Apple Widens Lead Over Samsung in U.S. Smartphone Race in 2013

[brendu]

It may be in the future, but for Apple the most money is made (hence most profit) in the US iirc..I think it may be the same for Samsung (Talking countries not continents). Size wise china may be the largest market, but that is yet to translate into profits from mobile phone sales.

Yeah I wasn't sure but thought it might be. Either way I suppose it doesn't matter as long as apple keeps innovating and improving their products.

 

[kdarling]

The USA is 29% of the global consumer market alone.

Bigger than Japan, Germany, China and Italy combined. Bigger than the entire EU.

Cool, but this article was about smartphone sales, not the general consumer market. In that respect, the US is not the largest market. From 2013 Canalsys data and current articles, it seems that the distribution of smartphone sales is now roughly something like this:

37% - China
17% - Europe
14% - Latin America
13% - USA
04% - India
04% - Japan
03% - UK
08% - others (Africa, Oceania, Middle East)

(Would appreciate any more current data that anyone digs up.)

 

[SirLance99]

You are talking hypothetical.

Let's talk real life.

Use case 1: Wife lives in U.S. Her mom, sister, 3 brothers, several nieces and nephews live in Canada. On b'days and religious holidays, we FaceTime them all. We don't have to ask if they have Skype. Why? Because we know they all have iOS devices. We don't have to figure out if they use Fring or Skype or ooVoo or whatever.

Take that use case and remove the "ecosystem". Put a mixture of Android phones and Windows phones in various people's hands. Tell me, how do I video chat with all of these people during Xmas?

Use case 2: I have Macs, Apple TVs and iOS devices. Whenever I want so show something on my 50" t.v., I Airplay from my Mac or iOS device to my Apple TV. Whenever I want to play music on my stereo, I Airplay on to my Airport express. For Xmas, I got my kid an iPad mini. She opened the box and right away, she had access the music and videos she previously bought in iTunes and could either watch/listen on her iPad mini or Airplay on AppleTV/Airport express. All this works with almost zero set up.

Let's now take this use case and remove the "ecosystem". Let's say Roku. And you bought your kid some Android tablet. And you bought your spouse a new Windows laptop. What is involved and getting those all to talk to each other so your kid can stream music and video from the Android tablet? And what is involved for your spouse to video stream whatever is on the new Windows laptop?

After you are done walking me through that, then tell me again how ecosystem is nonsense.

All of this is easy.

UC1: Hangouts - works on any laptop or that has a browser, works on any Android phone/tablet, works on any iOS device. Plus you can all talk to each other at the same time. So now family and friends from all over the world can share in the excitement together at the same time.

UC2: Chromecast, doesn't matter if it's music or movies and doesn’t discriminate against OS.

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I'm in the same boat 95% of my contacts have a iPhone makes zero sense for my to go x platform.

Seriously!? 95%!? You need to expand your friend base. Mine is around 50/50.

In fact, except when I walk into an Apple store, I never see a 95% Apple user base where ever I go.

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Of course no one you know has ever heard of it; your prior posts all state that you only associate with people who use iOS.

There's a reason why every mass media outlet or interactive interview that's done online is done via Hangouts - ANYONE can access it with very little setup required.

THIS right here. I see no one using Facetime for interviews or anything dealing with media. They all use Hangouts. Much more robust.

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Hahah..

If I decide to buy an Android phone, that phone would basically make it difficult to reliably video chat with close friends and relatives.

This is not true. It takes all of 2 minutes or less to set up Hangouts. Which works better than Facetime.

 

[BaldiMac]

Cool, but this article was about smartphone sales, not the general consumer market. In that respect, the US is not the largest market. From 2013 Canalsys data and current articles, it seems that the distribution of smartphone sales is now roughly something like this:

37% - China
17% - Europe
14% - Latin America
13% - USA
04% - India
04% - Japan
03% - UK
08% - others (Africa, Oceania, Middle East)

(Would appreciate any more current data that anyone digs up.)

Of course, if you consider the smartphone markets by revenue, the US moves up considerably.

http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24461213

ASPs in North America are estimated to be double those in Asia/Pacific. I would bet that indicates that the US leads in gross profit share.

Unit market share isn't the only metric.

 

[brendu]

Seriously!? 95%!? You need to expand your friend base. Mine is around 50/50.

In fact, except when I walk into an Apple store, I never see a 95% Apple user base where ever I go.

