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iPhone Drops to 15% Market Share as Smartphone Market Goes Flat

Rhonindk said:
Saturated? Not really. Evolving? Yes.
As the market ages, Unit Growth vs. Percentage Growth changes and the double digit percentage cannot be sustained. As "WOW" features become less common, folks start looking deeper at overall cost. It becomes harder and harder to mentally justify paying significantly more for one setup when another similar setup can be had for much less. Market evolution. Predominately why Apple needs another "Big Thing". There will always be the "Gotta Have iPhone/Galaxy/..." folks who view it as more than. For the rest, especially emerging, aged, or lower economic markets. You only have to look at Huwaei for an example.
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Agree completely with this.

iPhone growth was largely by chasing new markets..

It started off a high tech early adopter product.

Then they grew to a product for the entire family. Wasn't just a tech savvy mom or dad, it was time to get an iPhone for the kids and grandma.

Then they expanded to every possible corner of the globe with China being the last untapped market to drive huge sales numbers.

Their final card was increasing the screen size to match the competition.

All the 'easy oil' of sales growth is gone. Upgrades will provide a steady source of revenue, but there are no big markets to conquer and seemingly no new innovation to drive the product. The built in obsolescence is probably their greatest feature. If phones had the same lifespan as a tablet, it would be a lot uglier.
 
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Rhonindk said:
While I agree in part, add in a Nexus 6P and you have to start asking why the iPhone costs so much. :confused:
Huawei might very well be the next market driver.
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You could also ask why an ipad starts at $499 and an iphone at $649? Is a cellular radio really that expensive?
 
Stella said:
It would be an interesting statistic! When it comes to sales, that is irrelevant: 1 Sale of a smartphone, however used, is still one sale.
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I have an iPhone 6. 16Gb of storage. Still got 7Gb free.
Work email? Are you joking? This is MY effing phone. If the company wants me to answer emails on the go then they can provide me with a phone and pay for the calls and data.
What apps?
BBC-News, BBC-Sport, Trainline, BA, Sudoku, skype, Cam Ranger and a few others.
No films or music. This device is a phone first and foremost.
 
thomasguide said:
No it was not, the original iphone was $599 with no contract. Then 5-6 months later there was a price correction to $399, again no contracts. I know this because I bought an iphone for my nephew at $399 for a Christmas gift. I walked in to the Apple store paid $399 plus tax and walked out with a phone no 2 year contract. The 2 year deals started maybe a year later and iphone retail price shot up to $649. Of course now you could get them for $199 with a 2 year commitment.

Those days are over now, there has been nothing special about any iphone since the iphone 4. They got bigger and faster and 64 bit. But battery life remains a huge problem, storage at 16GB is a joke, and really what is the reason I would want to drop $650-$850 on a new iphone? Android phones have caught up and some have even surpassed Apple. So it's starting to hit them.

If they want people to keep upgrading the next device needs to be beyond spectacular and a complete shock to everyone. 16GB should be dropped, the $100 premium for memory upgrades needs to go down to $50. Wireless charging and quick charging should be added, screen should be shatterproof like droid turbo, water resistance should be equivalent to Samsung or be better. Micro sd card should be allowed. Spend some of that ridiculous $100 billion to develop a better battery.

Price it at $550-$600 then sales will skyrocket again. But they won't do any of those things and the slide will continue.
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https://www.macrumors.com/2007/01/09/apple-announces-the-iphone/

"The phone will be offered exclusively through Cingular in the US in June, and will come to Europe in Q4 2007, and Asia in 2008. A 4 GB model will be offered for $499 with a 2 year contract, and an 8 GB model will fetch $599 with similar contract provisions."
 
jamezr said:
^^^^ this! Huawei could very well become a market leader in the not too distance future. They offer great value for the money....they just need better distribution.
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I'm test driving a Nexus 6P on Google FI and have to say I am impressed. Great hardware and no issues to date.
It is every bit as good as my stock iPhone 6S+ and Note 5. May very well be my future OEM/Carrier.
 
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neutralguy said:
Let me ask you one simple thing: If you buy same thing from Costco and from Best Buy where you pay more money at Best Buy, do you thin Best Buy product is of much better quality than Costco?

