Apple Sinks From First to Fifth Place in Chinese Smartphone Market

[zakarhino]

True, if it wasn't the eco-system, I wouldn't have bought 15PM. Android manufactures are willing to work with companies like Hasselblad (own by DJI now), Leica or Zeiss to improve their products. Apple wants to take credit for everything themselves. When Apple felt threatened by Huawei, they made USA to ban them. Now, even without the help of Google, they rose like a Phoenix.
I am not a fan of Chinese mobiles but they do try to innovate. Like Steve Jobs said, "Never Settle".

Yeah I scoffed at the Leica and Hasselblad partnerships from Xiaomi and Huawei respectively when I first saw them but I've been proven wrong.

Look at Leica's image rendering combined with the 1" sensors from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra vs. the S24 Ultra. It's not even the same stratosphere. The 14 Ultra finally accomplishes what I've been waiting for: smartphone pictures that look like they were taken on a regular camera such as a Fuji point and shoot. An X100VI might still take the edge in raw performance but the versatility of a smartphone balances the scale.

The colors look natural, the shadows are present (no cranking up the HDR which makes everything look horrible), the overall depth and texture of the image is wonderful. This is what I want my photos to look like.

14 Ultra

S24 Ultra. This is what I've come to expect from my iPhone unless I went through the trouble of shooting raw and playing around in Lightroom for ages, even then it wouldn't look as good.

 

[JohnRckr]

Doesn't look too good for Apple. iPhone has stagnated completely, not even a foldable phone yet. Mac OS gets worse with each release. Vision Pro flopping.

Yet here we are, still simping for Apple.

 

[Geoffb9]

What did Apple think!
Apple has been very slow developing products. Specially Software.
When was the last time they updated Final Cut Pro or iWork with meaningful new modern feature!
People follow the Software and Apps.
I've been an Apple macOS (Mac OS) since 2002 and just lately started using Windows 11 because I needed the advanced features in Excel. Windows OS is not what it used to be in early 2000's. It's much better now.
This is how it starts. A few years ago I wouldn't have thought I'd start using Windows again but I will the Software that I need and Apple should be smart to know that a lot of advanced users do that.

 

[zakarhino]

We see literally nobody with foldable in public but we lots of them in pawn shops where they will soon be joined by unwanted AI devices like rabbit and Humane AI pin thing.

Are you based in the US? There's like three foldables for sale here, each with a considerable price premium and compromises over a regular phone. Even then I still see them (the Galaxy Fold most of the time) at least a couple times a week. The Galaxy Fold is a bulky brick with a garbage front screen, the Pixel Fold just sucks generally, and the OnePlus is also too thick plus nobody really knows about OnePlus outside of tech circles. Not to mention Android support for foldables is not great so manufacturers have to develop bespoke software workarounds to make the devices useful, a hole Google dug for themselves.

Foldables become a no brainer when they have no compromises. One such example is the Honor Magic V2, a Chinese foldable that has the same thickness as an iPhone... when FOLDED. As for software, the moment Apple unveil a foldable (with no compromises on hardware) it will be a bit hit everywhere because they have the right software platform to do a foldable properly. Once Apple does it the Android foldable segment will improve and expand rapidly too.

 

[Geoffb9]

When was the last time that Apple added a feature to their Camera App that people actually use! Last update they added Spacial Video! How many people use that? 50? While they never bothered to add something like Google's to remove objects in photos using AI. I see Android usiners do that all the time to post on IG or share with friends/family.

 

[timber]

I'm a US iPhone customer and have been using iPhone since the original 2G model. Recently I purchased an S24 Ultra to experiment with because even I'm becoming bored with iOS and iPhone. I returned the S24 but I'm not done with my Android experimentation. If I weren't so locked in to Apple's ecosystem I would experiment with different phones a lot more but if I want to use Android I basically have to always carry an iPhone with me too.

