Apple's Share of Smartphone Market Slips as Smartphones Outsell Feature Phones for First Time

[Michael Scrip]

If android sales is purely price driven, Micromax should be on top of that list.
Serious question, how many shares of Apple do you own?

I have no Apple shares.

How much Google stock do you own?

Oh... and I think Micromax is the #3 smartphone vendor in India... a country of over a billion people.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Sorry about that, but I've seen so many strange comments here that it's hard to tell when someone is sarcastic or actually believes what they write

Agreed, that's why I put the smileys.

 

[TheHateMachine]

Since Android has 75% smartphone market share... and the iPhone only 20%... why is the iTunes store still the largest online music store?

Are we to believe all those Android users don't like music?

iTunes has quite the mindshare... it was one of the first digital music store fronts. In regards to online stores Amazon/Google aren't that old and matured. Also iTunes not exclusive to iOS. I mean you can get it on just about every mainstream desktop OS. There is literally over 1 billion active PCs in use as of 2008 last I heard.

 

[alent1234]

I would call you a "spec-list shopper" but how about we try a car analogy instead?

Some people think a passenger van is clearly a better vehicle than the BMW 3 Series: So much more cargo space, ability to carry 8 people, better sight lines, can tow things, etc.

Spec lists do not necessarily mean better products! It's about which of those features are valuable to you. Also some those things you mention have significant downsides such as SD memory is terribly slow and you have to now manage two storage volumes instead of one.

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Samsung's mobile division profits are not even close to on par with Apple.

almost every car is better than a BMW
i have some family who are always going on about how european stuff is so awesome. i looked at a european car, and it sucked. Honda for me

 

[Blakjack]

Do you really find the screens on Samsung phones that much better? The ones I've seen in person have been horribly color-balanced.

That color balance depends on the person. Most people see the bright bold colors of the android phones and love them but for others it's like a girl with too much makeup on.

 

[chagla]

You know, some people actually like to get a lot of incomplete bundleware with their phones

"FREE SOFTWARE!!"

likewise some people like apple to dictate how their devices should be used. apple knows what's best for folks.

 

[Michael Scrip]

iTunes has quite the mindshare... it was one of the first digital music store fronts. In regards to online stores Amazon/Google aren't that old and matured. Also iTunes not exclusive to iOS. I mean you can get it on just about every mainstream desktop OS. There is literally over 1 billion active PCs in use as of 2008 last I heard.

Good points.

I dunno though... the way some people talk... they say Android is dominating the entire planet!

Or in other words... Apple is in a world of hurt due to Android's incredible market share.

Are they?

 

[ssspinball]

because Apple forces you to use iTunes. Rather than having to go through the hassle of buying music from other places and then transfering it into their iTunes, they buy it straight from iTunes. Android users can buy their music anywhere and then just drag and drop into their phone.

You say this as if drag and drop is a better experience. Besides, aren't all the young'uns using cloud services now anyway?

Drag and drop is the equivalent of using hand written index cards when you could be using the power of a database. That's fine with me if you like the index card approach and manually moving files around better, just don't assume others think the same.

 

[apolloa]

Not surprising really, it's all those phablets and 5" devices that people state are only a 'fad' which are outselling the iPhone.

You know I held a friends iPhone 4S today to look at something and it was like holding an old friend, it's size is just sssssssssoooooooooooooooo much better for me then my iPhone 5.

I am so hoping for a 3.5" iPhone with the same design and specs as the iPhone 5?

 

[sneaky butcher]

My first phone was a Nokia 5110 which I got as a present for Christmas of '98. Nokia has sentimental value to me and it's a real pain to see them fade like this. They made their choices though...

same for me and millions of others. Back in the day everyone had a nokia and snake was the top game

if they had done a high end android they would have done well.

 

[Sedrick]

Perhaps you would like to view these simple diagrams (I can direct you to the full article if you would like) dealing with the issue of iPhone 5's almost twofold battery life:

Image
Image

After that, you can read this entire, very comprehensive article on why the iPhone 5's display is better in almost every single measurable aspect than the Samsung Galaxy S3's.

