Samsung Doubles Apple's Share of Smartphone Market as Customers Await iPhone 7

[9081094]

Interesting times.

Personally, I really hope the new iPhone does badly and Android continues to surge ahead. I used to love iPhones but Apple have got too complacent. They need a sharp shock to push them to innovate harder and produce a truly amazing phone, but just tweaking the same phone year after year.

Exactly! Other manufactors are adjusting their prices when the technologie used is getting older. Maybe Xaomi did copy/paste the Apple design but what they are really show that it hasn't be that costly to build a good laptop with state of the art tech inside. I hope they'll soon show Apple how to make affordable iMacs and Mac Pros too.
[doublepost=1469793447][/doublepost]

More release means more incremental, les substantial release, not more disruptive improvement, because R&D takes time. There is no competition "light years ahead" like some says, but only incrementally better, and I see no reason for Apple to follow the competition.
Apple had pushed capacitive screen with naturally behaving accelerated GUI,
Apple had pushed HiDPI screen
Apple had pushed login by biometry
Apple had pushed pressure sensitive interface with haptic feedback...
Despite having to rely on supplier for all of this. The drawback is that the competition take also advantage of this, so it is not a long lasting advantage while it takes year for Apple to develop. Only the first innovation, the more significant, a core component of the iPhone success granted a more substantial advantage to Apple.

The next big push can come with flexible display if done right, likely not by Apple...

While I agree with you that after the release of the first iPhone in 2007 there were only incrementally better improvements. But two years are too long. And others are starting to get ahead. While the gap maybe not that big, its not good for a company to release a 'me too' product. When I first mentioned Apple should go Amoled I almost got killed by the diehard Apple fans. First they said colors aren't accurate (which they are) and now they have the argument that the lifespan isn't that long. Well... it's tech... are you still using your seven years old iPhone?

I won't start another discussion but todays iOS is as good as the latest Android and vise versa. The advantage of Apple is their ecosystem although that's questionable either. Maps, Siri is a joke compared to Google maps and Google Now as is their cloud offerings, Apple doesn't really excel in any area today except pricing. People are starting to notice and you can only milk your loyal customers for a certain period of time. When they go, they won't suddenly come back and have the latest experience in mind. As I said before... it's too late to wait till next year when (not proven to be right) a fantastic new iPhone 8 comes out. I'm certain Huawei, Xaomi, Samsung will have breathtaking state of the art phones too by then.

 

[9081094]

Samsung isn't giving phones away for free. They ship them to resellers who have paid for them. The resellers then sell them to end users. Therefore, in Samsungs case, shipped is sold.

Apple on the other hand, can ship without selling. Apple has its own retail stores that they ship merchandise to. So for Apple, shipped may not equal sold.

Our avatars have something in common ...

 

[flyinmac]

Our avatars have something in common ...

I see that

 

[iOSFangirl6001]

Samsung reports shipments, Apple reports sales. No telling where all those "shipments" are sitting right now.

**insert jokes involving basements , attics, garages , garage sales or other places and the gathering of dust **

Would you prefer another Pokemon Go article instead?

Some of us might

 

[organic bond]

Gear VR.
Being a VR Entusiast, (I already own a Vive), that ALONE is almost tempting me to switch.
(and I've been an Apple advocate since 1989)
Combine that with the fact that you cannot even purchase a VR Capable Apple Computer at any price, I'm
kind of having to re-think my whole "electronic" strategy these days.
...
WRC

Same story here, since 1981. I've just bought a Galaxy S7 + Gear VR. Paid € 488 + € 81. The iPhone 6s 16 alone is € 779.
Overpriced? That's an understatement.
Anyway, apparently one of the upcoming iMacs will be VR Capable.

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

So only Apple gets to lump all their iPhone sales together from lower end to mid to high, but not competition? Yeah. Okay, there.....

Please show me all the iPhones Apple sells for $100. Samsung sells 10 different Android phones in India at prices from $55-110.

 

[fischersd]

Please show me all the iPhones Apple sells for $100. Samsung sells 10 different Android phones in India at prices from $55-110.

You hit the nail on the head.

