Apple Sets New High with 53.3% of U.S. Smartphone Market, Android Holds Strong in Europe

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by iParis

So how many phones are we counting here? Surely this is including all iPhones, but when was the last time you saw an iPhone 2G in the wild? Let's just say iPhone 3GS and after; that's four phones running iOS against the tons and tons that run Android.

Maybe it will make you feel better to think of it this way. People are either choosing an iPhone or they are not choosing an iPhone. Getting caught up in how many other phones out starts a huge deluge of parameters which you can get mired in.

[iParis]

Originally Posted by samcraig

Maybe it will make you feel better to think of it this way. People are either choosing an iPhone or they are not choosing an iPhone. Getting caught up in how many other phones out starts a huge deluge of parameters which you can get mired in.

dat fragmentation

[achtung!]

wonder why they have such low sells in europe when comparing to us the prices are outrageous!

[LeoCastillo]

Good news for Apple!!

Following recent trends, I think that means the stock will go down again.

Leo

[notabadname]

Pretty impressive in light of there only really being one style of phone from Apple, as compared to the plethora of Android hardware offerings.

[TheNextBigThing]

Originally Posted by yakapo

I know most of you don't like the idea, but the iphone would have even more market share in the usa if they offered a 5" or bigger phone along with the existing 4" phone. I'd get one.

Definitely! There's a big market for 4.5"-5.5" smartphones.

[newagemac]

Originally Posted by TC03

The difference between US and Europe can be addressed to subsidizing, I think in Europe the price difference between iPhone and high-end devices from competitors is >€200,- while in the US it's no more than $100 (€80). Give or take.

For Apple's sake, I hope this subsidizing will continue forever, because this model is the main reason iPhone devices are more popular than Android devices.

Nevertheless, extremely impressive results, because the previous year was the first Android devices really caught up with the iPhone, but still the iPhone sales are way stronger. Really impressive.

The thing is, the iPhone 5 is so far ahead of the Android phones now. Apple did some amazing things with the A6 to the point where i don't think the Android manufacturers are really even trying to compete with it anymore. For example, benchmarks show the Quad Core Galaxy S3 is underpowered compared to the A6 in the iPhone 5. What's more important though is Samsung didn't even bother to bring the Quad Core S3 to the United States. Here, it's just dual core and the dual core S3 is not even in the same league with the iPhone 5. And because of subsidizing in the U.S., you can have all that the iPhone 5 offers over Android phones without actually paying more or at most maybe $100 compared to cheapest ones. The iPhone 5 is only $127 at Walmart now!

Samsung and Google are happy enough to focus on the low end to mid range. That's where their biggest sellers are. It works well for them and there is nothing wrong with that. When Apple makes a new phone, they always target the high end. They don't design new phones for the low end market or mid range market. And it serves them well also.

[HishamAkhtar]

Originally Posted by TC03

The difference between US and Europe can be addressed to subsidizing, I think in Europe the price difference between iPhone and high-end devices from competitors is >€200,- while in the US it's no more than $100 (€80). Give or take.

For Apple's sake, I hope this subsidizing will continue forever, because this model is the main reason iPhone devices are more popular than Android devices.

Nevertheless, extremely impressive results, because the previous year was the first Android devices really caught up with the iPhone, but still the iPhone sales are way stronger. Really impressive.

Not sure I agree. I live in Ireland and buying and managing an iPhone/smartphone is MUCH better here than in North America. The phone is usually around 150 euros (subsidized) and the plans are more comprehensive, shorter and less expensive than in NA (my family lives in Canada).

I'm not sure if it's the same throughout Europe but in the UK/Ireland, it's much better than North America.

[Popeye206]

Lots of focus on Apple vs Android.... the real story is how quickly all others are becoming totally irrelevant.

iOS and Android are clearly the leaders.... the other phone OS's are a race to the bottom.

