Market share is the means.
Profit is the end.
I don't understand why this forum is so obsessed with not only market share, but profitless market share at that.
Apple's falling market share belies the fact that they are selling a ton of devices in an absolute sense. 14% iPhone market share still translates to over 900 million active iPhone users. And I think it's also timely that Aboveavalon just published this article yesterday.
https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2019/5/30/apples-billion-users
And based on his analysis, the spending power of the users aggregated by Apple is insane. Average of $258 per user per year. Or to break it down even more,
- 200 million people spending an average of $25 per year (people in the gray market).
- 620 million people spending an average $260 per year (includes 400M iPhone-only users upgrading every four years).
- 180 million people spending an average $500 per year (Apple’s core users in the U.S. and a handful of other countries buying a number of Apple products and paying for various services and subscriptions).
Apple has more than enough users to sustain its own thriving ecosystem, given the spending power they command.