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Apple shareholders to Samsung: Thank you

After weeks of advance hype about Samsung's Galaxy S4, Apple investors finally exhale and hit the "buy" button.

Charles Cooper Former Executive Editor / News
Charles Cooper was an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet.
Charles Cooper
2 min read
Samsung Galaxy S4
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Samsung's newest smartphone, the Galaxy S4 -- evolutionary or revolutionary? Given the hype leading up to yesterday evening's product debut, that debate likely will rage for days, if not weeks.

But the news is a boon for shares of Apple as jittery investors finally saw reason to hit the "buy" button. At the close of today's trading, Apple's stock was up 2.58 percent to $443.66 -- and this on a day when the overall stock market has been trading in the red.

In the lead-up to the Galaxy S4 announcement, there had been no small amount of hand-wringing among the chattering class about whether Apple would ever recapture its mojo against a surging Samsung. But while the early reviews gave the new smartphone good marks, the tone was more respectful than breathless about what essentially is an incremental upgrade. So it was that Apple's shares were up out of the gate today as analyst reviews of the Samsung news began to filter in. Such as:

"While the S4 is likely to be the iPhone's biggest competitor this year at the high end of the market, we remain confident in our iPhone estimate for this year of 177.5 million, which includes a cheaper phone in the September quarter," wrote Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray.

And this from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek who said that he wanted to see the real-world uses for the new device and whether they actually got used:

"We believe the S4 will certainly sell well and it is incrementally negative for Apple," Misek said. "However, the device is not revolutionary, in our view."

For Apple shareholders, that kind of talk was the equivalent of a buy recommendation -- at least for a day.

Updated at 4:01 p.m. PT with the closing price of Apple's stock.