[bushido]

Originally Posted by EwanMcTeagle

Agreed. iPhones are crazy expensive in Western Europe... but, as they have basically the same prices in Poland (mid-east Europe), means they are "are u ******* nuts?" expensive here [And even more so when buying from cellular carriers that sell iPhones with absurdly expensive contracts compared to UK for example]. But I guess that's the price of being a 2nd world country - you have Western European prices and Eastern European wages
Anyways, dueo to pricing iPhones are limited in availability to well paid professionals and to... business owners. The latter often buy iPhones with their contracts to sell them later at auctions - while their stick with their old Nokias, which are more sensible I guess, being that they're cheap and having long battery lives.
And thank god for that I got my 64GB 4S from such a gentleman, who bought two of those "for" his business and sold them at an auction - all in all I paid 1/3 less for my 64GB 4S that I would've paid for 16GB version at Apple or anywhere else.
So it's nice that Apple gains marketshare and so on - I like their products, but I'm never going to buy at Apple Polish online store or from their resellers in my country - I just don't like to be mugged

its 679€ here without a plan, thats not much more than in the US after tax and a plan where u can get the iPhone 5 for 1-50€ is only 40-50€ a month. in the us u pay 199$ AND crazy sums like 80$ and more a month if im not mistaken. its even cheaper in austria and england. i fail to see how the iphone is "crazy expensive" in the EU.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by bmunge

Gained nearly 20% of the market share in the last year... Wow.

If I understand correctly... these are quarterly share of sales, not overall market share (number of handsets in use by everyone over time). I wish I was wrong. :P

[HishamAkhtar]

Originally Posted by newagemac

The thing is, the iPhone 5 is so far ahead of the Android phones now. Apple did some amazing things with the A6 to the point where i don't think the Android manufacturers are really even trying to compete with it anymore. For example, benchmarks show the Quad Core Galaxy S3 is underpowered compared to the A6 in the iPhone 5. What's more important though is Samsung didn't even bother to bring the Quad Core S3 to the United States. Here, it's just dual core and the dual core S3 is not even in the same league with the iPhone 5. And because of subsidizing in the U.S., you can have all that the iPhone 5 offers over Android phones without actually paying more or at most maybe $100 compared to cheapest ones. The iPhone 5 is only $127 at Walmart now!

Samsung and Google are happy enough to focus on the low end to mid range. That's where their biggest sellers are. It works well for them and there is nothing wrong with that. When Apple makes a new phone, they always target the high end. They don't design new phones for the low end market or mid range market. And it serves them well also.

Samsung is definitely not looking at the low/mid-range with the Galaxy and Note lineup. I think the S4 will naturally outperform the iP5. Samsung has realized it's not about the money, it's about competing with Apple in terms of features and quality. I'd agree that maybe the Nexus 4 isn't competing in the higher end of smartphones which is a shame because I like the native Android more than the skins that HTC and Samsung throw on top of them and having a phone with more powerful hardware running it would be intriguing.

[samcraig]

Phone cost is important. But it's also important to look at the entire "package" or total cost of ownership.

This means Phone (subsidized or not) + phone/data plan.

So while it might be more expensive to buy the phone in country X - the total cost of ownership (including plan) might be more/less/same as in country Y.

[DeliSauce]

Originally Posted by Ryth

If the subsidized model goes away, all phone prices will go up. I mean its still the whole would you buy a SGS3 for $600 or the iPhone 5 for $650...is $50 going to stop someone from buying an Apple device? For me and many others ...nope.

Or, I don't know, maybe you could get the Nexus 4 for $300. Would $350 stop someone from buying an Apple device?

[Rogifan]

Apple is doomed.

[flux73]

Originally Posted by Jaro65

What the heck is Bada and why is it even tracked?

Bada by Samsung

[Compile 'em all]

Go, team apple!

[iglobe]

some users s3 galaxy died less than age 1.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Some-...-young_id37944

[irDigital0l]

People realize this isn't the overall smartphone market right?

Still good for apple though

[tzeshan]

Now I see why I sold my old 3GS and 4 at the same price I paid. They were bought by people to be given to their relatives in other nations because the huge cost of iPhone over there. OTOH, old Android phones are almost worthless.

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by HishamAkhtar

Samsung is definitely not looking at the low/mid-range with the Galaxy and Note lineup. I think the S4 will naturally outperform the iP5. Samsung has realized it's not about the money, it's about competing with Apple in terms of features and quality.

You forgot marketing. Go to any shopping mall and Galaxy is advertised everywhere. Same thing on TV. Every other commercial I see is for an S3 or Note. Sporting events, award shows, TV shows, concerts all sponsored by Samsung Galaxy. The amount of advertising Samsung has spent on the Galaxy line has certainly helped it increase market share. Though Morgan Stanley analysts claim Samsung is taking share from other Android OEM's more so than from Apple.

