iOS Drops to Lowest Share of China Smartphone Market in Nearly Three Years

[Hastings101]

These are really interesting to look at though. I wonder why iOS is so popular in the English speaking world (and then weirdly Japan?), but way less popular in other areas. It's not like Spain/Italy/Germany/France are poor countries where no one can afford one, or are iPhones just way too expensive there? Or is it totally unrelated to price

 

[Aniruddh]

These are really interesting to look at though. I wonder why iOS is so popular in the English speaking world (and then weirdly Japan?), but way less popular in other areas. It's not like Spain/Italy/Germany/France are poor countries where no one can afford one, or are iPhones just way too expensive there? Or is it totally unrelated to price

I am not sure. Is it something because Apple has better purchase options (like financing, the upgrade scheme, etc) in these countries?

iPhone 7 Plus costs $1500 here in India. A $700 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge looks to be a far better option.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Providing jobs will be easy, but improving people's standard of living will not be.

 

[fermat-au]

Wow Spain is Android country.

Spain and much of the the world. Outside the English speaking West, and Japan, Android has been dominate for many years.

 

[kdarling]

These are really interesting to look at though. I wonder why iOS is so popular in the English speaking world (and then weirdly Japan?), but way less popular in other areas. It's not like Spain/Italy/Germany/France are poor countries where no one can afford one, or are iPhones just way too expensive there? Or is it totally unrelated to price

Carriers have known since the turn of the century that upfront cost is the primary deciding factor.

iPhone (and probably any other high priced phone) sales have always corresponded to whether a country has subsidies / hidden loans.

This is because there's a known buyer barrier to paying more than about $250 upfront. It doesn't matter if a country is rich or poor.

Japan was a perfect example of this phenomenon. It's a high tech country, in love in phones, and considered wealthy. Yet the iPhone failed to get a toehold until the Japanese carriers offered them for free with a contract. Instantly it jumped hugely in popularity.

Germany is a bit unique in that its citizens do not like taking loans. They prefer to pay for everything in cash. So that's a barrier too.

 

[parapup]

So long as people in richer countries are buying iPhones and Apple isn't goofing up badly on execution, they will be quite fine with the status quo. The rumored $1000 price point for iPhone along with Tim's supply chain and operations talent they will make more money with same or slightly less market share.

 

[fermat-au]

Worldwide figures? Anyway, Apple should use standard ports (USB) in all iOS devices, with full access to files via USB pendrives, Mac (connected to USB port), fully accesible operating system (as Mac), not sandboxing and not jailing.

You are describing a very non Apple like product. What you describe is pretty much an Android phone.

 

[elcrian]

These are really interesting to look at though. I wonder why iOS is so popular in the English speaking world (and then weirdly Japan?), but way less popular in other areas. It's not like Spain/Italy/Germany/France are poor countries where no one can afford one, or are iPhones just way too expensive there? Or is it totally unrelated to price

In Germany, there are a ton of prepaid plans available for like $15/month, without a phone obviously. This is not an option here in the US, where even the low end T-Mobile prepaid plan runs for I believe $40/month and simply financing the phone through your carrier might actually be a good option. So people tend to buy phones they can easily afford up-front (not necessarily an $800 iPhone). That would be my guess, at least.

Plus a lot of features iOS offers are basically US exclusive or at least reach Europe pretty late, so less reasons to pay the premium.

 

[hellopupy]

Majority of Americans don't even have $500 to scrape up in case of an emergency. Everyone is living paycheck to paycheck.

They just make the payments attractive enough so that we can make the monthly payments. How many Americans can actually afford to throw down $1000 for the newest iPhone?

 

[dampfnudel]

Wow Spain is Android country.

Most of Europe is Android country. Definitely time for a redesigned iPhone to boost those markets. A price reduction would also be nice, but let's not go crazy now.

 

[joeblow7777]

I'd say market share because that translates to more people using your product and spending money within your ecosystem.

And yet, even with a much smaller market share (globally, not just in China) the App Store generates more revenue than the Google Play store,and developers almost always prioritize iOS app development over Android. It's just like how Macs have never had much more than 10% of the computer market. Apple knows how to squeeze more money out of 100 people than others get from 1000. How? They know how to target the 100 with the most money.

 

[femike]

Spain, Italy, Germany, France etc ... pretty much everywhere outside US, Japan, and the UK, Apple's share is small.

Apple puts alot more effort in targeting price and products for the US market. Apple is very much US centric (of course there are always exceptions).

 

[25ghosts]

iOS is getting more in the way than out the way of what the user wants to achieve. Constantly not really working as advertised. Android is getting MUCH better as they aren't sleeping over there at Google while Apple's CEOs has done a really great job at totally misunderstanding what users need. Cook has zero idea about the need of other people. He is probably a really nice guy as are the other CEOs over there but seriously look at the OS - and the new Apple Devices - They are REALLY Grandpa ... Totally old and iOS reminds me of late 60 year olds sitting on the golf course and having a brew after playing a tournament.

SIRI - is a plain joke that one is better off turning off entirely. Old Humor that was funny 6-8 years ago but no longer. Humor belonging to Grandpas - Nothing wrong with Grannies... I love them but there aren't as many as them as youngsters below 60. And that is why iOS is totally loosing out although it was around WAY before Android. When the grannies fare to heaven they will take iOS with them !

