Samsung says an Apple television won't beat them in picture quality

"We've not seen what they've done but what we can say is they don't have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category," AV production manager Chris Moseley told Pocket-Lint. "They don't have the best scaling engine in the world and they don't have world renowned picture quality that has been awarded more than anyone else."

As a major part of Apple's supply chain for devices ranging from the iPhone to the iPad to Macs, Samsung has provided LCDs for years for Apple's electronics. While Samsung develops its own displays, Apple instead buys its screens from a number of providers, including LG and Sharp.

Samsung's comments come as Apple is rumored to be working on its own full-fledged television set. While Samsung officials may be focused on picture quality, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs seemed more focused on interacting with the device when he told biographer Walter Isaacson that he felt he had "cracked" the secret to a simple and elegant television set.

"It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine," he said. "I finally cracked it."

But Moseley at Samsung said he believes that television sets are "ultimately about picture quality." He said additional features, like "how smart they are" can be "great," but they're also a "secondary consideration."

"The ultimate is about picture quality and there is no way that anyone, new or old, can come along this year or next and beat us on picture quality," he said. "So, from that perspective, it's not a great concern, but it remains to be seen what they're going to come out with, if anything."

Last month at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., Samsung showed off its own voice controls for its latest television sets that will hit the market this year. In addition, Samsung's "smart" TVs will also be controllable through motion and will feature face recognition. The Korean electronics maker also introduced a "Smart Evolution" concept that will allow certain TV sets to be upgradeable, rather than requiring customers to buy an entirely new model.