13 years is very short term for a mega corporation that’s worth trillions. Big companies fall from CEOs worrying about the short term as that’s how they get paid.
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iPhone Sales Stall Despite Global Smartphone Market Recovery
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So you would like to see that Apple starts cost cutting on every corner, bring in cheaper materials, and raise the price? oh my...
Times have changed though and in my small circles I have noticed where 10 years ago nearly all my friends, colleagues and family were using iPhones and now Android is more popular. Is it because Androids are cheaper? No, in many cases the handsets being used are equivilent in cost to iPhone or actually more expensive. Carriers seem to offer better deals however, whereas iPhones never come with discounts and incentives. I know this may be different in the US, but in Europe, iPhone pricing is fixed hard.I think Apple will be just fine. Many commenters here seem overly fixated on the notion that the competition will somehow get ahead of Apple simply because they sell better-specced phones at lower prices, not seemingly realising how Apple is able to differentiate itself in other areas.
1) The active iphone user base can continue to grow in spite of flat iphone sales by way of the gray market, which is in part made possible because iPhones tend to be more durable (better build quality) and they tend to be supported longer. Let’s say a parent hands down an older iPhone to his kid as he upgrades to the latest iPhone. On paper, Apple earns nothing from this. In reality, the active user base just grew by 1, and Apple can still earn off that 1 kid by way of accessories (eg: AirPods and Apple Watch), app sales, services, and Apple Pay.
It’s part of the perks of owning your own ecosystem, something other Android OEMs don’t have the benefit of. Once a phone is sold, it’s sold, and is subsequently a liability for the seller in terms of support.
2) Premium-priced hardware, by its very nature, will have a harder time growing in market share compared to cheaper alternatives. It’s a conscious tradeoff that Apple made when they decided to target the demographic they did.
With the iphone, we have Apple legitimately working to improve device durability and longevity. It stands to reason that the average iphone upgrade cycle would lengthen because users are able to use their devices for longer. It’s also easier to get your phone repaired or your battery replaced at an Apple Store.
This is not a bad thing, and goes against the common narrative that people simply aren’t upgrading because they have grown bored of Apple or that the competition is catching up. I believe that users continue to be satisfied with their current Apple devices, and it will show in Apple’s continued profitability.
On the flip side, are people buying more android handsets because they are cheaper and therefore more “disposable”?
Singapore consumer watchdog sees doubling of complaints about lines on phone screens
Almost all reports to the Consumer Association of Singapore were to do with Samsung phones.www.channelnewsasia.com
For example, most of the problematic smartphones being reported in the article above are Samsung phones. Do you really want Apple to go there?
TL;DR - I wouldn’t lose any sleep fretting over Apple’s supposed loss of competitiveness anytime soon.
People do keep phone longer these days on average though. It used to be 18 month and 2 year contracts, now people are keeping phones for 3, 4 and 5 years. This also makes sense considering phone used to cost £600-£900 whereas now they are £800-£1600. This year has also again proven that phones aren't really bringing huge advancements and personally I see that as a good thing as its sort of killed off the temptation to upgrade too often.
Just compare the current phones to the X or Xs, that’s a big difference in design for example.
Ok, we will see. Other than blackberry and Enron and the financial services companies that got caught short on the 2009 era, got some case studies? Kodak, ibm, xerox, Microsoft etc.
I do get the feeling sometimes that many macrumors posters are better SMEs than the companies themselves.
Maybe if Tim Cook wasn’t flying off to China every other week to try and bow to them, he could correct the ship and fix these problems of stagnant sales, stale products, etc. I was going to buy a new pro max but looked at the price and the features, there’s absolutely nothing new to warrant that kind of price. I’ll keep my 14 pro max a while longer.
iPhone X - 2017
iPhone 16 - 2024
Yeah...massive design changes throughout since 2017! /s 🤣
For comparison:
Samsung Note 8 w/ 6.3 inch display in 2017
Samsung Z Fold 6 in 2024 w/ 6.3 inch outer display and 7.6" inner display - Two in one device
This is what innovation looks like. Whether you like the idea of a foldable or not is irrelevant. A lot of people were against cars when they first came about as well.
