Apple's Share of Smartphone Market Slips as Smartphones Outsell Feature Phones for First Time

Samsung also sells cheap "smartphones"

These statistics are a little surprising. In my part of the country, I usually see people with an iPhone. A few of my friends that had iPhones but dropped and broke them went on to get a Samsung only because they were cheaper. But still, mostly i see iPhones.

Would not be surprised if I never see the new blackberry.


B

iOs 7 will bring better results. Hardware is flawless, software and price is the reason why people go to Samsung.

g0odfr1end102 said:

iOs 7 will bring better results. Hardware is flawless, software and price is the reason why people go to Samsung.

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Software should be the reason why people stay away from Samsung.

As shiny as the other side of the fence is (Android rather than iPhone) as someone who is back on an iPhone after 2 years with a Samsung i have to say apples AppStore policy is what brought me back, the fact that the apps are policed is more of a benefit than anything else

What i DON'T like about the iPhone is a far longer list, Poor Battery Life, Poor Screen quality compared to the Super AMOLED screens on the Samsungs, tiny screen size, price for what you get is appalling compared to competitors.

Yeah, we don't need no OS improvements, no larger screens, no multitasking, no customization....

Sad.

iOS 7 really needs to step up to the mark

Seems like another article that is going to explode with fanboys on both sides over "estimates" from Market Research surveys.

Yup, popcorn needed...

mrobit said:

Software should be the reason why people stay away from Samsung.

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You know, some people actually like to get a lot of incomplete bundleware with their phones

"FREE SOFTWARE!!"

Jsameds said:

iOS 7 really needs to step up to the mark

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It's more than that. Both the sofware and form factor are looking stale these days. They need to bring more functionality to the home screen, digging through dedicated apps is slow and more clumbsy than it needs to be for many simlpe things (bluetooth for example, even after the last update).

In addition the form factor needs an update. Blackberry and HTC have surpased the look of the iPhone and customers like the larger screens. If they insist on keeping the screen the same size then get rid of the big circle button so the device itself can be smaller.

Just my opinion.

I think it's cost that's pushing up the market share of competing phones. A smartphone is anything running Android, Windows Mobile or iOS. They're more expensive to own the further towards the end of that list you go.

If there really is some truth to the rumours of a cheaper, entry level iPhone 5S coming out, Apple will gain some more market share again because getting hold of even the 16Gb iPhone without paying £100s up front involves a very costly contract equivalent to around £10 a week for 2 years. If someone could buy a lower end model on a contract for say, £30 up front and then no more than £20 a month, it would sell like hot cakes. Even £99 for it outright on a pay and go contract would have the same effect.

Nightarchaon said:

As shiny as the other side of the fence is (Android rather than iPhone) as someone who is back on an iPhone after 2 years with a Samsung i have to say apples AppStore policy is what brought me back, the fact that the apps are policed is more of a benefit than anything else

What i DON'T like about the iPhone is a far longer list, Poor Battery Life, Poor Screen quality compared to the Super AMOLED screens on the Samsungs, tiny screen size, price for what you get is appalling compared to competitors.

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Tiny screen size? It's not very confortable to use one handed if you have smallish hands. If it was any bigger it would be in "too small to be a tablet, too big to be a phone" teritory like so many competing phones.

You're right, the battery life is terrible but still better than the iPhone 3GS I replaced with it.

I personally LOVE the screen quality. It's every bit as sharp as my LG LED TV and has fantastic contrast and colours compared with a lot of the cheaper smartphones I've seen.

Nightarchaon said:

What i DON'T like about the iPhone is a far longer list, Poor Battery Life, Poor Screen quality compared to the Super AMOLED screens on the Samsungs, tiny screen size, price for what you get is appalling compared to competitors.

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Do you really find the screens on Samsung phones that much better? The ones I've seen in person have been horribly color-balanced.

Oh look! IDC made up some more numbers about Samsung smartphone shipments!!!

What a load of crap. 70M??? really? Which phone was that? Since GS3 was only selling 5M per month at its peak and the Note 2 was selling at 1M per month.

Does Samsung have some other secret phone lineup that they are selling to fairies, pixies and gnomes?

It is going to be interesting to see what happens when the market finishes maturing. At the moment Nokia is making some growth space for everyone else by falling apart.

FoxHoundADAM said:

It's more than that. Both the sofware and form factor are looking stale these days. They need to bring more functionality to the home screen, digging through dedicated apps is slow and more clumbsy than it needs to be for many simlpe things (bluetooth for example, even after the last update).

