iPhone Sales Flat in Q1 2017 as Chinese Phone Makers Increase Global Market Share

[NIKKG]

All phones are pretty good nowadays and being thought of more as a commodity, so price will increasingly be an issue going forward. This will not bode well for Apple if they keep targeting the high end. At one time the Motorola Razr was also a must have premium device but where is Motorola now?

 

[62tele]

The only people I hear saying they are waiting for a new iphone to come out are on tech forums like this, giving perhaps a very slanted view of the market. This report is based on only the 2nd quarter of the annual cycle.

While I agree that many consumers are unaware or not concerned with pending updates there is such a huge iPhone customer base or folks dissatisfied by Samsung or Android that it would be foolish no to think that many aren't waiting of the new product. Just browse general websites like CNN or CBS and there are rumors reported about the upcoming iPhone.

Just as there was pent up demand for an iPhone with a larger screen when iPhone 6 was introduced there is also some pent up demand for a state or the art phone. Plus, much of the interest comes from younger consumers who, while they may not visit tech forums, are keenly aware of the market in general terms.

The iPhone 8 will bust old sales records.

 

[hans1972]

WOW!! Samsung is towering Apple - it may Force Apple to come out with better new products. Competition is always good for consumers.

Samsung have been the most-selling producer of phones since early 2012, and the biggest smartphone producer since 2011. This is not news.

 

[k4ever]

During 1Q16, iOS' market share was 14.8. During 1Q17, iOS's market share is 13.7. That is a 1.1 percent DROP in market share, not a 0.9 percent uptick. Can you guys not do math? Why would you post that iOS "saw continued growth" when, just like every other year it declined again?

Here is the link to Gartner to show I'm not just trolling or making this up:

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3725117

You guys need to do a reprint (which is probably not going to happen, given the bias of this site).

 

[mschmalenbach]

Number of smartphone models Samsung has brought out since 2014: 157

Number of smartphone models Apple has brought out since 2014: 7

Source: GSMArena

And who is making the lion's share of the profits in all of this? It's not Samsung...

 

[Zirel]

We all know how it will play out.

Do we really have to play this game every time there's a new Apple product?

"It won't sell."

… product sells out in hours …

"Apple are deliberately holding supply back."

… sales figures show they sold a metric crapton …

"It's only the loyal fanboys that bought them."

… next quarter shows sales growth …

"We've reached saturation point."

… continued sales growth …

… repeat for the next X years …

*sigh*

The worse part is that the stock market keeps falling for it...

 

[mschmalenbach]

Lately I find myself keeping my idevices much longer than I ever have before.

iPhones are pretty damn good products I see no reason to update as frequently as I use to.

I have an iPhone 6S Plus. It is old and utterly fine. Before that I had a 5S. That too was old & fine.

I upgraded solely for the larger screen - my eyesight is a bit shabbier now (age!) and I have fat fingers (I'm 6'2" tall and sized accordingly!)

Plus I rarely use my phone for calls - mostly email and looking at word docs & PowerPoint decks - it's for work & I travel the world, running a small team spread across US, UK and Hong Kong.

I have no need to upgrade, nor do many others I know.

(Sent from my iPhone!)

 

[k4ever]

We all know how it will play out.

Do we really have to play this game every time there's a new Apple product?

"It won't sell."

… product sells out in hours …

"Apple are deliberately holding supply back."

… sales figures show they sold a metric crapton …

"It's only the loyal fanboys that bought them."

… next quarter shows sales growth …

"We've reached saturation point."

… continued sales growth …

… repeat for the next X years …

*sigh*

Apple usually has a sales growth, but so does everyone else. The problem is that Apple's sales growth, while respectable, is minuscule in comparison to the rest of the competition. Also, iOS continues to see a decline in overall market share because it gets overwhelmed by (excellent) Android devices released by up and coming players.

As a reformed Apple fan and Android user, I find the back and forth arguments of both sides silly. However, the one thing I can't stand the most is the recent (past 5-6 year) twisting of facts to make Apple and iOS look better than they actually are. IOS is NOT gaining over Android. Apple is NOT converting Android fans faster than Android manufacturers are converting iOS fans. The numbers have NEVER shown Android losing at the expense of iOS. Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Blackberry OS may have lost to both Android and iOS, however, iOS is NOT gaining on Android and lots of Android users are NOT defecting. Android had a 2% bump in market share this year, iOS had a 1.1 LOSS.

