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

[paul4339]

Yeah, they're dated reports, but still, Microsoft has not changed their product/strategy that much between WP7 and WP8. The fact that you can't upgrade a WP7 phone to WP8 doesn't mean WP as a whole shouldn't be considered a single platform.

I wonder what made those analysts think WP would get that popular.

I think they under estimated how fast Android grew and MS's influence on handset makers. I think they expect MS have stronger leverage from the PC dominance on both consumers and manufacturers.

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

Just my $0.02.

I can't see it... if the first 50% of the market has smartphones and it's mostly Android/iOS ... the next 50% will likely be in the mid/lower end segments.

I don't see evidence of a rush of mid/lower end handset makers adopting Windows phones.
I do see stronger Android/iOS ecosystems (and greater entrenchment in their services) in upcoming years.

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[Oletros]

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

Source?


And regarding the thread, I will pick popcorn, those X wins, no Y has more profits, no Z will pick up are very funny.

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

Perhaps in your dreams

 

[gnasher729]

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.

What is "the market" for a software developer? You are counting owners of phones. I would be counting owners of phones who are willing to pay money for apps. And there, the iOS market share is much bigger.

And you say "...only a matter of time before they starting turning that into profits for the handset makers...". Look at the PC market. Nobody makes profits except Apple and to some extent Dell. Apple makes 45% of world wide profits in the PC market! After 20 years, PCs still haven't managed to translate sales into profits. Samsung is lucky at the moment, but the others will catch up, especially when Samsung thinks they have to create their own apps, and people will learn that for the genuine Android experience they need to buy something that isn't Samsung.

 

[ATC]

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)

Other posters previously touched on why that is and they did so more eloquently than I can but the gist is that low-to-mid range "budget" models make up a large percentage of Android devices, and they're aimed at, well, budget users. Most of those users are essentially using these devices as "feature" phones, primarily for calls and texts, with little to no data.

Just as a small example, in no way meant to be indicative of the market but merely to my point above; at my work (total 8 employees) only 5 of us have smartphones (2 iPhones, 2 Android devices and one BB). The two android users purchased budget units and are on prepaid with no data (only wifi) while the iPhone and BB users have full data plans.

My guess is that this will change over time as I'm sure those budget Android users will eventually move up to full service with data which would then move those data usage numbers but until then that's the best explanation we can come up with.

 

[paul4339]

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.

Sorry my mistake, it went from 23% to 17.3% in the smartphone market and 7.8% to 9% in the overall phone market.

...but that wasn't really my point ...
> Apple's product is not in the high growth segment of the market (the premium market is slowing comparatively).

I still believe based on the numbers shown that they are not in the high growth segment of the smartphone market, which is why they are expanding to the mid-market.

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[macUser2007]

Despite the poor attempt to spin this, it looks like it is Android that dominates the smartphone market

I personally will skip the iPhone 5S, since while the fingerprint sensor sounds somewhat useful useful (particularly if it can remember two or more users), it is just not enough.

I've ordered the HTC One Developer Edition instead -- sadly, because I really wanted a better iPhone (and in the HTC One, I may have found it).

Google just unveiled Hangouts, PlayMusic, new Maps.... Apple is instead doing bond offerings to get around paying taxes.

If Apple loses the mobile momentum (which is definitely slipping), it will be a very hard claim back, and the others are not standing still.

 

[Jsameds]

Nonsense.

You're right - I remembered incorrectly.

It was 12 weeks.

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/06/02/steve-jobs-90-days/
http://ryanpayne.com/are-you-the-best/

 

[tongxinshe]

Android dominates the market but it's given away for free. If iOS, WP8, BB10, etc were given away for companies to do whatever they wanted, their penetration would skyrocket.

If Apple did that 3 years or longer ago, yes, that might be true. But it’s too late by now, none of them can reverse the trend now even if they are given for free.

 

[spazzcat]

Source?


And regarding the thread, I will pick popcorn, those X wins, no Y has more profits, no Z will pick up are very funny.

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Perhaps in your dreams

While back there was a story about usage. Apple had (pulling from memory) about 65% of all mobile web usage.

 

[Oletros]

While back there was a story about usage. Apple had (pulling from memory) about 65% of all mobile web usage.

Web usage has nothing to do with using an smartphone like a feature phone, it has to do just with browsing usage. Apps doesn't count in browsing usage

 

[tongxinshe]

I wonder how many people actually believe doing more work for less money is actually a good thing if you strip the Apple bias out of the equation?

It’s definitely a good thing, because if everyone does it, it means a faster technology development.

 

[Michael Scrip]

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.

Obviously iOS is doing something right since they enable developers to make tons of money with only a minority share of the smartphone market.

But there are other things to consider before you drool over that big 80% Android number.

Is your app English-only? That knocks out a huge chunk of Android users in China, India and other non-English countries where Android is prevalent.

Many people are buying cheap Android phones to replace feature phones. Apps are a distant 2nd behind texting and voice. Data plans might not be used at all. They might not have credit cards either.

Again... 80% to 17% is a huge disparity... but you need to look at actual results.

 

[BaldiMac]

It’s definitely a good thing, because if everyone does it, it means a faster technology development.

I don't follow. Can you rephrase using less pronouns?

Are you saying you'd rather build 100 widgets and make $20, than build 20 widgets and make $100?

 

[AppleScruff1]

What most people don't realize is that there is only 1 manufacturer of iOS devices - Apple.

There are hundreds of manufacturers of Android capable devices.

You can't compare the output of 1 manufacturer to the output of combining 100's of manufacturers. Doesn't lend itself to a even comparison.