In addition the form factor needs an update. Blackberry and HTC have surpased the look of the iPhone and customers like the larger screens. If they insist on keeping the screen the same size then get rid of the big circle button so the device itself can be smaller.

Just my opinion.

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Blackberry? It feels like a cheap piece of garbage....

I agree about the HTC One though - I want that phone so damn bad.

Anyways, Apple is doomed as always, yadda yadda yadda......these threads get so repetitive.

The fact that Apple sits 3rd in WORLD marketshare on ALL mobile phones sold, while only selling 3 smartphone models (1 new per year) is pretty incredible to me.

apple_iBoy said:

Do you really find the screens on Samsung phones that much better? The ones I've seen in person have been horribly color-balanced.

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And really lacking in brightness. They look dim and washed out unless you are in a dark room where the deeper blacks help the dimmed out whites pop a bit more.

Double Post... le'sigh.

Big difference US vs World

bernuli said:

These statistics are a little surprising. In my part of the country, I usually see people with an iPhone. A few of my friends that had iPhones but dropped and broke them went on to get a Samsung only because they were cheaper. But still, mostly i see iPhones.
B

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Same here, but we life in the native country of the makers of the iPhone. I hear that in massive parts of Asia, the iPhone is rare and Samsung is common. I've also heard that it's in Europe where Windows does best...

Nightarchaon said:

What i DON'T like about the iPhone is a far longer list, Poor Battery Life, Poor Screen quality compared to the Super AMOLED screens on the Samsungs, tiny screen size, price for what you get is appalling compared to competitors.

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See, this is interesting. I have to disagree with you on all these points.

The battery life on the iPhone isn't poor compared to the industry in general. It's actually pretty good. Sure, it could be better - but it certainly isn't bad.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review/13

The iPhone 5 screen is widely considered to be among the best screens available on any consumer device. If you consider all things, not just the PPI then you see things more clearly... no pun intended! OK. Pun intended.

http://www.redmondpie.com/displayma...-consumer-display-you-own-beats-galaxy-s-iii/

Screen size is smaller, yes - this is a preference thing. I, for one, am glad that Apple hasn't gone crazy with the massive screens. This article on The Verge was a breath of fresh air for me - finally some people talking sense about screen sizes: http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/16/4...id-phones-with-stock-software-just-right-size

As for price, other high end smartphones are roughly the same price offline. The Galaxy s4, for example, is around £600 offline here in the UK. About the same as a 32GB iPhone 5. Plus, with the iPhone, you don't get the tacky cheap plastic and the bloatware - and you get support! Software updates, an amazing ecosystem and people to talk to. All worth money to me.

Obviously, all things are down to personal taste in the end, but to claim that the iPhone has a poor battery and a poor screen and is too expensive is just factually incorrect.

BC2009 said:

Oh look! IDC made up some more numbers about Samsung smartphone shipments!!!

What a load of crap. 70M??? really? Which phone was that? Since GS3 was only selling 5M per month at its peak and the Note 2 was selling at 1M per month.

Does Samsung have some other secret phone lineup that they are selling to fairies, pixies and gnomes?

Click to expand...

Seems pretty insane considering last quarter, Samsung sold about 15 million GS3's and fewer Note 2s......I'd like to know where the other 50 million smartphones come from as well.....

Since Samsung only reports shipments to carriers, could it be possible the 70 million includes initial shipments of the GS4 to carriers? Timing might not be right though.....

At first glance it was surprising to see Apple only grew 6.6% where each other top 5 vendor grew at least 50% and the "other" category grew 37%.

But then it clicked. The premium market is saturated. The only room for growth is at the bottom, which is exactly why analysts are pushing for a cheaper iPhone.

I'm still not convinced that a cheaper iPhone would be the best move for Apple... but if they want to have growth greater than 6% year over year, that is certainly what needs to happen.

barkmonster said:

I think it's cost that's pushing up the market share of competing phones. A smartphone is anything running Android, Windows Mobile or iOS. They're more expensive to own the further towards the end of that list you go.

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Exactly.

There are some Android phones that can be had for $80 in some countries.

Not all Android phones are cheap of course... but they're not all $600 flagships either.

I'm actually not surprised when I hear overall market share numbers.

But I'd love to know the share of smartphones $450 and up.

oliversl said:

Samsung also sells cheap "smartphones"

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Half of Apples Iphone sales are into 4 and 4S models.

Samsung is dominating. Apple needs a model with a 2013 screen. The current iPhone is so 2010.