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Apple and Samsung Tied as World's Largest Smartphone Makers in Q4 2014 [Updated]
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Samsung is already in the low-end market. In fact... most of their sales are low-end.
The problem for Samsung is... the low-end market is VERY crowded. There are 60 Android OEMs all selling basically the same product.
And there's not a lot of money in the low-end market.
I had the ROKR. It actually prepared me for the iPhone. I remember thinking this is nice, but I want more. the phone was limited to 100 songs. so when the iphone came out I was ready to pay.
they reported shipping 95 million phones. They didn't breakout smart vs dumb phones explicitly, but they did say that about 80% were smartphones. you are correct: they don't report sales, only shipments.
317.2 versus 192.7 for 2014.
Yeah, looks like Samsung is really on their way out to me...
Let's start the doom and gloom.
It is pretty funny, but not quite as funny as the doom and gloom for apple that was preached, even yesterday! Now that is hilarious.
Difference is the 75 million iPhones are $900 bucks each while the 75 million Samsung average to be $350 each wow no comparison
Because the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 are not selling well, and they are selling lots of cheap phones for $100 or so in subsidized in emerging markets. They have a lot riding on the Galaxy S6.
Low profit margin. While Apple has industry leading 35-39.5% margins, Samsung can't get anywhere near that AND many of their phone models don't retail for much over $100.
So soon the two of them will be making a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a...
And then with luck both of them will vanish down a singularity of their own making.
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For the same reason BlackBerry has nearly folded. They are so intent on pushing units they forgot the need to make a profit on those units.
On that day they better give their executives huge raises.
Unless your a fairly large stockholder or an executive in the company I doubt the fact that Apple becomes a trillion dollar company really makes a difference to most of us.
I think the second trillion will come much quicker if they can drive other large competitors like Samsung out of the market and then raise prices to increase margins. Imagine the money they can make at that point if they can take out the competition?
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Screen size being a differentiator is gone. I hope this means Samsung will stop being lazy and actually put an effort into design and usability instead of recycling the same cheap looking plastic design. That's not saying the Galaxy can't be plastic, just not the child's toy plastic they use.
Then again it may be another generation or two before we see improvement. Change seems to be hard at Samsung.
Then again it may be another generation or two before we see improvement. Change seems to be hard at Samsung.
Because for some strange reason, Samsung thought market share means success and not profit. Stranger still, some people agree with them.
I don't know about you, but I can't wait until Apple is the only tech company in the world. I personally will be beaming with pride when everyone on the planet has an iPhone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxShzoUjiAQ
It's interesting watching these roles get reversed.
I know what you mean. I have a 5+ year old LG feature phone. It's solid, a bit kludgy but absolutely bulletproof. My plan is to replace it with an iPhone6 this year but it's been a solid device. About as charismatic as a Toyota Corolla but it's never missed a beat. But LG is also fading into the distance, run over by the Apple/Samsung juggernaut.
My first smartphone was an HTC Legend. That was solid. Then I got a Sensation that accumulated dust under the screen. Returned it, second unit did the same thing. I might have stayed with HTC had it not been for that. The skinning they do on Android actually looks nice not like the garbage that Samsung puts out.
The feeling I've personally been getting when looking at Samsung's higher end phones is they look like the people who designs them is a marketing guy with a spreadsheet, not a bunch of engineers and designers. The engineers' and desingers job seems to be to put together what the marketing guy told them in a suitable size and power envelope and then to build a package for this that isn't hopelessly cumbersome. All of this is then done as cheap as possible.
This kind of thing may work in the short run before customers have been burned, but not in the long run and Samsung's rise and fall in the mobile space proves this. Instead of upgrading to new Samsung devices, customers who have been burned by things like what I've heard affectionately called "TouchAIDS" are now turning to competing companies.
Like a bunch of other people have pointed out, this is really not a time to start projecting doom and gloom for the whole company as the company has it's fingers in quite a few jars other than smartphones. Sure, high end smartphones are one of the more lucrative markets out there once you get your foot in the door sales wise, but volume wise it's peanuts compared to all everything else Samsung is doing. We're literally talking about a company that makes products ranging from simple chips to ultralarge tankerships and steel mills.
This kind of thing may work in the short run before customers have been burned, but not in the long run and Samsung's rise and fall in the mobile space proves this. Instead of upgrading to new Samsung devices, customers who have been burned by things like what I've heard affectionately called "TouchAIDS" are now turning to competing companies.
Like a bunch of other people have pointed out, this is really not a time to start projecting doom and gloom for the whole company as the company has it's fingers in quite a few jars other than smartphones. Sure, high end smartphones are one of the more lucrative markets out there once you get your foot in the door sales wise, but volume wise it's peanuts compared to all everything else Samsung is doing. We're literally talking about a company that makes products ranging from simple chips to ultralarge tankerships and steel mills.
This was only a matter of time.
I really was hoping that MS would be in the game by now, but oh well.
I really was hoping that MS would be in the game by now, but oh well.
Because for some strange reason, Samsung thought market share means success and not profit. Stranger still, some people agree with them.
They probably thought that if they could push some of the competitors out of the way (HTC/Apple) then they could slowly raise prices and make a profit. Kill the competition first and then start making money.
But the mobile market changes amazingly fast. It still amazes me how fast Nokia and BlueBerry fell from grace...and it looks like the same thing is happening to Samsung. They bullied and "cheated" their way to the top, but before they had a chance to do anything with their dominance - bam - Xiaomi hits them with an uppercut and - boom - apple jabs them with the iPhone 6.
Gotta love it.
317.2 versus 192.7 for 2014.
Yeah, looks like Samsung is really on their way out to me...
Let's start the doom and gloom.
But look at their year over year compared to the others in the top 5.....
Apple increased unit sales by 40 million, Lenovo by another 20 million, etc...
Samsung DECREASED by 2 million.
Not saying they'll be gone tomorrow, but its obviously troubling. And FAR more doom and gloom than when people come on here saying similar things about Apple after each new record quarter.
317.2 versus 192.7 for 2014.
Yeah, looks like Samsung is really on their way out to me...
Let's start the doom and gloom.
Sure, Samsung shipped more, but how much profit did they make? That's the number that matters, right?