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Sales are down because 1) $1K+ is a lot of money for a phone 2) Many people are focusing their budget on other needful things 3) People are holding onto their devices longer before upgrading.
I understand they have a signature look and product with the iPhone, but that’s still no excuse for the stagnation with their products. They can retain the icon iPhone body but actually innovate something new. An “Action” button is not innovation in 2024
Maybe people are getting tired of being beta testers with their $1,000+ device. I didn't install any beta software on my iPhone 16 pro 512. After spending $1200 on it it just seems laggy, disgruntled and its restarted while driving 5 times. Maybe it's a lemon but the more expensive products get the less people are prone deal with problems. The camera button sometimes doesn't take so I have to push it three times only then to take a picture. It's just the Quality control isn't there for such an expensive product. I won't go to android because well google is evil in my mind and im not going to give a data mining company 24/7 access to me.
That X is so much nicer. Wish they still made them like that.
I think there’s a good chance you will get 1 & 2, thanks to regulations, but I highly doubt we will ever get 3.
It’s time to get out of Timmy’s greedy reality distortion field if you can honestly say Apple’s iPhone is still the best what the market has to offer.1. iPhones have superior cameras. This is proven out in comparison tests carried out over and over.
For example TechRadar: https://www.techradar.com/news/best-cameraphone
Or Tom’s Hardware
Best camera phones in 2025
We've tested all the best camera phones — these are the ones that rise to the topwww.tomsguide.com
2. Android phones have more RAM because they NEED more RAM to perform. Having a higher number doesn’t mean better.
3. What are these “real world” tests. No points if it’s from a pro-Android source.
Quicker release of mediocre to bad software isn’t a plus. And most of the leading AI tools are cross platform (like CharGPT). What are some specific examples of superior AI driven software that’s only available on Android?
I use both every day (Android for work only fortunately) and this is very much not true in actual use. There is still a significant gap in UI experience and performance for Android compared to iOS. Android wins in customization and that’s about it.
iOS is getting way behind in what Android is already offering. The things Apple showed at WWDC 2024 and what is yet to come to iOS, is already available on Android with more to come.
Compare Siri with others, 😂🤣😂
Also Apple is heavily relying on Google (search and glass). If you say Android is unsafe, you probably don’t use any google, Facebook, instagram or other services on your iPhone 🤥
To ridiculous levels. I personally won't shell out 1000+€ for a phone. Sorry, but not sorry. Their regular models now start at 968€ in France, which is insane!
Perhaps that could explain why I have yet to see an iPhone 16 in the wild in Paris. I honestly have yet to see one and I take public transport every day.
Opinion or fact?
Claiming features and specs are superior only go so far, ask apple fans.
And you’re sure there are no guardrails in place?
The report by IDC is clickbaity. Claiming android grew says nothing of individual manufacturers. We’ve all seen examples of phones running the android operating system almost go for $0. In today’s economy price might matter. How did those individual manufacturers make out?
Apple experienced minimal iPhone growth in 2024 despite a significant rebound in the global smartphone market, according to new data published by IDC. Worldwide smartphone shipments increased 6.2% to reach 1.24 billion units, but iPhone shipments grew by just 0.4% during the same period.
The tepid performance underlines Apple's challenges in key markets like China, where domestic rivals are gaining ground through aggressive pricing and technological innovation. Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Huawei are investing heavily in hardware and software development as well as custom processor designs, with Huawei recently launching its new Mate 70 phone featuring its own home-grown chips.
Elsewhere, Android device makers collectively drove the market's recovery, achieving 7.6% growth mostly through strong performance in emerging markets across Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. These manufacturers appear to have succeeded by offering more affordable devices, with an average selling price of $295 compared to Apple's $1,000-plus premium iPhone positioning.
Despite the slower growth, Apple maintained its position as the industry's profit leader through its premium pricing strategy. According to IDC, the Apple's prospects may improve in 2025, with a forecast of 3.1% growth for iOS devices compared to 1.7% for Android smartphones.
Overall, the broader smartphone market's recovery was driven by pent-up demand for device upgrades in regions with lower smartphone penetration. However, IDC analysts noted that even heavily marketed features like generative AI have failed to significantly impact consumer demand or drive early upgrades, which doesn't bode well for the impact of Apple Intelligence on iPhone sales going into 2025.