It's not about Apple is spending 600$ making a phone. Apple needs to cut down on their profits and make the price reasonable. If the phone costs $250 to make, charge 400$ as retail price. That itself is a good amount of profit. Charging $650 for that phone is not right. And continuing to do so for these many years, at one point the cheaper phones will take over the market segment.
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Bingo!! You hit the nail on the head. Excellent!
[doublepost=1461780293][/doublepost]
Shirasaki said:
They may do some, but you should not expect they will release a device with micro SD slot. This is too android-like.
Meanwhile, you can consider waterproof, dustproof and OLED display. They are possible for Apple to implement.
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I know they will do some, but they can't afford to keep doing incremental updates. They need to do most and all at once to bring the wow factor back. Micro sd would be a 9.5 Earthquake in the cell phone world, they need that kind of earthquake to shake things up.
 
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oneMadRssn said:
I would really like to see market share for phones purchased by users that use them as a smartphone. For example, downloading at least two third-party apps might be an indicator; or setting up their work email might be an indicator. Exclude those phones that aren't used as a smartphone.

I think there is a large number of very inexpensive android phones out there that have pretty much replaced the feature phones, and those inexpensive smartphones are still being used like feature phones (calls and texting only). I think it is misleading to include those in the smartphone market share. Smartphones are about apps, and if a phone isn't being used for apps and the user has no intent to use it like that, it shouldn't be counted in the data developers look to when figuring out how to develop their apps.
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While, I believe that you are correct in saying that low end android phones haves replaced feature phones, I think it is futile to try and segment based on "actual usage as a smart phone", especially the metric of two third party apps kind of a measure (Facebook and watsapp are pretty universally downloaded). I am sure what Apple cares about is market share in the "flagship" segment, or segment of phones priced greater than a certain dollar value, not that I am saying that's the most useful measure. Apple should try and market their older gen phones against the mid range androids. That should help the market share. But because till now the older gen phones had no large screen options, that strategy was not viable. Now, once 7 and 7s and 8 comes out, 6, 6s will be a strong competitor for those large screen, mid range androids.
 
TommyA6 said:
https://www.macrumors.com/2007/01/09/apple-announces-the-iphone/

"The phone will be offered exclusively through Cingular in the US in June, and will come to Europe in Q4 2007, and Asia in 2008. A 4 GB model will be offered for $499 with a 2 year contract, and an 8 GB model will fetch $599 with similar contract provisions."
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That makes no sense, I'm telling you I walked into the Apple store I paid $399 plus tax, no contract. It was the 8GB. Why would anyone pay $599 and also have a 2 year contract?
 
thomasguide said:
Bingo!! You hit the nail on the head. Excellent!
[doublepost=1461780293][/doublepost]

I know they will do some, but they can't afford to keep doing incremental updates. They need to do most and all at once to bring the wow factor back. Micro sd would be a 9.5 Earthquake in the cell phone world, they need that kind of earthquake to shake things up.
Click to expand...
But earthquake would not only hit the market but also hit Apple itself. You know Apple Pencil right? They just refuse to officially say it as a stylus. So what if Apple includes SD slot in their iPhone? Then two ecosystems are almost identical? Whole mobile phone market will evntually become the single one?
Plus, Apple would not like to lose their ability to distinguish it with other manufacturers.
 
thomasguide said:
Bingo!! You hit the nail on the head. Excellent!
[doublepost=1461780293][/doublepost]

I know they will do some, but they can't afford to keep doing incremental updates. They need to do most and all at once to bring the wow factor back. Micro sd would be a 9.5 Earthquake in the cell phone world, they need that kind of earthquake to shake things up.
Click to expand...
You think the poster hit the nail on the head? Like anything with 4 tires and a steering wheel is a car?
 
Ooops. Well, guess that's what happens when you try to pull the same **** that Apple did with the Mac back in the '90s.

Most people (customers) are not stupid. When you cheap out the entry model with 16GB of storage, all you do is piss off potential customers. When you fail to include (or are way late) basic advancements (better cameras, NFC, longer battery life, bigger screens, etc.) in order to string out the feature bumps over more years, then customer appreciation turns to resentment. People don't like to be taken advantage of.

