Apple vs. Samsung—Size Matters: Blodget

Apple may be "leapfrogged" on Thursday when unveils the next generation of its flagship Galaxy smartphone, Business Insider Editor-in-Chief Henry Blodget told CNBC.

"It's the size of this screen. This is beautiful," he told "Squawk Box" on Wednesday, referring to the Galaxy S III, Samsung's current model. Then, holding up an iPhone 5, he added, "I waited two years for this. This feels so puny and old now."

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Samsung is scheduled to unveil its Galaxy S IV on Thursday in New York. Some analysts have predicted that the new phone could top 10 million unit sales in the first month after launch.

"Samsung deserves huge credit. They have come out of nowhere. They're now the biggest global smartphone manufacturer," Blodget said. "They have great products … and two, they've made a huge bet on the marketing side and it is worked. Apple has been ambushed by Samsung."

The South Korean electronics company spent $400 million on ads in the U.S. last year and took the 2012 smartphone sales crown. But Apple did outsell Samsung in the U.S. in the quarter ending in December.

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The new Galaxy phone is widely expected to boast crisp, full high-definition quality pictures, a slightly bigger 5-inch screen, a 13 mega-pixel rear camera and an improved eight-core processor.

Media reports have also suggested that the new Galaxy—which uses Google's Android software—may have functions that track a user's eye movement, and boast an unbreakable or flexible screen.

"This eye-tracking thing. When I heard that I said, 'OK. Now we've jumped the shark.' Like nobody wants that," Blodget said.

But big picture "competitors have caught up to Apple and there's a good chance tomorrow Apple is going to be leapfrogged," he said. "That is a big problem for them. But they're not out of the game."

CNET Senior Editor Bridget Carey told CNBC that Apple fans may be "getting bored" with the iPhone's incremental updates. "If you look at their pattern … they're going to have another iPhone come out [this year] that looks the same, but probably has a little bit of an internal boost."

"This is Samsung's time to really wow us," she added. "And if they can, they can scoop in when Apple is going to have their year where it's an 'iPhone 5S' (upgrade), and maybe it's not all that impressive."

—By CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere; Follow him on Twitter @Matt_SquawkCNBC. Reuters also contributed to this report.