I'm a teacher and I can say with complete honesty that 95% of the teachers at my school are using iPhones. The school does not provide them, the teachers choose them. Likewise in my circle of friends at least 90% use iPhones. I have maybe two out of my 20 text threads not going through iMessage.

 

[Tanegashima]

They'll say doesn't matter because it's US only.

Oh gawd!

An iPhone in Portugal, the most subsidized plan costs $530 upfront for a 5S 16GB and $100 month for unlimited calls, but only 5GB data (4G). And you are locked to that 24 months, too. If you decide to abandon the plan, you still have to pay the plan and just don't get any service.

Despite the fact that the iPhone costs that, an unlocked S4 can be had for $592, carrier unlocked.

All prices with sales tax (VAT).


Carriers love making money selling old iPhones, and Android rules, because the only reasonable option for iPhone is buying new, from a reliable source, for 699€ ($951) carrier unlocked.

Even brick&mortar stores are pushing it's price above what apple sets (699€), because they know they can sell it anyways by making "small monthly loans", up to 899€ for the base model ($1224).

What would you chose? An S4 for $592, or an iPhone for almost $1000?

 

[samcraig]

I'm a teacher and I can say with complete honesty that 95% of the teachers at my school are using iPhones. The school does not provide them, the teachers choose them. Likewise in my circle of friends at least 90% use iPhones. I have maybe two out of my 20 text threads not going through iMessage.

Wow. Well You convinced me. Android is doomed. And Apple is totally dominant around the world no matter where you go. Thanks!

 

[Max(IT)]

Can't wait to hear people tell us how the most profitable smart phone market in the world doesn't matter

Best post of the thread

 

[SirLance99]

I'm a teacher and I can say with complete honesty that 95% of the teachers at my school are using iPhones. The school does not provide them, the teachers choose them. Likewise in my circle of friends at least 90% use iPhones. I have maybe two out of my 20 text threads not going through iMessage.

Wow. Well You convinced me. Android is doomed. And Apple is totally dominant around the world no matter where you go. Thanks!

Come on, don't be mean. I still find it hard to believe but I'll take his word for it.

 

[Max(IT)]

According to a patent filing, Apple could use their fingerprint sensor as a trackpad.

Voila. One-handed use on any size screen.

I don't want a cursor pointer on my smartphone please !!!

 

[Max(IT)]

I just find it funny there is such a disparity. All the Android sites I visit are not really concerned about Apple; it's about Android. This site likes to proliferate the "nuclear war" that is Apple v. Google.

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I was wondering the same; unsure where/how the sarcasm was being applied?

Maybe is because there are people, like you, who clearly has no interest in iOS devices but keep posting , defending Google and Samsung, in iOS sections of this forum ...

You just said you'll never buy an iPhone, no matter what ... well, why are you speaking about android here ?

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1.) Hangouts is multiplatform (even on Macs)

2.) Airplay is proprietary - but you knew this, so not sure sure what you were looking to gain on this

3.) See #2

So really is the issue here that you are locked into Apple products and have no other way out? At least Google's services (TV/Movies, Music, Hangouts) is able to be accessed on either iOS or Android. Can't say the same for Apple.

EDIT: Others have pointed this out as well.

If hangout is the service Google is offering to the world, well, I'm very happy with the "close" iMessage ....

 

[proline]

I meant that the Chinese market not the US market is the largest and most profitable market for smartphone makers (including apple and Samsung)

Can you tell me what you don't understand? A company could:

A: sell 100 million phones in the US at $700 each making $200 each in profit for a total of $20 billion in profit
B: sell 200 million phones in China at $49 each making $1 each in profit for a total of $200 million in profit

Option A is basically what Apple does. Option B is everyone else- they get to brag about how they sell the most but they are lucky to make any profit at all. I'd rather be company A any day. The US may not be the biggest, but it is by far the most profitable. Size != Profit. Got it?

 

[Max(IT)]

I guess I'm more a "glass half-full" type of guy. Perhaps you're right, but we can't be sure that was the reason. After all, they have to be able to sell the things, and a bigger screen did became a desirable differentiation in user experience.

So I see it as "what is Apple not doing, that people want?" It was, after all the mentality behind whole "Droid does" thing. From a personal, consumer-type standpoint, a larger screen is an improvement in user experience, and I don't think it escapes the OEMs.

