2016 Internet Trends Report: Global Smartphone User Growth Slowing as Android Outpaces iOS

[MrX8503]

I love the iPhone but you're absolutely right. Look at phones like the Nexus 6P and the fact that right now, you can get it unlocked for $450. You can't help but feel you're getting ripped a new one when buying an iPhone for $300 more.

Then STOP BUYING Apple's OVERPRICED PHONES.

In theory, this is correct. What we have unfortunately seen is Apple NOT reinvesting their $150B+ back into making the most cutting-edge smartphone on the market. A poster the other day said that Apple has gotten incredibly good at understanding the bare-minimum that they can get away with, while still selling phones.

What about a phone makes it cutting edge? The A9 is competitive even at nearly a year old. You've also got SSD like storage performance. 16GB does suck so hopefully Apple ditches that if the rumors are true. The display is very nice despite lower pixel density. Apple will adopt OLED when it's ready.

 

[PBRsg]

Apple doesn't care about market share. They care about profits. What is the point of selling tons of product if you are only making pennies off of it?

On the low end budget phones that are Android, how sticky are they with the customer? Not very I would imagine. The phones are cheap, performance is typically horrible due to handicapping of the specs, and you will not get OS updates. Folks end up buying it one time to see what the fuss is all about for smartphones, have a horrible experience, then move on to another provider like Apple.

They have to have a certain market share, though, otherwise the app platform suffers. They have been at 15% for a while and it seems to work for them.

 

[DevNull0]

You will call me an Apple fan boy ;-) But it is no wonder that Android has a bigger market share. People are buying these nice looking (advanced in specs) devices- which are even cheaper than IOS, and see after some months of use that these devices slow down and become unreliable and they buy the next Android device, feeling this new device is great in the beginning, until it slows down again and the procedure repeats itself again and again... What they don't see is that if they had bought the (slightly more expansive) iPhone they would have kept it at least for two years - without problems- and would not be forced to replace it so often... The old saying: You get what you pay for is right-again. I once knew a guy who bought a Honda Civic and put thousands of dollars in it saying it drives like a Porsche.. in the end for that amount of money he could have bought a Porsche, but had still this thing that will never transform in such a sports car - no matter how much you invest. Im just too poor to buy cheap!

Wow....

So The 300 million people who bought samsung android phones alone last year are all poor misguided souls who don't understand that they're hurting themselves to save a few bucks. But you're smarter than the the lot of them.

You may get why you personally like/buy iOS. But you have no clue about Android.
[doublepost=1464890150][/doublepost]

Simple. In a business, market share is the means. Profit is the end. All the market share in the world doesn't mean much if it doesn't let you turn a meaningful profit.

But you're not answering his question. Why do I as a consumer looking for a cell phone give a damn how much profit the company makes off me?

Someone always says iPhone are better because they make more profit. That's irrelevant to my choice as a consumer.

 

[Thunderhawks]

What did you expect? "Wow, I feel so bad for Apple. They release 16 GB!!! phones and they still don't get that many sales? Urgh the Android fanboys!"

The point is that most people who do not want 16GB will buy the higher up configuration, if it MUST be an iPhone.
No sales lost.

Agree that 16GB ids laughable though!

 

[lowendlinux]

213 slides..ugh I hope that wasn't briefed

===

In the same vein, what good does market share do to the user? How am I disadvantaged by Android's 80% market share when, for its smaller market share, new apps and accessories still get released for iOS first?

You may not care about how profitable Apple is as a company, but that doesn't make profitability any less relevant a metric when discussing how successful Apple is.

We're not discussing success or at least the OP wasn't it was discussing status

 

[navaira]

Then STOP BUYING Apple's OVERPRICED PHONES.

"OK" – customers
*market share drops*

 

[admob71]

I wish some of these 'analysts' would do a comparative report on profitability of iOS vs other software over same period of time... What is the use in being a market leader when your profits are wafer thin?

3 comments in and profits are brought up. BOOM!!!! So predictable.... not sure how it is relevant to the debate unless of course you are soooooooo insecure you need to feel better about yourself by knowing that the maker of your smartphone makes more money than the maker of some kid in Denmark's phone etc. LAME isn't the half of it...
[doublepost=1464890775][/doublepost]

As an Apple fan (and not a a shareholder) I could care less about how much money they make, as long as they have enough to stay in business and make good products. I hope that the slide in market share will push them to accept lower margins and bring out better products.