I mention being a US customer because I'm like a lot of other US iPhone users; I use all the iCloud stuff. In China most of the central software experiences are not unique to iPhone and in some ways work better on HarmonyOS or Android so there's less of a reason to stick with iPhone unless you really like the design language (this is a big one for me because I'm used to it) or really care about the privacy features of iCloud and iMessage (yes, iCloud and iMessage data are also E2E encrypted in China using iCloud's Advanced Data Protection).

Like come on Xiaomi are making cars now and they already have an XR glasses product. One of the features on the Xiaomi SU7 car is you can wirelessly beam any app content to the main vehicle's display which is a major step up from how CarPlay currently works (apps have to be supported by the creator).

Ignorance is causing people to believe the only reason one would abandon the hallowed iPhone is because the government is forcing you to, either through economic means or political pressure. If I lived in China I would probably buy a Xiaomi (the car too lol) just for the ecosystem convenience and better support with China's software world.

You should try a Pixel. While Samsung hardware is extremely nice their habit of changing and duplicating stuff in Android is not great for the overall experience (IMHO, if it works for anyone, awesome).

 

[zakarhino]

You should try a Pixel. While Samsung hardware is extremely nice their habit of changing and duplicating stuff in Android is not great for the overall experience (IMHO, if it works for anyone, awesome).

Yep, planning on buying the Pixel 9 Pro. I think Pixel's design consistency and simplicity is one of the best in the Android world (as it should be, Google). The leaked design looks so nice even though some people are saying it's ugly. My original plan was to start my Android experiment with the 8 Pro but so many people were saying the Tensor chip was not very good. I'm hoping they resolve those performance and battery issues with the 9 Pro. We'll see.

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

Are you based in the US? There's like three foldables for sale here, each with a considerable price premium and compromises over a regular phone. Even then I still see them (the Galaxy Fold most of the time) at least a couple times a week. The Galaxy Fold is a bulky brick with a garbage front screen, the Pixel Fold just sucks generally, and the OnePlus is also too thick plus nobody really knows about OnePlus outside of tech circles. Not to mention Android support for foldables is not great so manufacturers have to develop bespoke software workarounds to make the devices useful, a hole Google dug for themselves.

Foldables become a no brainer when they have no compromises. One such example is the Honor Magic V2, a Chinese foldable that has the same thickness as an iPhone... when FOLDED. As for software, the moment Apple unveil a foldable (with no compromises on hardware) it will be a bit hit everywhere because they have the right software platform to do a foldable properly. Once Apple does it the Android foldable segment will improve and expand rapidly too.

Laughable. Even ChatGPT text is smarter than that text you wasted time on.

Foldable are cracking all over the place and will always do so and this ultra thin Honor Magic garbage you mention has **** performance that’s how they make it thin.

 

[CEmajr]

We see literally nobody with foldable in public but we lots of them in pawn shops where they will soon be joined by unwanted AI devices like rabbit and Humane AI pin thing.

Agreed. I always see this claim about foldable as something Apple is lacking but have yet to see anyone point out foldable phone that actually sells units. For now it's just a gimmick with no real benefit or use case to make it worthwhile. Maybe someone will figure out a use for a foldable phone in the future but for right now it's definitely not having any effect on Apple or anyone's else's sales.

 

[Silverado]

The graph is so cyclical an Apple has been going to the top, by a big margin, with every iPhone release cycle.

 

[Kottu]

Yeah I scoffed at the Leica and Hasselblad partnerships from Xiaomi and Huawei respectively when I first saw them but I've been proven wrong.

Look at Leica's image rendering combined with the 1" sensors from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra vs. the S24 Ultra. It's not even the same stratosphere. The 14 Ultra finally accomplishes what I've been waiting for: smartphone pictures that look like they were taken on a regular camera such as a Fuji point and shoot. An X100VI might still take the edge in raw performance but the versatility of a smartphone balances the scale.

The colors look natural, the shadows are present (no cranking up the HDR which makes everything look horrible), the overall depth and texture of the image is wonderful. This is what I want my photos to look like.

