Shrinking iPhone Market Share in China Driving Case Makers Toward Apple Rivals

MacRumors · Aug 23, 2013

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple's falling market share in China is prompting local electronics accessory makers to give more attention to phones and tablets made by rival Samsung among other electronics manufacturers. Specifically, the report cites competitive, feature-rich products from the likes of Samsung as well as various cheap phones by other mobile handset makers.

A shift to devices from Samsung, Lenovo Group Ltd. and a widening array of Chinese makers offering cheaper handsets is pushing up costs for those that previously relied on the iPad and iPhone, said Vincent Kwok, chief executive officer of Guangzhou-based Magic Kingdom, a maker of protective cases. [...]

"The market is now moving toward Samsung and brands from China, so we've enlarged our product line," said Kwok, who has also added products from Xiaomi and Oppo. "Expanding our product line has reduced the risk for us. To focus on Apple is too dangerous."

Bloomberg's report comes alongside a separate claim stating that the iPhone 5S and Apple's low-cost iPhone 5C are set to launch in China on November 28th, which would likely bring an influx of new iPhone owners in the region. China Mobile, the world's biggest carrier, as well as one that notably does not carry the iPhone, is said to be in talks with Apple about carrying its mobile device with both sides feeling positive that a deal will happen.

Apple will reportedly unveil the next-generation iPhone on September 10, and will likely unveil not only the iPhone 5S but also the lower-cost plastic iPhone 5C. Both devices are also rumored to launch in the first wave of markets on September 20.

Article Link: Shrinking iPhone Market Share in China Driving Case Makers Toward Apple Rivals

jav6454 · Aug 23, 2013

Due to price. Well, if the "5C" rumors are to be believed, then that should help Apple make in-roads into the Chinese market.

medi.freak · Aug 23, 2013

it will all change with the champagne color!

Ryth · Aug 23, 2013

Give it a month. Those case makers will be having a lot of returned to sender.

cambox · Aug 23, 2013

Apple are doomed..Doomed I tell ya!

Tankmaze · Aug 23, 2013

sensationalist headline and news by bloomberg, a lot of these case manufactures already diversified their product since samsung galaxy S2 launched.

you can find lots and lots of cases for flagship phones here in singapore.

cdmoore74 · Aug 23, 2013

App developers will be saying the same thing. Stick with Apple and you will see less profits because more people buy Android. Apple is the only one to blame.

cambox · Aug 23, 2013

In all honesty I think Apple have lost there way in recent years, lets hope they can regain market confidence and get back their mojo soon.

aristotle · Aug 23, 2013

cdmoore74 said:
App developers will be saying the same thing. Stick with Apple and you will see less profits because more people buy Android. Apple is the only one to blame.

Right so stick with Apple and get profits or switch to android, spend more money on development because you have to reinvent features found in the Cocoa Touch frameworks and expect a greater share of zero dollars because most Android users are too cheap to pay for software.

Protip: 0 dollars X 100,000 = 0 dollars X 1,000,000 = Zero dollars.

Given the extra development costs you could end up with some value of negative dollars profit.

You cannot make it up on volume if nobody is buying.

Cubytus · Aug 23, 2013

Price indeed. $800 for an smartphone is very expensive in rich countries, let alone in developing countries.

Michael Scrip · Aug 23, 2013

cdmoore74 said:
App developers will be saying the same thing. Stick with Apple and you will see less profits because more people buy Android. Apple is the only one to blame.

Yes... but you're forgetting that more people are also buying more terrible smartphones that cost $80

There are tons of cheap whitebox phones sold in developing nations. The category of "other" is pretty big.

Someone who is only spending $80 on a smartphone will not be spending a ton of money on apps.

So yeah... more people are buying phones that run Android. But a lot of those phones are garbage phones... and those phones are not getting developers excited.

mudman2 · Aug 23, 2013

I am so sick of cheap chinese cases

Nickpocalypse · Aug 23, 2013

Shrinking iPhone Market Share in China Driving Apple Toward Gold iPhone

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cdmoore74 said:
App developers will be saying the same thing. Stick with Apple and you will see less profits because more people buy Android. Apple is the only one to blame.

More people buy Android and pirate apps.

I've talked to many developers who still prefer developing for Apple despite market share shrinkage, because they offer a better platform for smaller devs, and there's far less piracy.