If they can't bring out good products with a high margin, what makes you think they can do it with a low margin.

 

[v0lume4]

Then STOP BUYING Apple's OVERPRICED PHONES.



What about a phone makes it cutting edge? The A9 is competitive even at nearly a year old. You've also got SSD like storage performance. 16GB does suck so hopefully Apple ditches that if the rumors are true. The display is very nice despite lower pixel density. Apple will adopt OLED when it's ready.

Whoa whoa, chill out there sport. I'm still on the iPhone 5 so I wouldn't say that I've been "buying Apple's overpriced phones." This is my first/only iPhone so far.

I don't mean to say that the iPhone is a bad phone. It's among the best on the market. The difference these days is that the iPhone is, as I said, "Among the best on the market." Just a few short years ago, it honestly was THE best phone on the market.

When I say "cutting edge," I really just mean being the market leader. Apple is slowly becoming less of a market leader, and more of a company that is just keeping up. Hey, they might absolutely floor the world with the iPhone 8 next year! Who knows!

(edited to add the last paragraph)

 

[admob71]

Not to mention the competition is just about as good as Apple now, this isn't 2010 anymore.

Lol, they were just about as good 3 to 4 yrs ago, they have been superior for a while now. Denial is a cruel mistress.

 

[vfr800]

Not at all - otherwise the "local numbers" would be totally screwed and 100% iPhone by your beliefs.
So you can be as impolite and arrogant as you want, but the fundamental fact is price is not playing a part "here". You get the same top end Samsung devices for the same offers, so people are buying solely on preference. If you don't like that tune, it's not my problem but it is what it is and no amount of fandom will change it.

Neither impolite nor arrogant, just exasperation at your condescending first world attitude that everybody can afford in iPhone simply because of your exposure to oversubsidised UK iPhone prices which are just not representative of the prices in the majority of countries , and hence it must be some other reason why iPhone sales are droppping...

Fact is that even the cheapest 5SE is still incredibly expensive worldwide and is incredibly poor value for what it is (same with 6S). Go to Asia, very few people have them simply for that reason. There are really good phones from Samsung, HTC & Motorola etc that are adequate for what most people need, have large 720p or greater screens, quad core, expandable storage and for not much more than $100-150 without a contract, so why spend more for something that they can't afford anyway..

Apple is not going to be selling to this market any time soon, and neither do they care, their profit to sales ratio is fantastic, they'd just like to keep up their unrealistic margins for as long as possible and expand that where possible.

 

[Black Magic]

Whoa whoa, chill out there sport. I'm still on the iPhone 5 so I wouldn't say that I've been "buying Apple's overpriced phones." This is my first/only iPhone so far.

I don't mean to say that the iPhone is a bad phone. It's among the best on the market. The difference these days is that the iPhone is, as I said, "Among the best on the market." Just a few short years ago, it honestly was THE best phone on the market.

When I say "cutting edge," I really just mean being the market leader. Apple is slowly becoming less of a market leader, and more of a company that is just keeping up. Hey, they might absolutely floor the world with the iPhone 8 next year! Who knows!

(edited to add the last paragraph)

Name a better phone. This is all subjective of course.

 

[bigchief]

Three reasons Apple falling behind in growth.

1. Price

2. Price

3. Price

 

[applezulu]

Year-over-year measurements are what's wrong with business analytics and reporting. Two data points do not make a trend. That second chart is incredible. It overlays a negative-looking trend line over bar-graphs showing massive growth. The trend line is year-over-year growth. It's how you take the incredible story of the explosion of smartphone sales over the past decade and make it look like a failure. They're making and selling hundreds of millions of the things every year. Also, a slightly smaller piece of a much bigger pie is still more pie. What I can't figure out is whether this is just myopic MBA focus on one measurement, 'growth,' which is moronic, or if it's attempted market manipulation. Fool people with sinister-looking charts so the stocks will dip, giving an opportunity to buy at a discount before it starts going back up.

 

[v0lume4]

Name a better phone. This is all subjective of course.

