iPhone Sales Stall Despite Global Smartphone Market Recovery

[Heat_Fan89]

Maybe Apple will realise that innovation is more than just a new shade of gold...

Or perhaps people need to realize that Smartphones in general are very mature products. They pretty much do the same thing. We are well past of the point of Steve Jobs introducing Siri, or saying how you can buy and download apps. Pretty much everything has been covered to some extent. That’s why every year the latest excitement is about what are going to be the new colors.

Besides all of the, phones have gotten more expensive and people tend to hold onto their phones much longer. I’m still using an iPhone 13. It basically does what the 16 can do, make calls, internet, emails, FaceTime etc.

 

[Entilzha]

Small sample size of course, but I've never seen more people either switching to Android outright, or talking about switching more seriously than ever before, than I have over the past couple of years.

Meanwhile in my small circle of friends and co-workers, the android users have been switching to iPhones. I know maybe three android users now, the rest have migrated to iPhones.

Of course, I MIGHT have given a few of them a nudge here or there. Playing with my Apple Watch really convinced a couple in particular.

 

[Adelphos33]

I think this may be a minority opinion, but to me the titanium iPhones Pro phones (15 and 16) have been a bit of a dud relative to the prior generation (12/13/14). Here is why:

1) Very few new features added - for example, the 14 got always on display and dyanamic island. The 15 and 16 got new buttons, but not much in terms of new features

2) The pro phones just look boring and dull, which is the main reason why I think sales are middling (by Apple standards). With 12, 13 and 14, you had some interesting colors (Alpine Green, Sierra Blue, Purple), and the steel around colors like gold and silver/white were bright and attention getting. In contrast, the pro phones now look boring. Compare the iPhone 14 SS Gold to iPhone 16 Desert Titanium and you get this immediately. The phones are a bit more comfortable to hold, but they are just dull phones. I am not surprised that Apple may be looking to move back to aluminum for the Pro phones, or is looking to introduce the Slim.

3) Not really Apple's fault, but there hasn't been a lot in terms of new apps or new functions to make people upgrade. AI is coming, but not really fully baked yet.

 

[jamezr]

Here is a better breakdown of the data

Canalys Newsroom - Global smartphone market kicked off 2024 with a robust 10% growth in Q1

Find the latest press releases, channels and tech analysis available

www.canalys.com

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

You make it sound like Samsung and others phones are radically different year after year.

They are at least experimenting with other form factors though. May not be ready for the mass market but if you're a Samsung/Google or whoever customer it must be nice to think some of the $1000+ you coughed up for your phone went into r&d rather than shareholder value.

Apple has been far too safe with the iPhone.

 

[yanki01]

iPhone 12 Pro still going strong. there's been nothing that has warranted me in "upgrading". get rid of the gimmick dynamic island and bigger battery.

 

[Chungry]

Sitting next to my S24 Ultra, my 16PM looks very plain, boring even, and I find myself reaching for the S24 because there are simply more interesting things happening in that area of mobile. The AI stuff and Dex is compelling too.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

It's funny from my social circle, I've seen android die hards switch to apple now that the iPhone has some of the basic android features.

And they also didn't like the android fold thing. The camera was a compromise for the form factor.

In mine, I haven't seen anyone switch sides in any capacity, but they also don't talk about their phones and don't care about them enough to even be pointed out or mentioned.

Smartphones are boring now, across the board. Not because of what any company is doing, but because they are common, commodity devices.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

I think of the physical iPhone now as a monitor; the innovation will happen inside the phone, in software. Can you imagine if people were still computer monitors as though that's where they expect innovation to happen? Like new buttons and shapes, etc.?

Apple improves the chips, the internal workings, and the software. That's where phone innovation will keep improving. I personally don't need some new form factor to wow me anymore. I want a rectangular phone that is durable, fast and easy to use.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I think of the physical iPhone now as a monitor; the innovation will happen inside the phone, in software. Can you imagine if people were still computer monitors as though that's where they expect innovation to happen? Like new buttons and shapes, etc.?

Apple improves the chips, the internal workings, and the software. That's where phone innovation will keep improving. I personally don't need some new form factor to wow me anymore. I want a rectangular phone that is durable, fast and easy to use.

I agree with you to an extent the folding stuff doesn't really appeal to me personally but even Apple software is lacking.

The new phones shipped without any of the AI stuff being ready and iOS 18 is one of the worst software releases in a long time.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I agree with you to an extent the folding stuff doesn't really appeal to me personally but even Apple software is lacking.

The new phones shipped without any of the AI stuff being ready and iOS 18 is one of the worst software releases in a long time.

I don't care whatsoever about AI, or Apple's (lack of) implementation of it, but it's been an obvious hardcore fail. They have been advertising it everywhere, but when anyone tries what they think AI is, which is Siri for majority, nothing has changed. Even if they do enable the beta AI, the new glowing screen Siri would make anyone think that something had changed, and it hasn't....Apple shouldn't have changed that until Siri was fixed. Face it Apple, none of the other features like Genmjoi are AI in the common parlance.

