What exactly do you like about a Samsung phone hardware wise over an iPhone?
The answer is not as simple as the question.
No matter how nice a car you may own, do you really think you will want to drive and own the same make and model forever?
What about your house? Do you think you will want to live in the same house forever, just happy changing the wallpaper and door handles, regardless of your personal and family requirements?
What about when you buy a really nice outfit? Would you keep a wardrobe full of the same thing, wearing it everyday?
If you answered yes to all the above then you are likely Apple's target consumer.
Back in the day, I owned mobile phones based on my requirements (often financial) however it was never based on what I was forced to buy by my network provider. I had Nokia's, Sony-Ericssons, Motorola's and Samsung phones. They all served a purpose and I had choice to change manufacturers every year when one, or the other was on their way up making good phones that suited my requirements.
In 2007 it was easy for me to buy an iPhone as a Mac user and required no thought at all. The fact that I now question that thought is more than just hardware specification's.
Now I am not saying Apple are making bad phones right now, just others are making good, different and interesting ones also.
Apple and iOS has become a like a Network Provider you are tied into if you have invested heavily in the Eco-system and make it uneconomical, or incompatible to leave.
You could try to say this about other OS's, except that Apple and iOS is not about choice compared to Android and I wish it were. Even Steve Balmer is urging MS to make Window's mobile compatible with Android App's. Yes..., he say's that for survival reason's, but it opens up Window's phone users to Android.
Having 2 models of a current phone is not choice and bringing out 'low-cost', or smaller size phones with crippled hardware to stave of perceived cannibalisation is not choice either.