Android and iOS Continue to Dominate Smartphone Market as Windows Phone Shows Signs of Life

[jrswizzle]

Windows Phone is growing like iOS used to. Soon, android and windows will dominate, and iOS will be a niche player, much like OSX.

The old timers will continue to use it, much like OSX, while the new buyers will not.

Just my $0.02.

So when you say "OSX is a niche player" do you mean "growing faster than the market".....because that second comment is the reality.....

As has been said, Apple would be hard pressed to out marketshare the hundreds of OEMs they are up against running Windows and Android...

Apple sells the most popular smartphone line in the world (the iPhone), sells the most popular tablet line in the world (the iPad) and sells a desktop/laptop line that is actually growing in the face of decline of the entire industry.

Oh and they own more than 2/3 of all smartphone profit share, and the iPad accounts for some absurd percentage like 90% of all tablet internet traffic.

Let me ask you, if you ran a company which would you rather have.....5% of market with 70% of profits or 95% of market with 30% profits.....

Apple isn't going anywhere.

 

[gnasher729]

Windows Phone is growing like iOS used to. Soon, android and windows will dominate, and iOS will be a niche player, much like OSX.

The old timers will continue to use it, much like OSX, while the new buyers will not.

Just my $0.02.

That was more like ¢0.02.

 

[LagunaSol]

Android isn't dominating, Samsung is.

Google gave the South Koreans the bomb. Thanks Google.

 

[iSteve-O]

Apparently 17% is now considered dominant and supreme.

 

[gnasher729]

I am not sure what condones "winning" in your book... but in the real world, the company that is making the most money is "winning." Last time I checked, Apple was the one with a billion and a half in cash laying around.

They would be if they lost 148.5 billion dollars somewhere!

 

[Parasprite]

I picked up a Windows Smartphone in the store out of honest curiosity.

It has a lot of potential but it makes me really dizzy.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Wouldn't surprise me one bit when Apple starts closing stores and laying off employees in 2 to 3 years.

You're forgetting that Apple still makes billions of dollars every 3 months.

Companies only close stores and lay off employees when they can't afford to have them any more.

That does not describe Apple at all.

As long as people are buying Apple products... Apple's doors will remain open.

I know you're looking at these market share numbers and thinking Apple is in serious trouble. But you're forgetting that being a very profitable #2 is not a death sentence.

 

[0815]

One thing I never understand with all those statistics floating around is that if you look at phones sold/given away, that Android is the clear winner but than if you look at the statistics about usage for e.g. web access, than iOS is the clear winner. I mean, the phones are being sold, so why does this not reflect in usage? I can't believe that most of the Android phones end up in a drawer not being used .... (iOS is also the clear winner in making money, but that is a no-brainer since iOS is only on the high end phones that have a big margin and android manufactures don't make much on the cheaper phones, they only make money on their high end devices)

 

[fivedots]

Companies only close stores and lay off employees when they can't afford to have them any more.

Well, technically companies also close stores and lay off employees when that particular location ceases to be profitable. It does not necessarily indicate that the company as a whole is in financial trouble and can be the result of many other factors.

 

[0815]

Windows Phone is growing like iOS used to. Soon, android and windows will dominate, and iOS will be a niche player, much like OSX.

The old timers will continue to use it, much like OSX, while the new buyers will not.

Just my $0.02.

please keep your change - thanks

 

[paul4339]

That's because you are looking at the smartphone market, and not the phone market. The growth in the smartphone market last year was from $200 feature phones changing to $200 smartphones; today the growth is from $100 feature phones changing to $100 smartphones. But the phone market isn't actually changing. In the phone market, Apple's market share has been growing continuously.

I'm not quite sure what your point is (I agree Apple market share is growing)... Apple's growth was 6.6% in the smartphone market and 1.2% in the mobile phone market (Y/Y for this past quarter).

.

 

[Ice-Cube]

Lol at "others"

 

[spazzcat]

The way I see this chart,it's Android that's dominating...

Shipments anyways. But Apple still makes more money and has much higher usage stats...

 

[BaldiMac]

I'm not quite sure what your point is (I agree Apple market share is growing)... Apple's growth was 6.6% in the smartphone market and 1.2% in the mobile phone market (Y/Y for this past quarter).

You are comparing two different numbers here. 6.6% is unit growth. 1.2% is market share increase.

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

Not talking about the 4S or anything currently on the market. Talking about why they would enter the midrange and budget market, which they're planning to do

Nobody has a clue what they are going to do but Apple.

Analysts and shareholders want them to enter the market with a cheaper device but it's no more true than iTV, iWatch, iXXX.

It's speculation.