14 Ultra

S24 Ultra. This is what I've come to expect from my iPhone unless I went through the trouble of shooting raw and playing around in Lightroom for ages, even then it wouldn't look as good.

Wow, what a difference! In my iPhone 12PM , I could turn off the HDR in the camera app but now I can't. I would like to capture a scene like the way I see, not what my phone see. That's why I keep a Sony Xperia 1V as a second device. Both iPhone a Samsung process photos heavily to give a more pleasing look to share on Social media.

 

[zakarhino]

Laughable. Even ChatGPT text is smarter than that text you wasted time on.

Foldable are cracking all over the place and will always do so and this ultra thin Honor Magic garbage you mention has **** performance that’s how they make it thin.

And Claude 3 Opus is smarter than you, see?

It's a good question whether it's too early to judge foldable phones. Here are a few key considerations:

The technology is still relatively new and evolving rapidly. The first mainstream foldable phones only hit the market in 2019, so the form factor is only a few years old. Manufacturers are still working out issues like screen durability, hinge mechanisms, battery life, and optimizing the user experience and software for foldable displays. So in that sense, the technology is still maturing.

However, several generations of foldable phones have now been released by Samsung, Huawei, Motorola and others. So there are concrete devices and real-world usage to evaluate, rather than just concept products. Reviews indicate that while early foldables had issues, the latest generation from Samsung and others are much more refined and durable.

Foldable phone sales, while still a small portion of the overall smartphone market, have been growing rapidly year-over-year. So consumers are starting to embrace the form factor, even with the higher prices compared to traditional phones.

Ultimately, while the foldable phone market is still developing, I believe there's now enough history and consumer adoption to start critically evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, and long-term potential. They may not be right for everyone yet, but for certain users the large screen and portability provide a compelling option. The technology will continue to evolve and improve, but foldables have established themselves as a legitimate new device category. Final judgments are still premature, but initial assessments based on the current state of the art are reasonable in my view.

 

[Dj64Mk7]

Yeah I scoffed at the Leica and Hasselblad partnerships from Xiaomi and Huawei respectively when I first saw them but I've been proven wrong.

Look at Leica's image rendering combined with the 1" sensors from the Xiaomi 14 Ultra vs. the S24 Ultra. It's not even the same stratosphere. The 14 Ultra finally accomplishes what I've been waiting for: smartphone pictures that look like they were taken on a regular camera such as a Fuji point and shoot. An X100VI might still take the edge in raw performance but the versatility of a smartphone balances the scale.

The colors look natural, the shadows are present (no cranking up the HDR which makes everything look horrible), the overall depth and texture of the image is wonderful. This is what I want my photos to look like.

14 Ultra

S24 Ultra. This is what I've come to expect from my iPhone unless I went through the trouble of shooting raw and playing around in Lightroom for ages, even then it wouldn't look as good.

Perhaps I’m part of the issue here, but the bottom photo seems to better display all the details?

 

[Beautyspin]

The economics and reasoning behind this is not as obvious as it looks.

Chinese economy is collapsing which is reducing disposable income to spend on technology. That forces people back to inland brands because they are much cheaper. Also the government is restricting use of Apple devices in government positions. This is not because Apple are insecure in particular but because the government has no control over the provision of devices. Looking at political allegiances, there is a West vs East divide and they are hedging their bets on retaining control over their population's devices much like Russia did last year. This increases mindshare of devices when there are so many "government" employees in China.

So don't blame Apple, blame failing Chinese economic policy and geopolitical tensions.

Anyway if you go and look at the backers for some of these other companies you will see the Chinese government directly or indirectly involved.

May also be because there are no backdoors for NSA in Huawei phones!

 

[buddhistMonkey]

If you look at the chart, Apple's curve looks pretty close to a sine wave. The only real story over the past two years is that Huawei has gained market share, but not really at Apple's expense. Apple had a very strong 4th quarter, and now we're in the midst of the natural ebb of a four-quarter cycle, the bottom of the sine wave. If Apple isn't #1 again in another two quarters, then maybe you've got a story.