I would like to inform you that I am VERY aware of the facts and ignore none of them.

When was the last time you browsed the web for 10 hours in one sitting? In most cases all these phones got plugged in for the night after a couple hours (total) of browsing, so it's not as much of a factor as the 'simple charts' would have you believe.

 

[fr33 loader]

I have no Apple shares.

How much Google stock do you own?

Oh... and I think Micromax is the #3 smartphone vendor in India... a country of over a billion people.

I don't own either of them. I'm regular consumer who chooses phone depending on what fits my needs and have no special company allegiance.

It's just amusing reading all your posts here how emotionally invested you are with how much Apple earns and you are not a shareholder. You seem to be very happy that Apple has a very high margin and raking all this money from you. I'm genuinely perplexed as this actually puts you in a disadvantage. That is just plain weird to me.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I don't own either of them. I'm regular consumer who chooses phone depending on what fits my needs and have no special company allegiance.

It's just amusing reading all your posts here how emotionally invested you are with how much Apple earns and you are not a shareholder. You seem to be very happy that Apple has a very high margin and raking all this money from you. I'm genuinely perplexed as this actually puts you in a disadvantage. That is just plain weird to me.

It's not the money... Apple makes plenty of money.

I'm just physically ill over the fact that Apple's smartphone market share is slipping.

JK

Come on... there are fans of both sides on this forum. It's just harmless fun. Nothing I say will affect Apple anyway.

But thanks for taking an interest in my posts! I feel special!

 

[Toltepeceno]

But Apple makes the most profits and that is what is most important to a consumer.

It sure seems to be very important to many here.

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I'm looking forward to the innovation in iOS7 and the iPhone 6. I feel like apple is going to blow the competition out of the water very soon.

I wish they would, I need a reason to go back to iphone since a 4.5" screen don't seem too be happening.

 

[fr33 loader]

It's not the money... Apple makes plenty of money.

I'm just physically ill over the fact that Apple's smartphone market share is slipping.

JK

Come on... there are fans of both sides on this forum. It's just harmless fun. Nothing I say will affect Apple anyway.

But thanks for taking an interest in my posts! I feel special!

You would think that 98% of iPhone owners here are shareholders as they clap and giggle every time Apple earns a penny.

If that what floats your boat, go for it. I'm happy for you.

 

[Toltepeceno]

The teenagers in my country - México - can't stop texting, not for a minute. You have your anecdote, and there's mine! I'm not sure what it has to do with anything anyway!

Yep, the same here in my part of Mexico......and I personally know of none that have iphones.

Apple ignores this market, of course it's going to go to android.

400.00 us for an iphone 4 8gb

784.00 us for an iphone 4s 16gb

928.00 us for an iphone 5 16gb

http://www.telcel.com/iphone5/amigo.html

http://www.telcel.com/iphone4/amigokit.html

 

[Michael Scrip]

You would think that 98% of iPhone owners here are shareholders as they clap and giggle every time Apple earns a penny.

If that what floats your boat, go for it. I'm happy for you.

Again... it's not the money.

Android is beating Apple in market share... Android phones are being activated at a rate of 1.5 million a day...

The way people talk around here... Apple is doomed!

But I don't see it like that... and I'm trying to quell that notion by highlighting Apple's positive attributes.

 

[InYou101]

Yes, thats it! Stale! Instead of a nice clean rectangle, lets shape the iPhone into a hexagon. Boy, that will be "fresh" and new. Even if it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, and the current shape is a perfect form factor, lets just throw it away for something that makes even less sense, just so the snarky community can proclaim the iPhone has a FRESH shape!

There's certainly plenty of room for innovation and improvements, but CHANGING things for the sake of change is superficial and irrational. Lets be patient, shall we? And wait until real breakthroughs happen, rather than constantly changing things for the sake of keeping the attention span of an ADHD-infested tech media.