As you said, this is all subjective. I really like what Samsung is doing hardware-wise with their S7 Edge. Curved display, water resistant, fast charging, camera, brilliant display, and (sorta) wireless charging. However, TouchWiz isn't worth a flip compared to other versions of Android, in my opinion. Great hardware, not so great software. The Nexus 6P is truly a gorgeous phone, with USB-C quick charging, a great camera, and best of all, stock Android. Pretty good hardware, great software.

Android has made strides in smoothness and reliability relative to its early days. I've used iOS for years now, but man, it's just buggy. That's really a shame since I remember the days that it wasn't. The iPhone is a terrific all-around phone. I think mine is great, and it's four years old! I could recommend it to anybody. But is it the very best out there? It's subjective of course, but it isn't as clear of a "yes" as it used to be.

 

[Analog Kid]

There's a lot of information in here-- first, I notice that Apple has 3/4 the revenue on about 1/4 the volume. It's pretty clear why Apple is vacuuming up the profits. This also explains why Apple is pivoting so hard to Asia!

3 comments in and profits are brought up. BOOM!!!! So predictable.... not sure how it is relevant to the debate unless of course you are soooooooo insecure you need to feel better about yourself by knowing that the maker of your smartphone makes more money than the maker of some kid in Denmark's phone etc. LAME isn't the half of it...

I will repeat this once, and then let everyone go back to their blissful existence: Profit measures value added.

Nobody is forcing people to buy a phone with a $650 ASP. People choose to, for whatever reason they have. Maybe it's technically superior, maybe they like rose gold, maybe their friends think it's cool and they want their friends to think they're cool. It doesn't matter what the reason it, people think the iPhone is worth their hard earned money.

That is called a "price signal" in free market capitalism. That is how the market indicates they want more of that thing. I don't know what economic system you advocate but, in my experience, and when it comes to personal discretionary spending, letting people decide how they want to allocate their earnings is the best way to give feedback to industry on how to optimize the distribution of capital resources.

Profit is also what fuels a business. More profit means more R&D, which leads to more profit. At least until a segment is saturated. You can sell all the units you want, but if you're losing money you won't be doing it for long.

So why does measuring profit matter? Because it means people value the product. You might disagree with their opinion, which is why having choices in the market place is important, but the reason why profit is so much more important than what someone says in an anonymous internet forum is because spending money on something means you value it enough to choose at the expense of something else, while words cost people nothing and they can throw them around for any reason at all.

 

[CB1234]

I keep reading about "profitability". It's good for Apple but what does profitability mean for you? Is Apple adding new features/hardware? The answer is no. Apple fanboys are the reason why these crappy iPhones are selling like hot cakes. There is no innovation. The first version of iPhone is a true innovation in terms of product appeal.

Profitability for Apple shouldn't mean anything to you or to me, even if you are a fandroid.

I buy iPhone because I like them. End of the story.

What I was talking about was Apple as a business making bucket loads of money without topping market share.

Why so much hate that you have to make this into Apple fanboy argument.
[doublepost=1464892900][/doublepost]

3 comments in and profits are brought up. BOOM!!!! So predictable.... not sure how it is relevant to the debate unless of course you are soooooooo insecure you need to feel better about yourself by knowing that the maker of your smartphone makes more money than the maker of some kid in Denmark's phone etc. LAME isn't the half of it...
[doublepost=1464890775][/doublepost]
If they can't bring out good products with a high margin, what makes you think they can do it with a low margin.

And I assume you are an owner of a multi billion dollar empire, so of course you know how everything works.

Right ok, we get you.

 

[admob71]

Quick lads, let's come up with as many reasons as we can as to why ios devices arnt selling as many, and droid ones are. But for goodness sake, an inferior product at a higher price point must never be mentioned. All sorted. Good!!

 

[CB1234]

Profits aren't everything. Amazon may never make money but no one cares.

I just mentioned profits, because all we ever see is graph about market share. I was genuinely curious about it.

I couldn't give a rat's *** about anyone's profitability. I buy products because I like them and not because a company is highly profitable.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Sure they can. Especially since you wrote "more profit or more marketshare".

A decrease in sale price can spur more sales thus increasing marketshare. The key is to balance the decrease percentage with the increased sales so you gain more profit. That also helps with the short term/long term goal.

Now, you may decrease the profit margin, but that's not what's being discussed.

Exactly.
It's all about finding the balance. It's a choice.
It seems Apple have tipped the balance on the side of the higher profit margin per iPhone, vs larger high marketshare.