 

[atomwork]

The problem at Apple is the innovation cycle and its by design. Apple is so big with its OS and integration of all devices; once you are enjoying them, you won't leave the ecosystem. Hence, Apple is putting less effort into bringing out yearly mindblowing advances. Other manufacturers don't have the software and product environment and need to constantly push the technology. Competition is great. I have my beefs with Apple. I wish we had a 10x zoom. I am into photography and still carry for street photography my old S20Ultra with the 10x optical zoom.

 

[Beautyspin]

What you call "greed" is Just how business works. Other companies sell che per phone because they wouldn't sell otherwise, not because they're less greed. The market has no human-like soul. Never.

I do not live in the US so I do not know if these are the current prices, but I see that Samsung phones are more expensive than iPhones. I am not even talking about Fold phones.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (curr. $1,299.99 on Amazon) or the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max (curr. $1,199.99 at Best Buy).

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Forget-the-iPhone-15-Pro-Galaxy-S24-Ultra-4-flagship-killers-with-competitive-price-tags.806662.0.html

 

[Kottu]

Perhaps I’m part of the issue here, but the bottom photo seems to better display all the details?

Perhaps the top photo is true to the actual scenario when the it was captured.

I took the photo few years back with iPhone 12PM. It was a cloudy evening but iPhone made the sky blue, those three stars are actually lens flare caused by the street lights on the right. But the photo looks like a Disney movie poster. Does it look like how I saw it? Absolutely not!

 

[0339327]

Microsoft June 7, 2000.

I see your point but in the long term Microsoft has done fairly well and currently is the most valuable company.

 

[steve09090]

Looking at the chart, for the market share element only, this is not out of line with last year or the year before? See the big jumps for Apple in Q4 with the new releases before descending.

All the naysayers here just read the headline and not capable of looking at the detail. Nothing surprising at all.

 

[zakarhino]

Perhaps I’m part of the issue here, but the bottom photo seems to better display all the details?

If that's what you prefer that's fair, I can't pretend there isn't a reason Samsung, Apple, and Google chose to process images this way -- many people like it.

For me it's not about which one displays detail better, it's about the overall image look and feel. I prefer the true to life rendering of the Xiaomi personally. I put the depth, color, and dynamic range of the camera over the detail and sharpness.

 

[WWPD]

At least Apple is beating Samsung in China? They didn't even chart. I'm so shocked that all the other top selling phones are Chinese, it's almost as if the Chinese people are ultra nationalistic.

 

[PlayUltimate]

On the software feature side, I think Apple is in a tough situation. The anti-trust threat makes it hard for Apple to add features that other apps already have; it would make them look predatory. Ergo, continue to innovate on the hardware and OS side and leave the app features to others. Albeit, how much innovation can you even do on the OS side without stepping on someone else's toes?

 

[LavaLevel]

side tangent rant:

Apple needs to move all manufacturing stateside anyway. Waiting on my M2 Mac mini last month, I was watching it be put together in China, driven down to Hong Kong, and then shipped to Taiwan of all places. Where TSMC manufactured the silicon chip in the first place?!? Didn't XI say he was taking Taiwan in 2025? That doesn't seem very long term stable.

TSMC has almost built their AZ chip fab. Bring manufacturing back like in the Apple ][e days and sell it all as America's computer.

 

[arkitect]

Yeah I scoffed at the Leica and Hasselblad partnerships from Xiaomi and Huawei respectively when I first saw them but I've been proven wrong.

That is an amazing difference.

Perhaps I’m part of the issue here, but the bottom photo seems to better display all the details?

True, but often in a photograph you're looking to capture the mood and what you perceive to be there… it is not a clinical "Oh look at all the detail".

If that's what you prefer that's fair, I can't pretend there isn't a reason Samsung, Apple, and Google chose to process images this way -- many people like it.

For me it's not about which one displays detail better, it's about the overall image look and feel. I prefer the true to life rendering of the Xiaomi personally. I put the depth, color, and dynamic range of the camera over the detail and sharpness.

100% agree.