Now the reports are that new Siri won't even be here until Spring of 2026.

 

[iMac The Knife]

It's funny from my social circle, I've seen android die hards switch to apple now that the iPhone has some of the basic android features.

And they also didn't like the android fold thing. The camera was a compromise for the form factor.

This doesn't change the fact that before it was "iPhone, iPhone, iPhone. I have to have an iPhone" and now whenever someone with an iPhone checks out my Honor Magic V3 Global, they tell me how much they wish Apple would do something like that, and how iPhones have become so boring and iOS isn't what it used to be. Then I tell them that my foldable weighs 1 gram less and is only 1mm thicker than an iPhone 16 PM, and their mind is blown. Times they are a changing. Also, I haven't heard of a single die hard Android user switching to iPhone in at least five years, in person or on Android forums. Quite the opposite, actually. Prior to that, I heard it often. I can't help but doubt how "die hard" the people you've mentioned are.

 

[VisceralRealist]

I'm shocked that everyone and their mother isn't upgrading just for AI.

 

[New Mexico Bob]

At some point they'll have to start putting the prices down.
I mean, there has been no significant design change in years and perhaps most people don't care about AI features... there are so many times we can buy the same phone every year.

Exactly this. I moved to Samsung this fall for my work phone, and I know others at my office that have also moved from the iPhone to Samsung. Still connected to the iCloud ecosystem through my iPad, and have really enjoyed the new Samsung S24 experience. A colleague bought a foldable Samsung and loves it.

 

[I7guy]

People said people wouldn't care about Apple Pay?

Yep, you know the bravado when apple releases features or products people don’t care about. It becomes the next big thing.

 

[I7guy]

[…]. I’m still using an iPhone 13. It basically does what the 16 can do, make calls, internet, emails, FaceTime etc.

An iPhone 4 does all that.

 

[jonnyb098]

Well, there wasn't a massive difference between iPhone 15 and 16 apart from a dedicated camera button which no one asked for. Or the delayed AI fiasco.

We need, as our American cousins say, something tangible that's worthy of upgrade. This will be unpopular opinion but there is nothing incitcing me to upgrade from my iPhone 13 Mini.

That and people are strapped for cash in a world economy that’s a mess.

 

[jonnyb098]

They’re still marketing Apple Intelligence and it’s barely available. Plus , like the Vision Pro ,no one’s talking about it anymore.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

I agree with you to an extent the folding stuff doesn't really appeal to me personally but even Apple software is lacking.

The new phones shipped without any of the AI stuff being ready and iOS 18 is one of the worst software releases in a long time.

I suppose I've reached a point where I have more patience with these things. Have other companies pushed out AI features more quickly? Does Android throw every new feature they can into their OS as soon and as quickly as they can? Yes and Yes.

I've learned that Apple's value to me comes over the long term. I trust that they'll consistently provide more value and better features over time. Which is not to say they won't make mistakes along the way. It's just a question of who's approach one trusts more. Or what one values more. More stuff more quickly including features that may come and go more often, or stability and practicality?

 

[Biro]

I've asked my wife if she wants to upgrade her 13Pro to a 16Pro and the response was "meh". I'd take over her 13Pro to replace my XS which is my work phone (I do work/life balance by not having work email and apps on my primary phone). But even with a new 16Pro resulting in basically two upgrades, we still haven't bothered to pull the trigger. The AI features that I got on my 15Pro are not the slightest bit compelling so far either. Is three year upgrade cycle the new two year upgrade cycle? Maybe.

Agreed. But it sounds like you and your wife have already hit the three-year mark and are not upgrading. Maybe it’ll be four or five years.

 

[rjjacobson]

Fully agreed. This year was the first year since 2009 when I didn’t get the new iPhone. I’ve had every model since the 3GS. I saw the 16 series and said. Nope. My 15 Pro Max will do just fine another year or two. Maybe three if tariffs are going to happen.

Me precisely loving my 15 PM and I will keep it another year or two depending on if the 17PM has enough features worthy of upgrading. Apple AI is meh after playing with it in the betas so far so they need something else. And now they are promising a smart Siri maybe with iOS 19? Come on apple what has happened to you?

 

[omenatarhuri]

you rarely, if ever, see an Android foldable screen in use in public here.

the price premium probably or the horrible fold line put people off.

Yeah, but you gotta give ‘em credit for trying something different.

 

[turbineseaplane]

They are all too big, too expensive and largely lacking innovation over the course of several years now

Apple has gotten completely lazy here

 

[turbineseaplane]

The software has gotten so freakin' bloated

I have an iPhone 6s Plus that I keep around for its jailbreak I occasionally need .. it's on iOS 14 (I think? - have to check) -- it's bonkers how lightning fast everything happens.

Navigating around, opening/closing things, swiping up into CC and out .. it's all just buttery smooth and so fast, on old old hardware

Apple have tacked on too much cruft to the entire OS and now are having to throw massive hardware power at the phones just to run acceptably, and it's making for large, heavy, battery sucking iPhones

 

[supergt]

AI= Apple Indifference