[theBB]

I would not take Kantar results too seriously. After big three wireless carriers announced their sales figures after the summer quarter, Kantar's estimates for iOS turned out much lower than the official figures. 35% vs. 47% if my memory serves me right. They could be under estimating if they are using the same methodology or they could be overestimating to make up for the mistake over the longer term.

[TheHateMachine]

Originally Posted by JAT

My point is that statistical analysis always has that caveat. But not by accident, they are very carefully wording it to trick people into believing what they want.

According to commercials, the #1 TV show is on:
Fox
NBC
CBS
ABC

I'm sure the list is much longer, but I no longer pay for cable/sat to see more commercials.

Comscore reports Android is #1 in the US. People can skew it however they want. None of these "Market Research" firms will release their data to let us see because where would they get their notoriety and hits from then? On top of that there is no possible way they can know with 100% accuracy any of this. It is all based on sources and long telephone lists of people to call and ask... "How many X did you sell and how many do you have in stock".

[TC03]

Originally Posted by HishamAkhtar

Not sure I agree. I live in Ireland and buying and managing an iPhone/smartphone is MUCH better here than in North America. The phone is usually around 150 euros (subsidized) and the plans are more comprehensive, shorter and less expensive than in NA (my family lives in Canada).

I'm not sure if it's the same throughout Europe but in the UK/Ireland, it's much better than North America.

The UK is known to be cheap for phones and contract. I think it's more expensive on the continent.

Originally Posted by mjtomlin

You could also argue that the reasoning is because in the US the iPhone is offered by almost all major carriers. Worldwide, the iPhone is on less then half the carriers Android phones are offered on.

In almost al European countries, the iPhone is offered by all major carriers, so as far as Europe is concerned this is not much of an issue.

Originally Posted by Ryth

If the subsidized model goes away, all phone prices will go up. I mean its still the whole would you buy a SGS3 for $600 or the iPhone 5 for $650...is $50 going to stop someone from buying an Apple device? For me and many others ...nope.

Phone prices won't go up, they will simply be unsubsidized. You do realize that the US is the only country where you can't buy phones unsubsidized easily? In almost every other country you can buy a phone with or without contract, so unsubsidized phone prices are fairly common in Europe.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is MUCH cheaper than the iPhone 5 (like I said, ~€200 cheaper).

Originally Posted by bushido

actually u can get the iPhone 5 for 1€ here in Germany at least

I bet the monthly fee would be rather high.

----------

Originally Posted by newagemac

The thing is, the iPhone 5 is so far ahead of the Android phones now. Apple did some amazing things with the A6 to the point where i don't think the Android manufacturers are really even trying to compete with it anymore. For example, benchmarks show the Quad Core Galaxy S3 is underpowered compared to the A6 in the iPhone 5. What's more important though is Samsung didn't even bother to bring the Quad Core S3 to the United States. Here, it's just dual core and the dual core S3 is not even in the same league with the iPhone 5. And because of subsidizing in the U.S., you can have all that the iPhone 5 offers over Android phones without actually paying more or at most maybe $100 compared to cheapest ones. The iPhone 5 is only $127 at Walmart now!

Samsung and Google are happy enough to focus on the low end to mid range. That's where their biggest sellers are. It works well for them and there is nothing wrong with that. When Apple makes a new phone, they always target the high end. They don't design new phones for the low end market or mid range market. And it serves them well also.

HTC One X or Galaxy S III aren't mid-end, they're high-end, and they're much cheaper than the iPhone 5. This is a real threat, take Europe as an example. Android phones are much cheaper there, and as a consequence the iPhone is less popular.

Apple's profit in the US is largely dependent on AT&T and Verizon. That's a bit scary.

[bawbac]

Remember these are just sales & we all know most apple consumers upgrade frequently.
So this does not necessarliy mean more users/market share, just sales.

May be other phone users are happy with their phones functionality and don't require upgrading twice a year.

----------

Originally Posted by TheHateMachine

Comscore reports Android is #1 in the US. People can skew it however they want. None of these "Market Research" firms will release their data to let us see because where would they get their notoriety and hits from then? On top of that there is no possible way they can know with 100% accuracy any of this. It is all based on sources and long telephone lists of people to call and ask... "How many X did you sell and how many do you have in stock".

Correct and it looks good for the company who funded the research.