And we believe these numbers because? Where does Strategy Analytics get their data from? Do any of these companies (aside from Apple) actually report sales data in financial filings?
No one is claiming the majority isn't poor. To simply focus on the majority being poor ignores the fact that we're dealing with extremely large numbers. Even if only 10% of India's population is middle class we're still talking about 100 million people. There's no country in Europe with that total population.I don't think I am way off with my guesstimate, but 99% was a bit much , I know there's a growing middle and high class but I also know the majority of Indian people are poor, that's a fact.
Yeah, cheap crap was too general, by non branded I meant cheap knock off phones, I have seen plenty in Asia, weird brand names.
This really isn't a rebuttal to @kdarling post. AFAIK, no one ever claimed Samsung's shipped numbers meant sold to end users. However a lot of people, to this day, still inaccurately quote that meme level "Apple=sold, Others=shipped"Similarly, when it is reported that Samsung "sold" 7.2 million S7s (Galaxy and Edge) in the first quarter, it does not mean they were all sold to end users. Most were sold to and received by retailers. And some quarters, large numbers of those go unsold to end-users until the next quarter.
I think maybe the meaning of my post was not clear. Android devices run android. There is little to discourage switching from a Hauwei device to Samsung to a Pixel, to whatever because they are all in the same ecosystem and feature limited by what android can support. Most of these low margin Chinese manufacturers are not spending anything on R&D and certainly are not developing their own OS. I am not criticizing just pointing out that the top android vendors can easily shift from year to year.An awful lot of Fandroids would disagree with that statement. Then there are those who hate Apple and so buy Android devices. Then there those who don't care about their privacy.
Then there those who will only buy say Samsung devices.
etc etc etc
To me, there is nothing fundametally wrong with Android other than it is controlled by the king of Adverts, Google.
But my iPhone works for me and does not really get in the way.
Could I get by with an Android device? Probably not. I use the TouchId feature a lot and some apps that I use are not available with the same featureset on Android and then there is the issue of security.
If plain vanilla android is what the market wanted, then other vendors will offer it because there is nothing about the OS that prevents doing so. They are all in the same ecosystem and customers can easily change to different vendor. That is why top dog in the android market is quite meaningless... particularly because most of them are on razor thin margins even with a free OS.Huawei makes $150 to $350 unlocked models. If Apple came out with $150 to $300 iPhone models with big screens but low end features as those Android models. They would crush the low end Android market. They don't because they would also hurt sales of high end models.
I'd say the Google Nexus now the Pixel does have a catch for repeat customers. Fast OS updates for a few years to the latest Android and regular security patches. I think the Android OS they use is also a vanilla install. None of which you don't get with other Android phones.
If I bought Android. Those are likely the only ones I'd consider. As they cost as much as an iPhone. I can't see that happening. As the iPhone gives me nearly double the lifespan from an OS update standpoint.
Most of these low margin Chinese manufacturers are not spending anything on R&D and certainly are not developing their own OS.
Being "Top"means nothing. But "Best"means everything.iPhone is not for everyone, it's for those who want the best.
Design of various Android phones is nicer. But Apple rules with iOS, much higher quality, and by far the best service.
Watch this report.
Ok, fair enough, they experiment with using off the shelf parts. Very few have significant R&D that yields exclusive features. In part because Android supports what it supports.I mildly disagree. They all do R&D to an extent. Heck, even small Vivo has demoed a smartphone with an under-screen fingerprint sensor made by Qualcomm.
As for OS development, they all have customized versions fine tuned to their own hardware... same as Apple does. The idea that they just take vanilla Android and plop it on a phone is incorrect. In fact, some of the makers like Xiaomi got big in great part because they were constantly listening to and implementing user requests, by customizing the OS.
And we believe these numbers because? Where does Strategy Analytics get their data from? Do any of these companies (aside from Apple) actually report sales data in financial filings?
Most of these low margin Chinese manufacturers are not spending anything on R&D and certainly are not developing their own OS.
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Ahhh so they SHIPPED 38M, versus what Apple SOLD. Gotchya!
I know, it's XFCE all the way baby!It's similar to people who pretend that KDE on Linux is a better user experience than the Windows desktop or macOS.
Only internal inventory. As you can read in every report, once a device is shipped to Best Buy or other retailer - the device is marked as Sold. The only exception are their own stores, where a 'sold' device is actually 'sold'.Sold to whom? Apple reports channel inventory
Analysts companies (and even you) can extrapolate most numbers from reported revenue and profits. Such companies also have people doing counts in import warehouses around the world, plus spies in supplier companies who can tell them how many of a certain part have been made.
As for believability, Tim Cook often repeats analyst numbers like these, at least when they're positive towards Apple. Do you believe him or not?
Likewise, Apple fansites use these numbers to brag about things like Watch sales, which Apple does not report.
For what it's worth, I've found that analyst predictions are often way off, especially the further out you get. But counts of PAST sales are usually pretty accurate.
Only internal inventory. As you can read in every report, once a device is shipped to Best Buy or other retailer - the device is marked as Sold. The only exception are their own stores, where a 'sold' device is actually 'sold'.
In the US, I virtually know no one who uses Whatsapp. iMessage messages + regular sms messages (which are free) both with the pre-installed messages app are king here.In Australia I virtually know no one who uses Facetime or iMessage, even though Facetime is synonymous to video chat.
Whatsapp is king here. Makes sense, as it's spread across multiple devices (including desktops via your phone).
Let them come. There is literally nothing these companies can do to threaten Apple or sway me as an iPhone user.
Impressive.Huawei's R&D expenditure: 2014 $5.9B, 2015 $8.7B, 2016 $9.2B
Apple's R&D expenditure: 2014 $6B, 2015 $8.1B, 2016 $10.4B