 

[vikingjunior]

With companies like Oppo, Huawei, One plus, Moto and etc. putting out high quality, high spec. devices at half the price it's no wonder. If Android can find a way to get a little more polished it would become interesting.

 

[Soccertess]

well, crappy form factor, very long refresh cycle, course people are ditching Apple.

Tim really has lowered the bar for Apple

 

[steve333]

China's making sure Apple doesn't get a large presence while at the same time Apple employs thousands of Chinese.
Cook is getting b slapped

 

[sudo1996]

Just as long as Huawei isn't winning, I'm happy.
[doublepost=1492142465][/doublepost]

I think average income has something to do with it too, it's a lot lower than the USA

Yes, and I seriously double the Apple ecosystem is popular in China, whereas it was reasonably popular in the U.S. (from the Mac and iPod).
[doublepost=1492142513][/doublepost]

China's making sure Apple doesn't get a large presence while at the same time Apple employs thousands of Chinese.
Cook is getting b slapped

Well, he gets cheap labor from China and makes tons of profits.
[doublepost=1492142595][/doublepost]

Carriers have known since the turn of the century that upfront cost is the primary deciding factor.

I didn't think about this, but it makes the most sense.
[doublepost=1492142658][/doublepost]

Worldwide figures? Anyway, Apple should use standard ports (USB) in all iOS devices, with full access to files via USB pendrives, Mac (connected to USB port), fully accesible operating system (as Mac), not sandboxing and not jailing.

Why though? Do any significant number of Android users actually move around files manually? Heck, I'm somewhat a sysadmin and don't give a crap about (nor do I have patience for) managing a filesystem on my phone.

 

[BeforeTheMeds]

Why though? Do any significant number of Android users actually move around files manually? Heck, I'm somewhat a sysadmin and don't give a crap about (nor do I have patience for) managing a filesystem on my phone.

Where do you live? Dependable internet access? I think in places where internet is not as good it happens more. I'm in mexico where wifi and cellular data is slow and unreliable. Not having a file system is a huge drawback, this will probably be my last iphone. People, in the us especially, tend to forget there's a whole world out there.

The iphone is set up more for cloud use, not everyone lives where that is always possible.

 

[MH01]

True, but when the iPhone 8 is released that'll sell like hotcakes in China, no matter what it looks like or costs (providing it's called the 8).

They will sell like hot cakes globally , though yet again to those that can afford it.

The other thing that is happening globally, people are finding less and less reason to update annually , with devices GPUs/CPUs not holding the user experience back. You really are paying a lot for gimmicks these days. Sure the CPUs are improving , but like computers , the average user does not need more.
[doublepost=1492147631][/doublepost]

Why though? Do any significant number of Android users actually move around files manually? Heck, I'm somewhat a sysadmin and don't give a crap about (nor do I have patience for) managing a filesystem on my phone.

Let me put it this way, without a file system the iPad Pro which I own , is just a big iPad or big iPhone , for people that's want to use these devices as PC replacements, a file system makes the experience natural and productive. My iPad Pro experience was so frustrating trying to do simple task in a counter productive fashion, it's just becomes a great media consumption device . For the average user , a file system makes no sense. For power users it let's them do so much more on these devices.

 

[mi7chy]

It's interesting to try to understand the trends considering Android is world dominant except for a few countries. GB I believe because Jony Ive is British. USA because the majority are tech and geopolitical illiterate. They think they're buying American when they're propping up China which is more hostile towards USA than, for example, South Korea. China is very likely to repeat the Hainan incident that most are unaware of.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Island_incident

Australia probably share the same false buying American mindset. Japan I believe is because iOS has been historically Japanese language friendly but it recently lost a pretty significant 5%.

 

[nexusrule]

They are mobile phones and are marketed to consumers who are purchasing mobile phones. I would argue they can be compared when it comes to market share.

With cheap phones costing 100-200$, and iPhone starting at 3-4 times that price, it's like comparing Ford and Porsche or Ferrari marketshare.

 

[robeddie]

Maybe it's just a phone for many..... 90% of the functionality at 20% price.

I suspect the "elitist" image of the iPhone has worn off, there are so many in the wild these days , nothing special about it anymore. Apple did themselves no favours with the 6 design running three years, for many it's about bling....and when people cannot tell the difference from a 6 to 7, people will jump Android to show off. Just a theory . And why the Samsung S8 is getting good feedback

Probably true ... but it still blows my mind that many people's ego's (and in some cases their sense of self worth) was EVER associated with the phone they carry - or the watch on their wrist.

Just bizarre.

 

[belvdr]

With cheap phones costing 100-200$, and iPhone starting at 3-4 times that price, it's like comparing Ford and Porsche or Ferrari marketshare.

For price alone, you are correct, to a point.

Apple wants to expand in China. That means they need to convert at least some of the existing cheap phone users. So they need to track their market share to other phones

 

[elmaco]

Or the weakness of other currencies perhaps?
The £/$ rate changed considerably on the 24th June last year. Apple products are a heck of a lot more expensive in the UK as a result. Like Oil and Gold which are priced in USD we have to grit our teeth and bear it.

If you look at the USD against trade weighted index you can see that the dollar has strengthen 25% in the last three years.

 

[sparkso]

not sure how valid these stats are really. But if you walk on the streets in China, even in some of the poorest areas, you see more people using iPhones (real ones) than androids.