Still 78% of android users own a device with a display between 3.5 and 4.3" ....

Fandroid still speaking about Google market share are ignoring, on purpose , that android is popular thanks to the huge number of cheap crappy low end smartphone on the market (galaxy ace and similar) sold for less than 150 $ ....

 

[djgamble]

I'm a teacher and I can say with complete honesty that 95% of the teachers at my school are using iPhones. The school does not provide them, the teachers choose them. Likewise in my circle of friends at least 90% use iPhones. I have maybe two out of my 20 text threads not going through iMessage.

Yep you'll find different groups of people buy them IMO.
I'm in IT and 99% of people use really ugly Androids (not saying they are all ugly - just my group buys the less stylish ones) with massive screens. Most also do daggy things like have their ringtone on full (rather than silent because it's like... work.) They HATE Apple with a passion (always have... these guys would have been arguing for DOS over MacOS back in the day definitely... 'nah man you need the power of a DOS command prompt with no mouse and a zillion keys on the keyboard! Apple and their GUI b/s will never make it!!!' Then as soon as M$ copied MacOS they jumped on the GUI bandwagon simply because it wasn't Apple. People are like that and I work with them... not a good thing or a bad thing BTW.)

Most have the impression that these phones suite their ultra-nerdy needs. This is interesting because I'm just as nerdy/more nerdy (I'm a software developer) BUT I like Apple's mixture of smooth development techniques and style. Nerds don't need to use big chunky equipment I swear!

When I'm with my friends, we all use iPhones... [period.] But most are like me... creative nerds rather than database dudes/bored manual testers.

 

[brendu]

Can you tell me what you don't understand? A company could:

A: sell 100 million phones in the US at $700 each making $200 each in profit for a total of $20 billion in profit
B: sell 200 million phones in China at $49 each making $1 each in profit for a total of $200 million in profit

Option A is basically what Apple does. Option B is everyone else- they get to brag about how they sell the most but they are lucky to make any profit at all. I'd rather be company A any day. The US may not be the biggest, but it is by far the most profitable. Size != Profit. Got it?

What I don't understand is how you are saying that in china apple is selling the iPhone for $49. That makes no sense. Unless you're saying apple doesn't sell many iPhones in China in which I can't argue with you but ask that you point to some data to support it. My argument is and always was that apple sells more iPhones in China or will soon and that market is larger than the US market. Maybe I'm wrong but with a billion people it seems unlikely.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Can you tell me what you don't understand? A company could:

A: sell 100 million phones in the US at $700 each making $200 each in profit for a total of $20 billion in profit
B: sell 200 million phones in China at $49 each making $1 each in profit for a total of $200 million in profit

Option A is basically what Apple does. Option B is everyone else- they get to brag about how they sell the most but they are lucky to make any profit at all. I'd rather be company A any day. The US may not be the biggest, but it is by far the most profitable. Size != Profit. Got it?

And I as the end user care who makes the most profit because......? Apple makes a trillion dollars a quarter, my iPhone works. Samsung makes 1.49, my Samsung phone still works. No effect on me whatsoever.

 

[proline]

What I don't understand is how you are saying that in china apple is selling the iPhone for $49. That makes no sense. Unless you're saying apple doesn't sell many iPhones in China in which I can't argue with you but ask that you point to some data to support it. My argument is and always was that apple sells more iPhones in China or will soon and that market is larger than the US market. Maybe I'm wrong but with a billion people it seems unlikely.

OK, now I get where you are coming from, and yes, you are ridiculously wrong. Apple's China sales accounted for 15% of their Q4 revenue, U.S. sales accounted for 40%. So despite China being larger, sales in the U.S. were nearly triple in China, hence the U.S. is far more profitable. It will be many years before the two equalize.

Now some people would argue, wrongly, that this problem is unique to Apple and that other companies are selling more phones and making more money in China. Well yes they are, but those are $49 Android phones barely worthy of the term 'smartphone' on which they are hardly making any money. Sales and gross revenues look good, the bottom line not so much.

A final, wrong argument you could make is that while the high end, profitable smartphone market in China is really small, it is growing quickly and the best way to get in on that is by trying to get market share in general by making cheap crap and dumping it on the Chinese market. That's also silly. If you want to sell high end smart phones long-term, you protect your brand and your price points and let consumers grow into your product as they get wealthier. You don't make crap that devalues your brand and makes people not want to pay for your good phones.

