iPhone Was Best Selling Smartphone in Q4 2017 Amid Industry Wide Decline

[deanthedev]

And lately the newest iPhones are not the best sellers either. Apple just restarted sales on iPhone 6 in India.

Have you been following the news lately? iPhone X was Apples best selling phone.

And a slight drop of 1 million (from 78 million) is hardly the epitome of not selling well. Selling 1/3 to 1/4 as many flagships as Apple - now that’s what I’d call “not selling well”.

 

[Cosmosent]

RE: "Apple does not break down its iPhone sales, ..."

But I do ! ... did it last night in fact:

iPhone X (256 GB): 8% (6.2M units)

iPhone X (64 GB): 32% (24.7M units)

iPhone 8+ (256 GB): 4% (3.1M units)

iPhone 8+ (64 GB): 16% (12.4M units)

iPhone 8 (256 GB): 2% (1.5M units)

iPhone 8 (64 GB): 8% (6.2M units)

iPhone 7: 15% (11.6M units)

iPhone 6s: 15% (11.6M units)

For the newest-three iPhones, the totals are: 30.9M iPhone X, 15.5M iPhone 8+, 7.7M iPhone 8.

Consider it all just a first-order approximation.

 

[falainber]

Have you been following the news lately? iPhone X was Apples best selling phone.

And a slight drop of 1 million (from 78 million) is hardly the epitome of not selling well. Selling 1/3 to 1/4 as many flagships as Apple - now that’s what I’d call “not selling well”.

You are naive. If Tim Cook said X was selling better every week after release it does not mean it is the best selling phone. It only means it is the best selling phone in just a few weeks after release. That's expected from just released phone. Total sales of iPhone X are still pretty low at just about 30%. iPhone 8 outsold it even during this period (granted regular and plus models combined but still) but going forward nobody expects X to sell more units than its predecessors.

 

[DNichter]

Almost outselling iPhone 2 quarters after S8 release during a quarter when APple released two new models? Yeah, Samsung is doomed. If the trend continues Samsung is going to outsell Apple in each and every month.

Your stupidity aside, Samsung does face some challenges especially in China where the local brands are surging.
[doublepost=1517608449][/doublepost]
Thanks to this "hit" we got a mini market crash today.

Haha yea bud, that falls squarely on Apples shoulders.

 

[Nabby51]

Of course iPhone sales are going to be higher then everyone else. They’re the only major manufacturer that has all their phone releases in Q4. Everyone else staggers releases. Samsung for example gets the S8 out in March and note 8 out in September.

The surprising bit here is that Samsung was still close with a phones like the S8 that was 6 months old and note 8 which only really allures a niche buyer. I took a look at the note 8 and that phone is massive.

 

[genovelle]

Market share for Apple 2017 was 14.3% a decline from 14.5%. Samsung increased from 20.8% to 21.1%

Reporting that Apple sold a lot of iPhones in the last quarter of 2017 is a bit stupid considering it's when it releases them. Samsung releases in a different quarter.

Still not a real comparison since the bulk of Samsung phones actually sold are the cheapo models which is why their ASP is low.

 

[DipDog3]

People are just keeping their phone longer. No need to upgrade every two years anymore.

 

[Baymowe335]

Of course iPhone sales are going to be higher then everyone else. They’re the only major manufacturer that has all their phone releases in Q4. Everyone else staggers releases. Samsung for example gets the S8 out in March and note 8 out in September.

The surprising bit here is that Samsung was still close with a phones like the S8 that was 6 months old and note 8 which only really allures a niche buyer. I took a look at the note 8 and that phone is massive.

Samsung has a lot more phones than just the Galaxy line, which makes up majority of their sales.

 

[BuddyTronic]

RE: "Apple does not break down its iPhone sales, ..."

But I do ! ... did it last night in fact:

iPhone X (256 GB): 8% (6.2M units)

iPhone X (64 GB): 32% (24.7M units)

iPhone 8+ (256 GB): 4% (3.1M units)

iPhone 8+ (64 GB): 16% (12.4M units)

iPhone 8 (256 GB): 2% (1.5M units)

iPhone 8 (64 GB): 8% (6.2M units)

iPhone 7: 15% (11.6M units)

iPhone 6s: 15% (11.6M units)

For the newest-three iPhones, the totals are: 30.9M iPhone X, 15.5M iPhone 8+, 7.7M iPhone 8.

Consider it all just a first-order approximation.

Good work!