Ignoring the vast majority of the smartphone market, by not having a "discount" model for the masses (selling the SE at low margin perhaps??) and becoming a "niche" product can be dangerous. (and, yes, I agree we should have the same internals in the 4" as the flagship - just sacrificing battery life to make it fit). Maybe we have two 4" models? (e.g. 5C?)

I grudgingly got the 6s (upgrading from the 5s) as I gave up on getting what I wanted.

I also don't think they should be giving more functionality to the 6+ over the 6 (their flagship). NOT everyone wants an iPhad!

One thing that Jobs did right - he was trying to make products for everyone. More than a little afraid of the direction they seem to be headed in now.

If you truly become niche, one of your competitors will pull the "Dell" model. Take over your segment of the market by offering comparable products at cost (while making their profits elsewhere), then gradually raise their margin after you're out of business.

 

[zone23]

It always amazes me a company can make 77 million phones in what like 4 months even say 6 months thats insane.

 

[macrem]

Not strictly true. Since the 5c Apple have been trying to grab the cheaper crowd. Not much cheaper for sure , mid range.

Apple still charge waaaay too much for very little tech.
If you were to weigh up what you're getting for the cash, Samsung flagship phones for the win.

The point is Samsung is in many more categories. You might as well include Samsung TVs and washing machines.

iPhones outperform Samsung smartphones with comparatively little/less powerful hardware because iOS is more efficient. This is a huge win on battery operated mobile devices.

 

[9081094]

No. Leapfrogging implies they are both doing the same and each takes over form the other. Samsung has never sold a smartphone that does nearly as good as the iPhone. It's not even close. Apple crushes Samsung in the high-end flagship smartphone market. Samsung crushes Apple in the low-end $100 smartphone market (because Apple doesn't sell low-end junk).

You've propably never used a competitor phone. What you're saying was true about 4 years ago. Jumping to 2016 it's a whole different story. Both android has become on par with iOS and the hardware is leapfrogging Apple. If the rumors are true what the iPhone 7 will be people will be wowed when it was introduced a year ago. Now it's just a 'meh'.

What's almost embarrassing is that Apple showed profits of 7 billion in one quarter while their whole line shows a decrease in sales. For me it's proof they're selling their products way overpriced at the expense of customers.

I'm quite happy Samsung shows solid numbers because Apple has to respond sooner or later and the customer will win. The Apple I used to know wasn't focused on profits, but at selling the best market could buy.
[doublepost=1469808855][/doublepost]

The point is Samsung is in many more categories. You might as well include Samsung TVs and washing machines.

iPhones outperform Samsung smartphones with comparatively little/less powerful hardware because iOS is more efficient. This is a huge win on battery operated mobile devices.

The latest versions of Android are closing that gap too.

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

You've propably never used a competitor phone. What you're saying was true about 4 years ago. Jumping to 2016 it's a whole different story. Both android has become on par with iOS and the hardware is leapfrogging Apple. If the rumors are true what the iPhone 7 will be people will be wowed when it was introduced a year ago. Now it's just a 'meh'.

I've used (and owned) numerous Android devices, including owning an S7. It's pretty hard to test Android code you've developed without access to Android devices.

I keep calling people out here on MR to list off their Apps they use on their S7 (since I have an S7) so I can do a comparison between it and my 6S Plus. But nobody wants to take me up on my offer. That tells me they are either lying about owning an S7, or they do own an S7 but are afraid the truth will come out (that iOS Apps are superior and perform better).

Do you want to take up the challenge?

 

[9081094]

I've used (and owned) numerous Android devices, including owning an S7. It's pretty hard to test Android code you've developed without access to Android devices.

I keep calling people out here on MR to list off their Apps they use on their S7 (since I have an S7) so I can do a comparison between it and my 6S Plus. But nobody wants to take me up on my offer. That tells me they are either lying about owning an S7, or they do own an S7 but are afraid the truth will come out (that iOS Apps are superior and perform better).

Do you want to take up the challenge?

I would if I could but I'm owning an iPhone 6S. I know that the 6S is hard to beat on speed. But I've played with a friends S7 edge to also know it has a far better screen and is taking better pictures and has much better specs. Sure iOS is a very decent OS. But so does Android nowadays. Marshmallow will close the gap and we already have enough people who prefer Android above iOS and vise versa. A few years ago iOS would win hands down. Both OS’es have become mature.