Westside guy · Aug 24, 2013

So people who buy phones other than iPhones can now get cases, But in the past they might have not been able to? Why is this a problem?

ftaok · Aug 24, 2013

I think the reason you see more and more cases for phones other than iphones is that the other manufacturers are making the same phone across all carriers. It used to be that AT&T would get a different Galaxy than Verizon and T-Mo, etc.

The potential market is smaller since all of these slightly different phones needed different cases.

With iPhone, the shapes have always been the same, regardless of carrier, so the case manufacturers only have to build one case and can sell them to all iPhone users.

I'm not sure if this is the case in China, but in the US ... this is how I see it.

ft

Carlanga · Aug 24, 2013

I think is just people w/ iPhones are tired of crappy quality cases and have stopped buying them.

akbarali.ch · Aug 24, 2013

iphones cost a lot, anyone affording one, can easily spend some more. Same with appstore and below is my point.
In my office, leaving me and my boss on iPhone, other 7-8 guys carry android phones, they haven't yet purchased an app, i inquired couple of weeks before, infact i dont think they have yet linked credit/debit card to the play account. Same with my friends circle, most of them android/blackberry yet to purchase anything in play store. They all know how to download though.
On an average i've spend 1-3 dollar every 2 month, its not much but till now i have purchased quite a few apps (including $5 ones like imovie, iphoto numbers infinity blade.....etc.). Either i'm spending a lot on apps or there's nothing worth spending in Android market, i dont know.

lartius · Aug 24, 2013

What phone is that?

Maybe I'm out of touch with recent rumors, but what model iphone is that in the image? It looks like an iphone 5 but it has pill-shaped volume buttons.

r3m1 · Aug 25, 2013

mudman2 said:
I am so sick of cheap chinese cases

Dont buy them, problem solved

Klosefabrinio · Aug 25, 2013

HTC, always underrated. if there's a company who can dethrone samsung it's HTC, but the sad thing is that it's always left out, it's always ignored.

asthamapheo · Aug 25, 2013

apple should do something, TC is always focused on chine he should do something, bring out a better iphone but with lower price and apple will regain it's lost shares and position.

harlemexplosion · Aug 25, 2013

I doubt that it will affect Apple much at all. There will never be a shortage of Apple cases. They just can't afford to even if the market shrinks since most people who love to accessorize randomly (and probably have a need to do so since they can't modify the software) will mostly be Apple users.

winston1236 · Aug 26, 2013

Nickpocalypse said:
Shrinking iPhone Market Share in China Driving Apple Toward Gold iPhone

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More people buy Android and pirate apps.

I've talked to many developers who still prefer developing for Apple despite market share shrinkage, because they offer a better platform for smaller devs, and there's far less piracy.

The amount of people pirating is tiny, as in less than one percent so its far from mainstream.

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akbarali.ch said:
iphones cost a lot, anyone affording one, can easily spend some more. Same with appstore and below is my point.
In my office, leaving me and my boss on iPhone, other 7-8 guys carry android phones, they haven't yet purchased an app, i inquired couple of weeks before, infact i dont think they have yet linked credit/debit card to the play account. Same with my friends circle, most of them android/blackberry yet to purchase anything in play store. They all know how to download though.
On an average i've spend 1-3 dollar every 2 month, its not much but till now i have purchased quite a few apps (including $5 ones like imovie, iphoto numbers infinity blade.....etc.). Either i'm spending a lot on apps or there's nothing worth spending in Android market, i dont know.

Then why do so many Wal-Mart employees have iPhones? That doesn't fit in with your "anyone affording one, can easily spend some more." logic.

LostSoul80 · Aug 26, 2013

harlemexplosion said:
They just can't afford to even if the market shrinks since most people who love to accessorize randomly (and probably have a need to do so since they can't modify the software) will mostly be Apple users.

Is that based on any source, or just a wild guess? That doesn't make any sense.
If rivals gain ground, people will want to buy accessories for rival devices. Just the fact that in the past the iPhone has proven very successful isn't evidence that people buying other phone brands are less likely to buy accessories.

harlemexplosion · Sep 3, 2013

LostSoul80 said:
Is that based on any source, or just a wild guess? That doesn't make any sense.
If rivals gain ground, people will want to buy accessories for rival devices. Just the fact that in the past the iPhone has proven very successful isn't evidence that people buying other phone brands are less likely to buy accessories.

Not a guess... it is based a bit on my own experience and my observation.
Of course, I understand that my local does not represent the world, but i do notice that most people on iphone tends to have a new case several times a month.

Shrinking iPhone Market Share in China Driving Case Makers Toward Apple Rivals

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