 

[iapplelove]

I have an iPhone 6S Plus. It is old and utterly fine. Before that I had a 5S. That too was old & fine.

I upgraded solely for the larger screen - my eyesight is a bit shabbier now (age!) and I have fat fingers (I'm 6'2" tall and sized accordingly!)

Plus I rarely use my phone for calls - mostly email and looking at word docs & PowerPoint decks - it's for work & I travel the world, running a small team spread across US, UK and Hong Kong.

I have no need to upgrade, nor do many others I know.

(Sent from my iPhone!)

lol I have a launch day iPhone 6 Plus. Longest iPhone I ever owned. Works amazingly well for a 2.8 year phone with a broken screen.

 

[Mr. Dee]

For what I do, my 6s is still doing just fine and as I keep saying, I am sure a few more iOS revisions are left in it. I am not a fanatic of giving Apple hard earned money for a new status symbol and a few new gimmicks. I do have my eyes set on a new iPad Pro 12.9 with LTE, but I am waiting for the next rev: A11x Fusion CPU, more productive iOS UI (windowed mode etc.)

Back to the iPhone, if Apple is looking for growth, it will need to make sacrifices in these markets. You are talking about folks who are probably still using a Galaxy S3 or iPhone 4. Dropping the price can have a negative effect on revenue. You don't want to do that. I think the best thing Apple can do is expand its upgrade program while also introducing a leasing program where you pay for the iPhone over 24 to 36 months. An option to upgrade to the latest revision iPhone during your lease by increasing your monthly payments should be available too.

So, you have an iPhone, you have the latest and its not breaking the bank. You get more users choosing iPhone, they care for the device because they don't technically own it, but they feel great, they can get latest and greatest.

 

[Mr Fusion]

Because you're looking at that number as a fan. These types of reports aren't produced for fans. They're for investors. Investors want to see growth. Hence the tone of the report.

The neverending drive to please investors is why Apple has become little more than a brand that pushes medicore products for ridiculous prices. Apple did its best work when it wasn't focused on market share and becoming the world's most valuable company.

I want quality products, and if that costs investors a few dollars in share price well they can go **** themselves.

Here's to hoping they finally hit the bullseye this Fall after coasting for the last several years.

 

[mi7chy]

Google just won a major PR victory in China that will gain further marketshare. People will want to associate with Google's super intelligence and mastery of national game of Go compared to Siri that gets dumber by the day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/google-deepmind-alphago-go-champion-defeat.html

 

[Abazigal]

Google just won a major PR victory in China that will gain further marketshare. People will want to associate with Google's super intelligence and mastery of national game of Go compared to Siri that gets dumber by the day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/google-deepmind-alphago-go-champion-defeat.html

That is a major leap in logic. I don't see how beating a Go player will make people suddenly want to switch to google services if they weren't already using them. Plus, google's services are also available on iOS and that's where Google earns most of their profits from.

 

[honglong1976]

Poor Apple. That's awful, only selling 56 million! My condolences.

 

[69Mustang]

The neverending drive to please investors is why Apple has become little more than a brand that pushes medicore products for ridiculous prices. Apple did its best work when it wasn't focused on market share and becoming the world's most valuable company.

I want quality products, and if that costs investors a few dollars in share price well they can go **** themselves.

Here's to hoping they finally hit the bullseye this Fall after coasting for the last several years.

To be fair, a large part of the responsibility of a public company is it's fiduciary obligations to investors. To ignore that is a bit naive, sort of self serving, and ultimately futile. It's the reality of the world we live in; no matter how some wish it to be different. You and I differ on our opinion of what Apple is and what they used to be. They still make great products. The difference is the competition is also making great products. Apple doesn't stand out the way they used to back in the day. Every Apple product in my household (2 iPads, 2 iPhones, and a 2011 MBA) still works... and works well. It just so happens the products I own from other manufacturers work just as well also. I think you miss that mystique of 'best of breed'. Nostalgia can be comforting, but when it colors your current reality... it's just revisionist history. Yesterday was never as good as it seemed, today isn't as bad as it looks.

 

[The Game 161]

no surprise given what people are waiting for.

 

[macfacts]

50+ million phones and the tone of the report is gloomy. That number seems incredible to me.

