iOS and Android Combined for Record 99% of Smartphone Sales Last Quarter

[ackmondual]

I must admit to being shocked by these numbers and the huge market share of Android. It seems that 3 out of 4 people I see around town (at least here in the SF Bay Area) are using iPhones. (And it's been this way for years.)

It's really about what your demographic and perceptions are. For example, I heard that the majority of Americans are beer drinkers. It may seem like wine is a very "in" alcoholic drink, but they're more so concentrated on the east and west coasts.

I can go to a variety of social groups, workplaces, etc. and some will be almost exclusively iPhones, others almost all Android, and then some really do have a 50/50/ split.
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And the one thing that tech savvy users seem to forget is that the world by and large doesn't consist of tech savvy users. Notice how the criteria for an "iPhone killer" invariably boils down to specs and features (of which I take price to be a subset of).

More features can mean a more complex device, which is at odds with the consumer who wants his product to just work. Better specs don't always guarantee a better user experience. Just ask all the android smartphones sporting 4 or 8 cores and how they still lose to the iPhone in terms of single-core benchmarks.

And as a personal rule of thumb, I have no qualms spending more on a product I know I will enjoy using, than spend less on a product I won't like as much. But maybe that's just me.

There are many more factors which appeal to a buyer beyond specs and price. Customer support. Timely updates. A thriving App Store. Integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem. iOS-only apps such as GarageBand and iMovie. Yes, I can buy more than ten of those phones for the price of one iPhone, but can ten of those android phones do the things that I do on my iPhone? Not necessarily.

Really? You're saying your typical, non-techie person like grandma, grandpa, or one's "clueless parents" are really going to be into GarageBand and iMovie?

Also, consumers may not understand specs, but they sure as hell understand price... $60 for this Android phone vs. a $400 iPhone SE. Dollars to donuts, they can get the apps they'd like off Google Play as well like Line, Facebook, or texting. One poster is saying this phone seems to be cheap and falls apart on you. If that's what the reviews really are saying, then I stand corrected. Else, why bother?

That would be crazy. But I'm certain prices won't go up. And don't dismiss the $60 Amazon BLU phone. It runs Android 6.0 and is quite capable. Maybe people won't buy it instead of a new iPhone. But it will probably compete with the used iPhone market.

And it isn't just that phone. Top of the line Android flagship phones other than Samsung go for $400 now. I expect that drops to $350 or even less next year. Those phones will need to drop their prices when a $60 phone exists.

IIRC, this is pretty much why iPads and tablets took off... folks realized if all they wanted to do was surf the web, then they don't need a whole Windows or OSX laptop. This sort of form factor works fine for mostly content consumption. You don't necessarily need a $400 to $650 iPhone. Hell, you wouldn't need a $600+ Android phone either.

I spent $230 on an LG G4, and it works GREAT. No offense to the Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge, Iphone 6s, or the LG G5... I'm sure they really are better phones. I just don't want to spend twice the money on any of them.

 

[I7guy]

It's really about what your demographic and perceptions are. For example, I heard that the majority of Americans are beer drinkers. It may seem like wine is a very "in" alcoholic drink, but they're more so concentrated on the east and west coasts.

I can go to a variety of social groups, workplaces, etc. and some will be almost exclusively iPhones, others almost all Android, and then some really do have a 50/50/ split.
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Really? You're saying your typical, non-techie person like grandma, grandpa, or one's "clueless parents" are really going to be into GarageBand and iMovie?

Also, consumers may not understand specs, but they sure as hell understand price... $60 for this Android phone vs. a $400 iPhone SE. Dollars to donuts, they can get the apps they'd like off Google Play as well like Line, Facebook, or texting. One poster is saying this phone seems to be cheap and falls apart on you. If that's what the reviews really are saying, then I stand corrected. Else, why bother?

IIRC, this is pretty much why iPads and tablets took off... folks realized if all they wanted to do was surf the web, then they don't need a whole Windows or OSX laptop. This sort of form factor works fine for mostly content consumption. You don't necessarily need a $400 to $650 iPhone. Hell, you wouldn't need a $600+ Android phone either.

I spent $230 on an LG G4, and it works GREAT. No offense to the Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge, Iphone 6s, or the LG G5... I'm sure they really are better phones. I just don't want to spend twice the money on any of them.

The same consumers understand the difference between a Hynundia Elentra and a Porsche 911. Yet I see a heck of a lot of 911's on the road. So there are people who opt for premium.

 

[Abazigal]

Really? You're saying your typical, non-techie person like grandma, grandpa, or one's "clueless parents" are really going to be into GarageBand and iMovie?

Also, consumers may not understand specs, but they sure as hell understand price... $60 for this Android phone vs. a $400 iPhone SE. Dollars to donuts, they can get the apps they'd like off Google Play as well like Line, Facebook, or texting. One poster is saying this phone seems to be cheap and falls apart on you. If that's what the reviews really are saying, then I stand corrected. Else, why bother?

Well, as a teacher, I see my colleagues using imovie on their iPhones to prepare short video clips of a recent school concert. We aren't tech-idiots, and we know the basic stuff. Like we can use Google Docs, but won't dive into complex formulae or the more advanced features. We know enough about coding to teach the basics to elementary school children, but you won't see any of us creating apps. And we don't go out of our way to meddle with new platforms, so you won't see any of us pushing Slack or Trello as a platform. We largely stick with what the school offers us, which is the Google apps platform.

That's where Apple's strength lies in. They empower the user to create things for themselves by making the entire process so seamless and intuitive.

And I would argue that consumers understand the concept of "value" as much as "price". I have people who initially went with a Xiaomi phone due to the lower price. Complained of shoddy build quality and unresponsive touchscreens.

As the saying goes "You get what you pay for".

 

[ackmondual]

As the saying goes "You get what you pay for".

I won't argue with your observations. Many of the people I've seen with iPhones say they only use it to make calls, which is wasteful because they didn't need to spend $500+ on such a phone. If you're going to use the apps and the ecosystem, then by all means, get an iPhone.

And I'd be wary of such a statement, as that's often been used by companies and alike to justify paying more for something you don't really need.

 

[I7guy]

I won't argue with your observations. Many of the people I've seen with iPhones say they only use it to make calls, which is wasteful because they didn't need to spend $500+ on such a phone. If you're going to use the apps and the ecosystem, then by all means, get an iPhone.

And I'd be wary of such a statement, as that's often been used by companies and alike to justify paying more for something you don't really need.

I know one person of many that uses their phone just to make phone calls. And that person has a flip phone. Everyone else is email, whatsapp, facebook, news feeds and I don't know what else. I'd be wary of thinking what you observe is a generalization applicable to many.

 

[chrisbru]

You would have to explain what you would describe as useful my friend.
If I can just turn it around one minute, can you describe a few useful features that the iPhone has got that you can't get on for example an S7??

I'm not familiar enough with the S7 to answer that. But iOS is the big one for me, as well as iCloud, integration with Apple Watch, and iMessage.
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I dont think its Chens fault, he inherited a company that was already on its knees. They need to focus on android


For the bold my comments:

Always on display imo is great, this is one of the highlights of having an oled screen. Its great to see the time and if I missed anything without touching the phone. Battery life hit is minimal.

Fast charging is still faster then using the ipad charger.

I have my Apple watch for notifications and time, so I guess it depends on use-case. I, personally, don't want my screen always-on for anyone to see notifications and such.

I've also never run into a scenario where I need my phone to charge faster than it does, but I can certainly see the utility in it. I was hoping it would come to iPhone 7.