That said I'm very impressed with where Apple is from a manufacturing stand point. Year over year they have demonstrated that they can continue to ship more units (through more efficient manufacturing methods or strategic retail alignments). Impressive.

Actually I would think that just about everyone knows that only Apple makes iOS devices.

 

[tongxinshe]

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

If it is an industry that requires millions of other smaller players around (software, websites, accessories, etc.) to make any final product, definitely I choose the latter, because that means I am at a definitely safe place and I will eventually squeeze out the rest 5% to less than 2% (and thus irrelevant) in a foreseeable future.

 

[daneoni]

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.

Except that majority of that 17% actually spend money and buy stuff. Whereas only a fraction of the other 80% do.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Those are not market share, they're shipments made within a quarter.

For Windows Phone to surpass iOS in actual market share, they would first have to ship more per quarter (which they aren't close to do) and maintain it for years until it compensates for all iPhone users that still have an iPhone they bought when iOS was more popular than Windows Phone.

Honestly I doubt WP will ever surpass iOS.
Some analysts do (or did) however: Gartner, IDC, Pyramid Research, IHS iSuppli.

As for your observations, keep in mind that those are Worldwide shipment numbers. Emerging countries like China and India are buying more and more budget Android phones instead of dumbphones and Apple has no competitive offering unlike pretty much all other manufacturers. I wouldn't worry too much about it however, as those cheap smartphones usually have razor-thin margins and those subsidized iPhone sales in the U.S. generate a lot, lot more profits.

An iPhone that generates 30x as much profits as a dumbphone-replacement $50-100 (unsubsidized) "smartphone" is a lot more desirable for a company, yet a chart like this wouldn't make any distinction.

I don't understand how this is of any concern for the non-shareholding consumer.

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What corporation are making the lion's share of the profits?

iOS is dominating.

Is that really important to a consumer?

 

[cheesyappleuser]

Samsung has 32.7% of the smartphone market according to IDC.
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/2...phones-outsell-feature-phones-for-first-time/

I've read an article somewhere on Flipboard that said 95% of Android marketshare was Samsung's.

 

[subsonix]

Web usage has nothing to do with using an smartphone like a feature phone, it has to do just with browsing usage. Apps doesn't count in browsing usage

Correction: Web usage has something to do with using an smartphone like a feature phone.

 

[tongxinshe]

Are you saying you'd rather build 100 widgets and make $20, than build 20 widgets and make $100?

Yes, if the market can make everyone do similar things like this. In that way everyone will strive harder and the technology will advance faster.

 

[jrswizzle]

I've read an article somewhere on Flipboard that said 95% of Android marketshare was Samsung's.

That would 95% of Android PROFITS are Samsung's......

That 95% makes up roughly 25% of all smartphone profits as Apple holds a 75% profit share and Samsung has the rest.

 

[alexgowers]

Why do they continue to lump android into one box as a catch all?

Android is not a single operating systems but instead a fractured set of different OS's based on android. They are not interchangeable and rely on a manufacturer to update them not at an OS level.

The android market is so fragmented that it should not even be counted as a smart phone OS, it's even on feature phones that have limited functionality.

I really wish they would divide these data sets into phones not OS, I would class many phones as dead weight and not fully featured.

Windows gaining market share is stupid, they have so little that honestly even a small increase would result in massive percentage increases. They spend more on advertising than anyone and they are still only 3%. It's a poor product and everyone knows it.

 

[BaldiMac]

Web usage has nothing to do with using an smartphone like a feature phone, it has to do just with browsing usage. Apps doesn't count in browsing usage

Sure, but almost every study we see has iOS leading in various usage statistics.

For example:
http://blog.flurry.com/bid/94811/Are-Indie-App-Developers-Becoming-an-Endangered-Species
"...device models running on the iOS platform average 14 times the number of active users than device models running on other platforms."

 

[tjl3]

Android dominates the market but it's given away for free. If iOS, WP8, BB10, etc were given away for companies to do whatever they wanted, their penetration would skyrocket.

But those OS's are either proprietary or pay to license. Because you know, that's what actually makes money.

The real winner isn't Android, it's Samsung, who didn't have to spend money to build their own OS and came out on top regardless. And they already got an Android replacement in the wings already with Tizen.

I might have missed a post here or there, but in all the hoopla about Apple's declining market share are we also missing the point that Google has a problem on their hands? Samsung's 95% profit share is insane! For all intents and purposes, they have a huge bargaining chip on their side, as well as what you mentioned, Tizen in the background. If Samsung were to ever exit the Android market, doesn't have to be in full, Google is going to have a mess on their hands!

If it is an industry that requires millions of other smaller players around (software, websites, accessories, etc.) to make any final product, definitely I choose the latter, because that means I am at a definitely safe place and I will eventually squeeze out the rest 5% to less than 2% (and thus irrelevant) in a foreseeable future.

The only problem with the latter is that they have already penetrated emerging markets, w/ low cost devices, where as the first company can still achieve growth here. Whether the first company does it right is another story!

 

[pgiguere1]

I don't understand how this is of any concern for the non-shareholding consumer.

I'm personally a shareholding consumer and I know a couple people here are, but I agree it's mostly irrelevant if you're not other than claiming a "victory" for the company you like out of pure fanboyism.

I say "mostly" because it's not entirely irrelevant either. It may be useful to invest yourself in a product (and its ecosystem) that's healthy for a company profits-wise in order to make sure it has a guaranteed future. It's less likely for a product that's economically successful to stop being supported quickly than one that's slowly dying or simply flops at launch.