Article Link: iPhone Sales Stall Despite Global Smartphone Market Recovery
I will say that I don't see myself switching away from any iPhone, or leaving the Apple ecosystem anytime soon. And it goes beyond raw specs or folding devices or price, and I am willing to bet that I am not the only one who shares the sentiments as stated below.
1) It really comes down to the integrated ecosystem. You need an iPhone to use the best smartwatch on the market (apple watch) and AirPods. Then there is iCloud, airdrop (between iPad and Mac), iMessage, airplay (Apple TV), AirTags etc, all of which offer a strong incentive to continue using apple products (and only apple hardware).
We are at a point where it's no longer enough to just come out with a phone that supposedly beats the iPhone in 1 area or 2. You need to match the entire apple ecosystem, and in this regard, pretty much every android handset falls short, and which I feel this specific criticism of the iPhone misses the mark.
And yeah, so Apple doesn't have a folding phone, and so what? Seems like you are all so fixated on criticising the one thing that Apple hasn't done, that you are all ignoring the other 10 things that Apple has done (and done well). And this is even assuming that folding phones is something that the mass market wants (so far, this doesn't seem to be the case). For all we know, it could be another product category that ends up being discontinued in a couple of years due to it not getting any traction.
2) iOS gets the best apps (fantastical, bear, 1password, spark, overcast, ivory, notability, play, just to name a few). Even common apps like Twitter and snapchat (at one point) work better on iOS than Android.
It's telling that Fantastical recently released a windows app for their calendar app but no android app is on the cards anytime soon (not least because way fewer android users are willing to spend money on apps). An app like Play is available for the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac, and nowhere else. More ram or the ability to sideload apps mean nothing when there are no apps to sideload.
3) The iPhone's seemingly higher price tag on paper will likely get offset by a lower cost of ownership overall. It tends to retain its resale value better, plus it lasts longer (better build quality) and will receive software updates for a longer period of time. I like that people often make light of Apple's environmental efforts, yet at the same time cheer on the flooding of the smartphone market with cheap plastic handsets that will just end up being e-waste in a year or two.
4) This is deeply personal and subjective, but I just prefer paying for something where I know effort and heart has gone into designing it. I don't get that feeling with android devices, where a lot of things just feels like there is a lack of care (like the state of the google play store) and attention. Perhaps for some of you, value is buying the absolute cheapest device which best meets your needs and calling it a day. Having used Apple products for well over a decade, I will say that my value system has shifted somewhat during this time.
Apple's success shows that design can and does matter in the mass market, and I want it to continue mattering, and I will continue to vote with my wallet to support what I view to be outstanding design and integration (as opposed to modularity, which is what Android basically is).
Because Apple does not make that possible except for generic web stuff that teenagers use. Anything more complicated and Apple just does not take the time to test and fix it. I'd say half the web sites I visit have problems with Safari and that is when WebKit does not crash.
It is the same reason why as a developer I no longer test against betas. Apple changes things just before release and does not adequately test the changes or fix reported bugs. We have determined that it is a waste of our time to test against non-released Apple software.
That is what they are doing now. Oh, you thought reducing ports, not upgrading memory, leaving old models in the pipeline, etc. were innovations. Nope, just cost cutting at the max. That is the only thing Cook knows is how to drive costs to the lowest value possible.
How many Android flagship phones have you owned in the past two years, and what products from the Android ecosystem have you owned along with said phones, i.e. the Pixel buds/watch, Samsung Galaxy buds/watch, etc.? Along with my iPhones that I use for work, I've owned over 12 Android phones and several products from the Android ecosystem within the past two years. Just in September of this year alone, I owned the OnePlus Open, The Z Fold 6, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and the Honor Magic V3 Global. I would like to hear what all you have owned, and I would ask that you share your experiences, high level of course. There's no need to write a book about them. The way I see it, if a person has no experience with products, and I mean ownership not playing with a product for five minutes in a store, their opinion means nothing to me. I'm talking about products that are known for being top tier and reliable industry wide, not Yugo's or Folexes or any other piece of **** product. The difference between me and probably 95%+ of the people on this forum, is I put my money where my mouth is, and I try several phones and associated tech products a year to make sure I always get the best ones for my use case. Fire away.