Do you have confidence that 4 out of every 5 iPhone X sold was for the 64GB one? I sure wouldn't buy that one.

It probably doesn't matter that much - but it would really surprise me.

I suppose 256 was too much, but 64 GB was too little!


Also - do these approximations work well for having iPhone X selling the mostest every week since introduction?


Just curious.
[doublepost=1517635302][/doublepost]

You are naive. If Tim Cook said X was selling better every week after release it does not mean it is the best selling phone. It only means it is the best selling phone in just a few weeks after release. That's expected from just released phone. Total sales of iPhone X are still pretty low at just about 30%. iPhone 8 outsold it even during this period (granted regular and plus models combined but still) but going forward nobody expects X to sell more units than its predecessors.

Wait a second here.

I heard Tim Cook say that iPhone X was the best selling iPhone for each and every week since it was introduced all the way up to Jan 31 2018 actually. So every week of sales, the best selling iPhone was iPhone X.

Does this conflict with what you are saying? I'm not even sure.

 

[urbanman2004]

Has the Galaxy line really gotten that bad?

Yes, I regret I ever upgraded from a S5 to an S7. My next phone will be non-Samsung

 

[BuddyTronic]

The drop is not about the sales, its all about the outlook. Reduced guidance is what is hurting the stock. Unless apple lowers price of X, sales will continue to stagnate. The average person will not buy a phone at $1000. Introducing a lcd model instead of Oled will reduce costs massively, but that probably won't happen until iphone XI. Also the costs for Face ID should drop as well. So short term, Apple will struggle and likely touch $150. But the future is bright, if it hits $150 and below, start averaging in.

You say about the iPhone X - "continue to stagnate". Are you implying that iPhone X sales are not good somehow? Please explain. I read that the iPhone X was the best selling iPhone each and every week since it's introduction right up until Jan 31, 2018. Tim Cook said this I believe.


You say the average person will not buy a phone at $1000.00. Probably true. The average person probably wants a 7 or an 8 or 8 plus, and maybe even some average persons want the $350 iPhone SE.

Above average (income) persons probably lean more towards the top of the line phone perhaps.

Remember - Apple has something for everybody right now $350 - $1000


Double digit growth in the world's biggest cap company is hard to conceive. If this growth continues at double digits, Apple will DOUBLE in size in less than 7 years. 11% growth would be a 7 year doubling. I think Apple is beating 11%. In some things it's closer to 20%. Wow!

The number of iPhone's sold yearly is one thing, but the company revenue and earnings appears to be growing incredibly for the largest company ever. It really boggles the mind.

It is already the world's largest company, and it's going to double in size in 5 years.

 

[BvizioN]

Not true. Samsung sold more in the whole year.

Not surprising, considering the wide phone line up they have (lots of A, and J, XCOVER, Core Prime and what not) and lots of them are much much cheaper then any Apple iPhone would ever be. Samsung probably releases new cheapo every month.

 

[macs4nw]

.....I guess you can say it is impressive since the price is significantly higher, but I don't think it is unusual for a new iPhone to outsell older models after the new model's launch.

I think in this particular case, an unusually high pent-up demand for the very highly anticipated model X also played a role, but impressive, definitely.

What has peaked my curiosity is rumors of next year's crop of iPhones, in particular the mentioned X plus, as well as a possible 6.1" LCD model. Patience I guess.

 

[bollman]

There were reports a few months ago predicting Huawei to overtake the 2nd place spot.

But Huawei actually sold fewer phones last quarter than the year-ago quarter... and are still in a distant 3rd place.

If you can't trust analysts... who can you trust?!?!

That is to take the numbers to the extreme.
If you look at the entire year, OPPO, Huawei and Xiaomi are the vendors that grew, y-o-y, significantly.
If you add together the 3 Chinese vendors, they are now even bigger than Samsung.
And no wonder. I paid like $350 for a Huawei P10, no contract, just upfront to get an unlocked phone. And it is a marvelous phone, love the dual-SIM. I have absolutely no intention of paying a 100+% Apple tax to get a phone again.
And I'm obviously not the only one.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Not surprising, considering the wide phone line up they have (lots of A, and J, XCOVER, Core Prime and what not) and lots of them are much much cheaper then any Apple iPhone would ever be. Samsung probably releases new cheapo every month.

Exactly.

I never understood the constant comparisons between how many phones Apple and Samsung sell.

They each have VASTLY different product lines.