Apple is also regressing in the marketing arena. Once upon a time, all the carriers advertised and promoted iPhones. Now they all promote Shamesung's crap in all their materials and on the show floor. Apple's lost it's mojo.
 
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thomasguide said:
That makes no sense, I'm telling you I walked into the Apple store I paid $399 plus tax, no contract. It was the 8GB. Why would anyone pay $599 and also have a 2 year contract?
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Tell that to Apple as those are/were their exact words...

At 1:50

 
himanshumodi said:
While, I believe that you are correct in saying that low end android phones haves replaced feature phones, I think it is futile to try and segment based on "actual usage as a smart phone", especially the metric of two third party apps kind of a measure (Facebook and watsapp are pretty universally downloaded). I am sure what Apple cares about is market share in the "flagship" segment, or segment of phones priced greater than a certain dollar value, not that I am saying that's the most useful measure. Apple should try and market their older gen phones against the mid range androids. That should help the market share. But because till now the older gen phones had no large screen options, that strategy was not viable. Now, once 7 and 7s and 8 comes out, 6, 6s will be a strong competitor for those large screen, mid range androids.
Click to expand...

Except by that time the next generation of Android phones will be better than the 6 and 6S and will likely still be cheaper than what Apple will price it's 6 at. $500 for the next generation Nexus would still beat the most likely $550 price tag of a 2 year old 6.
 
thomasguide said:
That makes no sense, I'm telling you I walked into the Apple store I paid $399 plus tax, no contract. It was the 8GB. Why would anyone pay $599 and also have a 2 year contract?
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Nope. There was a contract. That price was subsidized by Cingular/ATT
 
StevieD100 said:
I have an iPhone 6. 16Gb of storage. Still got 7Gb free.
Work email? Are you joking? This is MY effing phone. If the company wants me to answer emails on the go then they can provide me with a phone and pay for the calls and data.
What apps?
BBC-News, BBC-Sport, Trainline, BA, Sudoku, skype, Cam Ranger and a few others.
No films or music. This device is a phone first and foremost.
Click to expand...

Did you reply to the wrong post?!

Post you replied to:
"It would be an interesting statistic! When it comes to sales, that is irrelevant: 1 Sale of a smartphone, however used, is still one sale."
 
This market share decline undercuts Tim Cook's "macroeconomic headwinds" excuse for the very poor quarterly performance. If the iPhone 7 struggles, he will for the first time face serious scrutiny.
 
smacrumon said:
Apple's got its pricing all wrong. I would have entered the Apple ecosystem ten years earlier than I did. I simply couldn't afford to buy an Apple product earlier. Apple's retail prices are terribly overpriced, and in contrast, Apple's offshore workforce are terribly underpaid. How about some middle ground, Apple? Price lower and go for volume. Do we need to get to Huawei market share level before price changes are made?

No new iPhone in 4 inch at 6/6s launch - mistake.
Retail pricing too high - mistake.
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Nice things that last cost money. Period. Apple is making 95% of all profit in the industry so they don't need to be #1 in market share. Things like great customer service, a well built product that just works and maintains resale value... that is all baked into a price. If you can't afford it, get something else.
 
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EricTheHalfBee said:
Yet another stupid chart showing sales of ALL Samsung smartphones when most of them are low-end junk phones. Same goes for the other manufacturers listed.

Next up IDC should show a chart comparing the sales of Toyota to Mercedes and tell us all how Mercedes market share is so much lower than Toyota.
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Your quibble is with those who take this information to mean something it doesn't, not with the information itself. A breakout of market share by company is very useful for many purposes, including assessing the health of an "ecosystem."
 
Shirasaki said:
But earthquake would not only hit the market but also hit Apple itself. You know Apple Pencil right? They just refuse to officially say it as a stylus. So what if Apple includes SD slot in their iPhone? Then two ecosystems are almost identical? Whole mobile phone market will evntually become the single one?
Plus, Apple would not like to lose their ability to distinguish it with other manufacturers.
Click to expand...

I don't think it has anything to do with distinguishing themselves from other manufacturers and everything to do with the insane $100 markup. If they offered an SD card I would consider iphone again. I love having the ability to just remove the card and add another 64GB or more of space. It's just unbelievably convenient and cheaper to boot.
 
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