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The US is besotted by Apple iPhones, but elsewhere, especially the UK and Europe, their once-dominance has very much ended. Same as @The-Real-Deal82 said, all the people I once knew with iPhones have long since deserted the ship. And it's not really a case that people have deserted because Apple phones are cr-p, it's because they're just one vendor whereas the Android market is served by many vendors competing at multiple price-points and offering a myriad of varying functionalities. Literally no one is expecting Apple to innovate in this space anymore, whereas the likes of Samsung / Xiaomi / etc have to, in order to strongly compete with each other.
EDIT: oh and the 'iMessages' thing, which Americans often cite as the 'big deal' for not migrating to Android, is really a non-issue outside of the US. WhatsApp and to a lesser extent Messenger are the default messaging services here even on iPhones, not least because more than half the market doesn't use an iPhone, and sending messages from iPhones to Android devices using the Messages app intentionally sucks.
EDIT: oh and the 'iMessages' thing, which Americans often cite as the 'big deal' for not migrating to Android, is really a non-issue outside of the US. WhatsApp and to a lesser extent Messenger are the default messaging services here even on iPhones, not least because more than half the market doesn't use an iPhone, and sending messages from iPhones to Android devices using the Messages app intentionally sucks.
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I have been using an iPhone since 2011. Never owned an android phone, though my dad does own a Sony smartphone (and so I do help him with periodic tech support), as well as assisting my colleagues at work with various matters pertaining to their android phones (which is admittedly funny when you consider that I am widely known as the Apple guy and am supposed to have zero experience with how Android works, but I guess it functions close enough to PCs that I can usually figure something out on the spot).
I also bought my mom an android tablet to play with at home. I would shortly pass it to my dad, and replace it with an ipad 9 (more on that later).
So what I have seen is:
1) Numerous Samsung galaxy flagships with green lines on their screens, and tales of Samsung basically refusing to fix them or charging an arm and a leg for screen replacements.
Seems to be a well-known issue.
Singapore consumer watchdog sees doubling of complaints about lines on phone screens
Almost all reports to the Consumer Association of Singapore were to do with Samsung phones.
I do know a friend who owned the galaxy fold. For a while, it did seem like a great device with a large, gorgeous display that was excellent for viewing photos and documents. Until we returned from an overseas learning trip and her fold’s display died the day after. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Quite a few own the galaxy flip. It seems more popular amongst women, I personally don’t see the point, and the crease in the middle is very prominent.
So yeah, something about Samsung phones and screens and crappy customer support.
2) Nobody I know cares about Dex, much less know that it exists.
3) The main thing they appreciate about android phones is the usb c port, which they can charge using their work laptop charger, though I had to be the one to educate them on how usb-c was universal, and the difference between usb-c as a data port vs pd-only.
Funny story - I also have a ton of spare usb-c chargers and power strips lying around at my workstation, and people come to me by default if they need one in a pinch. It’s my one guilty pleasure, and why I am largely supportive of Apple removing chargers from their products. Because I tend to have better ones lying around.
I will also say that I am largely indifferent between usb-c and lightning, especially after switching to wireless / magsafe charging. I have my lightning adaptors, and Bluetooth for everything else.
4) Apps in the google play store do generally seem of worse quality. On iOS, I was able to quickly locate a free bubble shooter game that was free and ad-free for the ipad. I could not seem to locate the same app on android; they were all ad-supported, and seemed to sport worse UIs overall.
I don’t need to own an android device to know that apps like notability and 1password and Ivory simply aren’t available, and likely won’t be for the near foreseeable future. To be fair, the Xiaomi tablet that I purchased did sport pretty good hardware specs for the price, but that’s offset by me not really being able to do a lot of the stuff I am used to performing on an ipad.
So I don’t think I need to actually own an Android smartphone, much less switch over to the Android ecosystem, to know that it’s not for me. You all like to talk about how android hardware tend to have better specs and / or lower prices, and my response is - “and then?”
And within the context of this discussion, I don’t see Android posing a threat to Apple. Not now, not ever. The main reason why the iphone has the smaller market share it does is due to price, and it’s a paradigm that Apple is happy with.