Apple has around 10 models if you add up the regular and Plus models, X, SE, etc... (if you want to get technical... each phone is available in different capacities and colors too... but those are simply attributes of a single model)

Apple's price range is from $349 to $1,149... with an average around $800 (!!)

Meanwhile... Samsung has over 50 individual models that I counted... and that's just on the US website! Worldwide there's probably more!

And Samsung's price range is from $100 to $950... but with an average only around $200

So yeah... it doesn't really matter if Apple and Samsung sells the same, more or less than each other at any given time.

They both have different products and philosophies. I don't even know how you'd begin to compare them.

neutralguy's comment was correct... Samsung did sell more phones than Apple for the entire year.

But look at what Samsung was selling.

 

[DeepIn2U]

RE: "Apple does not break down its iPhone sales, ..."

But I do ! ... did it last night in fact:

iPhone X (256 GB): 8% (6.2M units)

iPhone X (64 GB): 32% (24.7M units)

iPhone 8+ (256 GB): 4% (3.1M units)

iPhone 8+ (64 GB): 16% (12.4M units)

iPhone 8 (256 GB): 2% (1.5M units)

iPhone 8 (64 GB): 8% (6.2M units)

iPhone 7: 15% (11.6M units)

iPhone 6s: 15% (11.6M units)

For the newest-three iPhones, the totals are: 30.9M iPhone X, 15.5M iPhone 8+, 7.7M iPhone 8.

Consider it all just a first-order approximation.

What ... did you forget the iPhone 7 Plus?

iPhone 7 did more than the the iPhone 8 at BOTH the 64/256GB combined!

Hmm. If no longer offered I'd say this is Apple's knowingly help to boost iPhone 8 sales.

 

[Michael Scrip]

If you look at the entire year, OPPO, Huawei and Xiaomi are the vendors that grew, y-o-y, significantly.

If you add together the 3 Chinese vendors, they are now even bigger than Samsung.

Ah... good catch.

I was only looking at Huawei's Q4 numbers for 2016 and 2017.

You're right... the yearly numbers for the Chinese makers are growing like crazy.

However... it didn't seem to affect Samsung this year... they still grew a little YoY.

But look at the numbers for the "Other" vendors. They dropped by 67 million in a single year!

It looks like OPPO, Huawei and Xiaomi are taking a bite out of "Others"...

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

There’s a lot of people claiming a victory here but the fact remains Apple sell 8 devices as new currently. The iPhone X could have sold just 9.8 million units and still be the biggest seller in their line up. The fact remains older phones are more popular than ever and the smartphone market has 38 million less consumers than 2 years ago. Times are changing and the latest smartphones are falling out of favour of late.

The iPhone X is expensive and Apple knows it won’t appeal to the majority so an older lineup will always be needed to keep sales as high as possible.

 

[FFR]

There’s a lot of people claiming a victory here but the fact remains Apple sell 8 devices as new currently. The iPhone X could have sold just 9.8 million units and still be the biggest seller in their line up. The fact remains older phones are more popular than ever and the smartphone market has 38 million less consumers than 2 years ago. Times are changing and the latest smartphones are falling out of favour of late.

The iPhone X is expensive and Apple knows it won’t appeal to the majority so an older lineup will always be needed to keep sales as high as possible.

Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones, and you still think the iPhone X only sold 9.8 million units, that’s delusional at best.
Some people just can’t admit when they are wrong.

Guess the old adage applies; “haterz gonna hate.”

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones, and you still think the iPhone X only sold 9.8 million units, that’s delusional at best.
Some people just can’t admit when they are wrong.

Guess the old adage applies; “haterz gonna hate.”

I was stating with 8 iPhones currently in the line up, that ‘could’ be the lowest figure for the X devoid of any actual break down.

‘Delusional’? Thanks for that, how very polite of you. What have I been wrong about either? Explain that to me and at least i’ll have some inkling what I’ve supposed to have got wrong.

‘Haters gonna hate’, Christ on a bike, yeah it might have escaped your attention but I use an iPhone.

 

[Nabby51]

Samsung has a lot more phones than just the Galaxy line, which makes up majority of their sales.

Yeah they do have more devices but that is still almost equal unit sales in a quarter that had 1 major releases the note 8.

Granted due to the per unit cost of iPhones apples profits are astronomical.

 

[FFR]

I was stating with 8 iPhones currently in the line up, that ‘could’ be the lowest figure for the X devoid of any actual break down.

‘Delusional’? Thanks for that, how very polite of you. What have I been wrong about either? Explain that to me and at least i’ll have some inkling what I’ve supposed to have got wrong.