Some people will settle for anything and are afraid of change.. or maybe you just need to take a chill pill

 

[barkmonster]

Exactly.

There are some Android phones that can be had for $80 in some countries.

Not all Android phones are cheap of course... but they're not all $600 flagships either.

I'm actually not surprised when I hear overall market share numbers.

But I'd love to know the share of smartphones $450 and up.

I imagine it's fairly similar to Apple's share of premium laptop sales.

 

[lilo777]

Fine... take web browsing stats out of it.

Since Android has 75% smartphone market share... and the iPhone only 20%... why is the iTunes store still the largest online music store?

Are we to believe all those Android users don't like music?

That may have something to do with the close nature of Apple ecosystem.
Even though it's technically not true, many iPhone owners probably think that the only way to get music on their phones is to use iTunes. Many Android owners will go outside the Play Store. Many will use Amazon because they offer the best prices and this will not count as a transaction for Play Store (and it is not)

 

[pirg]

That may have something to do with the close nature of Apple ecosystem.
Even though it's technically not true, many iPhone owners probably think that the only way to get music on their phones is to use iTunes. Many Android owners will go outside the Play Store. Many will use Amazon because they offer the best prices and this will not count as a transaction for Play Store (and it is not)

What are you basing your stats on?

 

[Misky]

I reckon there is a LOT of people out there who miss the 'old times' when you didn't have to charge up your mobile phone every night, like it has developed into now when basically a mobile phone has become a tiny computer with the ability to make calls and texts, and not a phone with the ability to use the web occasionally. That's certainly an area I would like to see some improvements in the future, and I reckon - regardless how silly it sounds - that would be a huge selling point. Especially since various I Pads and ultra thin laptops are getting more wide spread.

 

[chadley_chad]

I would call you a "spec-list shopper" but how about we try a car analogy instead?

Some people think a passenger van is clearly a better vehicle than the BMW 3 Series: So much more cargo space, ability to carry 8 people, better sight lines, can tow things, etc.

Spec lists do not necessarily mean better products! It's about which of those features are valuable to you. Also some those things you mention have significant downsides such as SD memory is terribly slow and you have to now manage two storage volumes instead of one.

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Samsung's mobile division profits are not even close to on par with Apple.

? No, I'm not a 'spec list' shopper, I buy based on features I'm going to use ... Like all the things I've mentioned. To then criticise these extra 'specs' that I'm given, trying to make out phones like the iPhone are somehow better because they don't have them is a pretty desperate statement (as is comparing two completely different cars aimed at different families to two mobile phones!); as is talking about SD cards being 'slow'. Hmmm, my class 10 SD card could do with being a millionth of a second faster, so fair point! Desperate points my friend, desperate points.

 

[BC2009]

Do you have better numbers? Unfortunately for you, all numbers support IDC and not you.

All the numbers supported IDC when they estimated Mac sales dropped by 7% when the actual drop was only 1.3%. They were only off by a factor of 5.

What about when IDC said Windows Phone would overtake iPhone by 2015 and then had to retract that when actual unit sales got reported by Nokia.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2012/1...ow-claims-platform-will-command-11-4-in-2016/

Now we are suppose to believe that with their flagship GS3 on the death bed of its lifecycle they they magically increased sales by 33%? Meanwhile, iPhone made up 57% of sales on the top-three US carriers:

Enough with the hand-waving. Actual unit sales or its not worth reading.

I want to know which phones they sold and at what price points.

 

[tranceking26]

Not surprising really, it's all those phablets and 5" devices that people state are only a 'fad' which are outselling the iPhone.

You know I held a friends iPhone 4S today to look at something and it was like holding an old friend, it's size is just sssssssssoooooooooooooooo much better for me then my iPhone 5.

I am so hoping for a 3.5" iPhone with the same design and specs as the iPhone 5?

Fad is correct. People have completely lost the plot when it comes to phones nowadays. I NEED a bigger screen and MORE RAM just so I can show off when fishing for likes online.

I agree with the screen size comment too. The 5's extra half inch does nothing for me.