparing the price, Samsung Galaxy S4 feels cheap compared to the HTC One and iPhone 5.

No matter where the preferences lie, though, it is hard to deny that the One is quite the looker. It often gets compared to the iPhone, but I think the One's design is in a class by itself. The iPhone 5 also has an aluminum unibody design, but it feels like we have seen it before. It is like a stretched-out aluminum version of the iPhone 4S.

The One is both striking and not quite like anything we have seen before. If you are going for thin, the Galaxy S4 wins (it is 15 percent thinner). If you're going for light, the GS4 also wins (it is 10 percent lighter). However, the Galaxy S4 feels more like 20 percent lighter - because it is a slightly larger phone than the One and iPhone 5.

Unfortunately, the Galaxy S4 and HTC One still lags behind the iPhone, which managed to sell a staggering 5 million devices in 3 days, and got 2 million orders in the first 24 hours when the phone became available.

That sounds like a lot, but it actually ended up being a disappointment for investors, who were expecting 8 million iPhone 5s to be sold during its opening weekend. Apple "only" sold 4 million. The sense of disappointment was so strong that some accused media of bias and double standard in disparaging Apple compared to the favorable headlines supposedly received by Samsung.

Apple is still on another level, but Samsung has clearly established itself as the dominant Android-smartphone maker, although HTC may try and knock them off the pedestal with the HTC One. Samsung is still strong, however, and its growing market dominance is beginning to establish it as THE Android smartphone company instead of one of many.

Signaling their attachment to the brand, Google announced the $649 Samsung Galaxy S4 'Google Edition' with stock Android at the Google I/O conference. HTC did not receive the same treatment by Google, and by all means may not get it.

Samsung is looking to have the run of the Android market for a good while to come, and might even knock Apple and the iPhone off the smartphone throne. Who knows, it could happen sooner than later.