Still. I'm sure Apple is not happy ATM.
It might be time for reconsideration of their tactics.

 

[CB1234]

Why? Because you think that's a metric that won't hurt your feelings? They are predicting 11% YoY loss in shipments AND a drop in average selling price, combined with an overall market that's slowing down. What do you think that's going to do to Apple's bottom line?

Why does every post have to turn so personal?

As I said to other poster I couldn't give a crap of anyone's profitability. I was simply curious as to profit shares of iOS and other softwares.

Even with the drop in revenue, it would still be interesting to see the profit comparison. At the end of the day that's what business is about. Bottom line!!!

 

[lwr032]

Part of the issue is that's a lot of improvements Apple are planning in 2017 are already on Samsung/android now. That's the frustrating thing. They a step behind as they expect people to buy the product no matter what is on the new phones. The current iPhone is still a great phone but is as good as what's on the top tier android phones? Honestly I don't think it is. Obviously software wise that's down to personal choice but in terms of what the top phones can provide Apple has fallen behind.

Is Apple a step behind? Or is Apple making sure that what they put in their phones works properly and better than on Android?

Did anyone notice that Apple is being compared to a bunch of phones? When Apple puts out an iOS update, it's download able the day it comes out. How often does that happen with Android phones?

 

[Piggie]

Worth pointing out that "units shipped" shouldn't be confused with "sold through" numbers. If millions of units are sitting on retailer shelves, that doesn't mean squat except for excessive quantity. Sold through numbers are products in consumers hands.

In the game console space, we've seen a flop in who was the leader, and one thing that flipped is when you are ahead, you show off your sold through numbers, and when you are trailing, you use your unit shipped numbers...if you even decide to report.

This old classic.

Oh yes, as all the shops that (by your logic) are not actually selling things to consumers, keep re-ordering to stockpile more and more unsold stock.

Yeah, that makes sense.

 

[Analog Kid]

Quick lads, let's come up with as many reasons as we can as to why ios devices arnt selling as many, and droid ones are. But for goodness sake, an inferior product at a higher price point must never be mentioned. All sorted. Good!!

I'm curious-- where does your user name come from?

 

[Karma*Police]

I keep reading about "profitability". It's good for Apple but what does profitability mean for you? Is Apple adding new features/hardware? The answer is no. Apple fanboys are the reason why these crappy iPhones are selling like hot cakes. There is no innovation. The first version of iPhone is a true innovation in terms of product appeal.

Wow, that's a lot of fanboys.

Profitability means Apple can continue to innovate and lead, just as they have in PCs for the better part of 4 decades. It doesn't guarantee it, but no other company comes close so I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Profitability also doesn't mean they'll come out with a breakthrough function or product every year, but major aspects of smartphone innovation/UX has been steadily led by Apple with things like Retina display, Touch ID, Siri, Apple Pay, 64 bit chips, Gorilla glass, product design (and even packaging), continuity, the entire App Store model, 3D Touch, etc.

Yes, others came out with some features, like fingerprint readers, before Apple, but throwing in features that don't work for the sake of checking it off a spec/feature list is very different from delivering a very useful implementation of an idea.

Call iPhones crappy all you want, but some people appreciate the superior engineering, design and materials (aluminum 7000 series anyone?), attention to details, top notch support including updates to the latest OS and patches for 3 years on avg, superior ease of use and access to the latest, next-gen tech that sometimes takes years to show up on competing platforms.

A lot of this won't show up on a spec sheet, but there's a level of care and craftsmanship that is hard to put a price tag on.

 

[MrX8503]

Whoa whoa, chill out there sport. I'm still on the iPhone 5 so I wouldn't say that I've been "buying Apple's overpriced phones." This is my first/only iPhone so far.

I don't mean to say that the iPhone is a bad phone. It's among the best on the market. The difference these days is that the iPhone is, as I said, "Among the best on the market." Just a few short years ago, it honestly was THE best phone on the market.

When I say "cutting edge," I really just mean being the market leader. Apple is slowly becoming less of a market leader, and more of a company that is just keeping up. Hey, they might absolutely floor the world with the iPhone 8 next year! Who knows!

(edited to add the last paragraph)

Market leader? Yet more vagueness. Funny how you're still using an iPhone 5. Good luck in the Android camp with such an old phone.