 

[spazzcat]

That's because you are looking at the smartphone market, and not the phone market. The growth in the smartphone market last year was from $200 feature phones changing to $200 smartphones; today the growth is from $100 feature phones changing to $100 smartphones. But the phone market isn't actually changing. In the phone market, Apple's market share has been growing continuously.

But people are using the $100 smartphones only as feature phones.

 

[paul4339]

You are comparing two different numbers here. 6.6% is unit growth. 1.2% is market share increase.

sorry you are correct, it was -5.7% in the smartphone market and 1.2% increase it the overall phone market.
.

 

[jashic]

Google has about 60 billion in cash but they use the money to invest and innovate. What does Apple do with their money besides borrow money to buy back stocks? Explain to me. Thanks

They are going to do massive innovation by changing the color scheme and theme of iOS to be more "flat" and industrial. That way, we will all praise in admiration the visual simplicity and clean lines of all the functions we already have. I for one am very excited about this innovation!

They should use some of that cash horde to pay Jony Ives some more. Wait, I'm sure they already did!

Yay to flat and industrial design for my already crappy iOS email program! Screw new features. We want industrial design!

 

[iLog.Genius]

I picked up a Windows Smartphone in the store out of honest curiosity.

It has a lot of potential but it makes me really dizzy.

Every phone/platform currently out has potential, it's if developers want to unleash that potential. I'd say BB10 has the biggest potential but no one is looking at it right now.

 

[pirg]

Wouldn't surprise me one bit when Apple starts closing stores and laying off employees in 2 to 3 years. Apple does not know how to fight Android head on. A iPhone 5s will not do it and iPad's are losing market share to cheaper Android tablets. Apple needs new ideas; not sequels. Can we even count the iPad mini as a new idea? It's just a smaller version of iPad 2. Guess the innovation at Apple died with Steve Jobs.

Lol what? You're right most companies that make a billion dollars a week are in dire straits.
I just hope they can make it two years! Imagine if they continue only making 700,000,000/wk like this past qtr?? They're on thin ice...

/s

 

[gnasher729]

I'm not quite sure what your point is (I agree Apple market share is growing)... Apple's growth was 6.6% in the smartphone market and 1.2% in the mobile phone market (Y/Y for this past quarter).

.

You are very much confusing numbers. 6.6% are unit sales. Nothing to do with any market share. The number of iPhones sold grew by 6.6%, the number of Apple smartphones grew by 6.6%, the number of Apple phones sold grew by 6.6%.

The marketshare in the phone market: There's always confusion. If the percentage of your income that you spend on movie tickets grows from 2% to 3%, is that a one percent change or a fifty percent change? The 1.2% change in a market that contains all phones, from very expensive iPhones down to the £10 phone that I have in the glove compartment of my car for emergencies is an awful lot. Apple's target when iPhone was launched was one percent of the total phone market. Now last year's growth was 1.2%. So just last year's growth is 20 percent more than Apple's total initial target.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Well, technically companies also close stores and lay off employees when that particular location ceases to be profitable. It does not necessarily indicate that the company as a whole is in financial trouble and can be the result of many other factors.

Very true... but the previous commenter didn't mention "particular" Apple Stores.

Judging by his tone... he was inferring that Apple will need to liquidate its assets soon and shut down completely.

He said things like:

- Apple does not know how to fight Android head on...
- losing market share...
- Guess the innovation at Apple died with Steve Jobs...

 

[69650]

iOS and Android dominating the market? I would say more like Android dominates the market, and apple only has 17%... not much domination by any standard.

With iOS' 6.8% year over year growth and Androids 79.5%, I find hard to agree that iOS is "dominating" the market.

It's starting to look like the Windows vrs Mac battle of the 1980s all over again. I don't see anything stopping the Android machine.

With that level of dominance it's only a matter of time before they starting turning that into profits for the handset makers, app developers, google ads, etc, etc squeezing Apple/iOS further down.

If I was a developer I would be very happy with the revenue I currently get from iOS but I would also be looking at these numbers and starting to think do I want to develop for 80% of the market or 17% of the market. If my iOS revenues remain flat or start to decline I know which way I would jump.

I'm not saying Apple will be all that unhappy with this situation. As long as that 17% continues to generate decent revenues and profits why would they. Apple makes a healthy profit from a tiny percentage of the PC market so this might not be all that different.

But with almost half the company now reliant on iPhone sales/profits it has to be a worry going forward.

 

[gnasher729]

But people are using the $100 smartphones only as feature phones.

Of course they are. Which is why looking at Apple's smartphone market share and drawing any conclusions is stupid, and why looking at Apple's phone market share makes much more sense.

 

[Rogifan]

Where does IDC get its numbers from?