You are ignoring the important part. Apple sold 50 million but should have sold 10 percent more, 55 million because the market grew by 10 percent. Iphone growth is flat.

 

[Constable Odo]

Lately I find myself keeping my idevices much longer than I ever have before.

iPhones are pretty damn good products I see no reason to update as frequently as I use to.

Smart move. The more expensive iPhones become, you should be able to hold onto them longer to offset the higher cost. Consumers should look at it in this way. Of course, Wall Street hates that outlook because it might mean fewer iPhone sales for Apple each year.
[doublepost=1495550228][/doublepost]

50+ million phones and the tone of the report is gloomy. That number seems incredible to me.

Especially for a higher end product. It's likely Apple's smartphone revenue is higher than Samsung's smartphone revenue while still selling tens of millions fewer smartphone units. It's just there's always that smartphone market share percentage problem that Apple continues to lose. I'd still favor revenue and profits over market share percentage but that's just me. I'm not a smart "big" investor.

 

[fhall1]

An important thing to remember is these numbers are from Gartner....and as far as Apple at least - they are Gartner estimates. Before I retired, I was CTO for a government laboratory and one year our major command actually paid to have Gartner come out and do an in-depth survey of how our IT costs compared to other similar organizations in the gov't and private sector. We sat with the Gartner "experts" for 3 or 4 days drowning them in data. Then they went away for a while to crunch the numbers, then came back and gave us our report.

It was the biggest piece of garbage we ever saw and totally not worth the money they were paid. Our numbers came out way higher than the one other gov't and one private organization they compared us to - because we are a lab thats mission is to do R&D on current and future information technology and communications - and they compared us to the IT department of a logistics center and an insurance company!

From that day on I never believe anything written by Gartner.

 

[RickInHouston]

Let's wrap this thread up:

Apple sells two different phones a year, XXX sells twenty different phones a year.

Apple phones are expensive and not every discounted. XXX sells for FREE.

 

[HelpfulGuy]

Or maybe people got tired of the iPhone 6SS after 3 years of the same design?

 

[jonnysods]

Smart move. The more expensive iPhones become, you should be able to hold onto them longer to offset the higher cost. Consumers should look at it in this way. Of course, Wall Street hates that outlook because it might mean fewer iPhone sales for Apple each year.
[doublepost=1495550228][/doublepost]
Especially for a higher end product. It's likely Apple's smartphone revenue is higher than Samsung's smartphone revenue while still selling tens of millions fewer smartphone units. It's just there's always that smartphone market share percentage problem that Apple continues to lose. I'd still favor revenue and profits over market share percentage but that's just me. I'm not a smart "big" investor.

And all of those 50 million people integrate themselves in the Apple ecosystem. Its not just the handsets that generate revenue, which is different for the android handset.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

WOW!! Samsung is towering Apple - Hope it may Force Apple to come out with better new products. Competition is always good for consumers.

You must have all day to sit on MR waiting for stories. Usually you are early to respond and little of what you say is of actual value. Lately every article I read you say something inane in the first 5 posts.

 

[Carnegie]

Smart move. The more expensive iPhones become, you should be able to hold onto them longer to offset the higher cost. Consumers should look at it in this way. Of course, Wall Street hates that outlook because it might mean fewer iPhone sales for Apple each year.
[doublepost=1495550228][/doublepost]
Especially for a higher end product. It's likely Apple's smartphone revenue is higher than Samsung's smartphone revenue while still selling tens of millions fewer smartphone units. It's just there's always that smartphone market share percentage problem that Apple continues to lose. I'd still favor revenue and profits over market share percentage but that's just me. I'm not a smart "big" investor.

Apple's smartphone revenue is certainly greater than Samsung's. For this past quarter (i.e. the one for which the OP reports estimated unit numbers) Samsung's Mobile revenue was about $20 billion. That includes Samsung tablet sales. Apple's iPhone revenue for that quarter was over $33 billion.

If Gartner's (and other's) estimates for Samsung's unit numbers are accurate, Samsung's smartphone ASP is around a third of what Apple's iPhone ASP is.

 

[bobenhaus]

Given that many iPhone customers are now in the waiting mode for the next iPhone, these numbers are not surprising.

Nah doubt it. The Chinese companies are going eat up the market soon enough. its going to be hard to compete with a phone with the same specs at 1/2 the price or more. just go to http://www.gearbest.com/ and educate yourself.