 

[RobertMartens]

The only smartphones I've ever had are iPhones.

I like to argue that there are smartphones and iPhones. If you mean iPhone you don't say smartphone.

A lot like PC and Mac. In fact, exactly like PC and Mac.

 

[Mac.Pro]

So people are finally coming to their senses about HTC...

 

[proline]

And I as the end user care who makes the most profit because......? Apple makes a trillion dollars a quarter, my iPhone works. Samsung makes 1.49, my Samsung phone still works. No effect on me whatsoever.

No effect on day one. It certainly does affect their willingness to provide support long-term if their $1.49 profit is contingent can be wiped away by a single tech support call or bug fix. This is certainly a problem for Android where even Google has declared it an official 'tradition' to only provide software updates to their Nexus phones for one year vs. 4 years for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

Furthermore, if the market is commoditized sufficiently, there isn't enough profit incentive to support innovation. Innovation in the PC market is basically gone- most consumers are happy with PCs that are 5+ years old running an OS that is 10+ years old not because their devices work optimally but because nobody has made any compelling improvements in ages. I'd hate to see that happen to other markets I care about.

 

[kdarling]

I don't want a cursor pointer on my smartphone please !!!

Oh, I'm sure Apple could make the cursor look familiar



Or they could just use the fingerprint sensor to move a focus highlight from field to field. No cursor needed.

 

[efktd]

Let's all be honest. All of us here bought an Android or two just to see what it is

Nope. I've used iPhones since Feb 2008. The 1st gen 16GB. Then 3GS, 4, 4S, now 5S. I'd never leave Apple, not only because I'm loyal and believe in their vision to the fullest, but because their products are second to none.

 

[fredaroony]

Yep you'll find different groups of people buy them IMO.
I'm in IT and 99% of people use really ugly Androids (not saying they are all ugly - just my group buys the less stylish ones) with massive screens. Most also do daggy things like have their ringtone on full (rather than silent because it's like... work.) They HATE Apple with a passion (always have... these guys would have been arguing for DOS over MacOS back in the day definitely... 'nah man you need the power of a DOS command prompt with no mouse and a zillion keys on the keyboard! Apple and their GUI b/s will never make it!!!' Then as soon as M$ copied MacOS they jumped on the GUI bandwagon simply because it wasn't Apple. People are like that and I work with them... not a good thing or a bad thing BTW.)

Most have the impression that these phones suite their ultra-nerdy needs. This is interesting because I'm just as nerdy/more nerdy (I'm a software developer) BUT I like Apple's mixture of smooth development techniques and style. Nerds don't need to use big chunky equipment I swear!

When I'm with my friends, we all use iPhones... [period.] But most are like me... creative nerds rather than database dudes/bored manual testers.

Rubbish, plenty of people buy S4's etc and are not super nerdy types. My wife has a S4 and she has no idea about IT.

You are very much off the mark in my opinion.

 

[mk_in_mke]

Let's all be honest. All of us here bought an Android or two just to see what it is (and because we can afford it which is a given because we can afford Apple products). Most of us got burnt by the whole Android experiment (HTC Thunderbolt), and vowed to never use an Android ever again.

Next time you want to come up with assumptions like this one, take a cold shower first. May be this will prevent you from talking nonsense… Do not make your silly case a general rule. Just Say "I did this and this is my experience…"

To paraphrase you: "All of us here have been clever enough to stick to an iPhone from day one and never wanted to switch" if my statement sounds absurd to you then you can just imagine what your crazy assumption did to me...

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Not sure what sites you visit then but I almost never see any anti-Apple material on any Android site I read.

Once you come back to planet Earth, go to Cnet and other sites… Then let us know what you think about the Apple bashing or anti Apple comments…

 

[fredaroony]

Next time you want to come up with assumptions like this one, take a cold shower first. May be this will prevent you from talking nonsense… Do not make your silly case a general rule. Just Say "I did this and this is my experience…"

To paraphrase you: "All of us here have been clever enough to stick to an iPhone from day one and never wanted to switch" if my statement sounds absurd to you then you can just imagine what your crazy assumption did to me...

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Once you come back to planet Earth, go to Cnet and other sites… Then let us know what you think about the Apple bashing or anti Apple comments…

Feet firmly planted...I wasnt aware Cnet was an exclusive Android site. You have a link to a different version of the site?