‘Haters gonna hate’, Christ on a bike, yeah it might have escaped your attention but I use an iPhone.

Stating fact and making things up are two different things.

Hence your statement regarding iPhone X sales coming in at 9.8 million out of 77.3 is delusional.
It’s not polite to spread misinformation.

During the earnings call they mentioned that the quarter was 13 weeks long, while the year-ago quarter was 14 weeks, while asp was at an all time high. And cook blankly stated that the iPhone X was the best selling smartphone ever since it launched halfway into the quarter.

Ever since the iPhone X was announced at its current price-point, there has been an unusual amount of backlash from a minority of iPhone users, regarding the price. So yes, “haterz gonna hate” does apply.

Since you brought it up, What iPhone do you currently use?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Stating fact and making things up are two different things.

Hence your statement regarding iPhone X sales coming in at 9.8 million out of 77.3 is delusional.
It’s not polite to spread misinformation.

During the earnings call they mentioned that the quarter was 13 weeks long, while the year-ago quarter was 14 weeks, while asp was at an all time high. And cook blankly stated that the iPhone X was the best selling smartphone ever since it launched halfway into the quarter.

Ever since the iPhone X was announced at its current price-point, there has been an unusual amount of backlash from a minority of iPhone users, regarding the price. So yes, “haterz gonna hate” does apply.

Since you brought it up, What iPhone do you currently use?

Excuse me but my statement included the would ‘could’ before I estimated a figure. It in your quote that you skip read through before trying to insult me.

Your tag line about haters does not apply to me, find someone else to insult with that or i’ll continue reporting it.

I use an iPhone 6S if you’re really that interested. I’ll even take a photo of it if you don’t believe me.

 

[FFR]

Excuse me but my statement included the would ‘could’ before I estimated a figure. It in your quote that you skip read through before trying to insult me.

Your tag line about haters does not apply to me, find someone else to insult with that or i’ll continue reporting it.

I use an iPhone 6S if you’re really that interested. I’ll even take a photo of it if you don’t believe me.

I’m not trying to insult you.
But you need to stop spreading misinformation just because you don’t like the quarterly results or they don’t align with what you believe or have been posting ever since the iPhone X was released.

Again I’m not insulting you but you do have an agenda, and what your posting or estimating does not fall in line with what is being reported.

There’s no way the iPhone X is the best selling of all time, that’s bollocks. That claim was more than likely extracted from someone’s backside lol. I think sales this quarter have been propped up by the fact 3 iPhones were launched at the same time and currently on sale as well as older devices like the iPhone 7 and 6S appealing within the market.

It will be good to see prices come down to a reasonable level next year if that rumour is true. The market is so saturated with people keeping phones longer, a £1k smartphone is unsustainable beyond a test year.

Nearly everything on the X has come from Android OEM’s.

The notch
OLED
Facial recognition
Wireless charging (not fast charging as seen on Android)

You wouldn’t know this though because you’ve admitted you haven’t got a clue what is on Android devices. You’re out of your depth because you’ve never taken an interest.

What has the X got that we haven’t already seen elsewhere? Give us 10...

For me both are equal. The 8 Plus is too big and the X is too expensive so are equally unappealing.

Well you’ve certainly got to be a fan of the brand to want an X, but let’s face it, its expensive. You don’t have to spend £1k to get an equally capable iPhone though. I just wish Apple put more effort into devices like the iPhone 8 despite it essentially being an X in a less shiny case.

I’m guessing many people feel the same judging by how few X’s I see in the city. The iPhone 6S and 7 seem to be the current kings of the boardroom which is reassuring.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I’m not trying to insult you.
But you need to stop spreading misinformation just because you don’t like the quarterly results or they don’t align with what you believe or have been posting ever since the iPhone X was released.

Again I’m not insulting you but you do have an agenda, and what your posting or estimating does not fall in line with what is being reported.

I’m not spreading misinformation, I’m offering an opinion and I’m entitled to do that. We have no figures for how many iPhones sold per model so unless you can confirm how many X’s have sold, I will post whatever view I have. I don’t need guidelines from you or be accused of being a ‘hater’ just because you don’t like my opinion.

Is it fair to say your agenda is very pro X and you don’t like negativity surrounding it?

I don’t like the price and quoting my past posts does nothing but highlight that my views have not changed. What was your motive/agenda when quoting them? I’m quite pleased by the quarterly results btw. I feel it’s backed up many of my predictions.