You can also watch the review on most independent websites to see this. I'm 'still' all Apple but I'm not blinded by it anymore.

 

[niun]

The point is Samsung is in many more categories. You might as well include Samsung TVs and washing machines.

Eh? I thought this was specific to phones?

iPhones outperform Samsung smartphones with comparatively little/less powerful hardware because iOS is more efficient. This is a huge win on battery operated mobile devices.

Is that just Samsung or any device running android? Is android the issue?
Have we got any stats to back this up?

 

[MacBH928]

it makes sense, Samsung sells every kind of phone from curved to mini ones. Apple concentrate on 1 quality product.

Apple strategy for a long time is to take high margin on a small market, never to be the most used service/product . It happened with the iPod because the iPod never had a competition.

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

I would if I could but I'm owning an iPhone 6S. I know that the 6S is hard to beat on speed. But I've played with a friends S7 edge to also know it has a far better screen and is taking better pictures and has much better specs. Sure iOS is a very decent OS. But so does Android nowadays. Marshmallow will close the gap and we already have enough people who prefer Android above iOS and vise versa. A few years ago iOS would win hands down. Both OS’es have become mature.

You can also watch the review on most independent websites to see this. I'm 'still' all Apple but I'm not blinded by it anymore.

I find the S7 can take better pictures if you play with the controls, but simply snapping pictures on the go the iPhone 6S Plus does a better job. The video on the 6S Plus is better and the slow-mo is superior (including 1080P 120FPS, which the S7, despite its massive processor, still can't do).

As I stated to the other poster way back, if you only use Facebook, Twitter and other common Apps then you'll never see the difference between Android and iOS. If you want to actually do something with your device, then iOS pulls away every time. It's pretty stupid to buy a flagship device with a fast processor and spend all day Tweeting or Instagramming.

Even worse is having a 64bit processor in your Android phone and there's no Apps to actually take advantage of it. It's why, for example, I can do things with Djay 2 on my iPhone 5S (because it's a 64bit native App) that the S7 is unable to do. Like real-time transposition. Funny how my 3 year old iPhone can outperform a brand new S7.

Which begs an interesting question: Can you name me any Android Apps that are native 64bit? I'd think very carefully about this.

 

[Shirke]

I have never use iPhone in my life and never will, but I do have a Mac Pro

 

[spacemnspiff]

Both android has become on par with iOS and the hardware is leapfrogging Apple.

Hardware leapfrogging is obsolete discussion that was valid maybe 4 years ago. It's software and hardware togther now, Android business model cannot compete with that Windows like model in mobile business. Hardware leapfrogging is meaningless if software is not just compatible but optimized for the hardware. Samsung historically was not able to deliver hardware and software that realizes the full hardware capability on the device. Apple with their custom designed hardware and software with seemingly less capable hardware outperforms Android devices. This only shows to me that Windows like business model of Android, one OS for all the hardware is not really suitable for mobile business.

The latest versions of Android are closing that gap too.

That only means Android has not been able close the gap. What's taking so long to close the gap, it should have been surpassed already. Let me turn the tables, Google and Samsung are the laggards and complacent here for not being able to close the gap.

 

[richpjr]

That tells me they are either lying about owning an S7, or they do own an S7 but are afraid the truth will come out (that iOS Apps are superior and perform better).

Or that they don't care what another poster thinks, especially one who comes off as dismissive about the S7. I don't own one so I have no opinion either way. The reality is that people will love/hate anything Apple/Android and the good thing is they have a choice.
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What's almost embarrassing is that Apple showed profits of 7 billion in one quarter while their whole line shows a decrease in sales. For me it's proof they're selling their products way overpriced at the expense of customers.

Every for profit company out there tries to maximize profits and I'm not sure what is embarrassing about that. They could sell their phones with less margin or make cheaper phones, but if people are willing to pay a premium for their products, why should they? If a competitor comes out with something better or substantially cheaper the market will force them to adjust their approach. So far, they haven't had to.

 

[thekeyring]

Apple makes tremendous profits on their devices, their $ billions revenue leaves them tremendous amounts for R & D and with a huge cash reserve leftover. Apple ain't teetering on struggle street if that's what you're suggesting if Apple sold iPhone for lower cost. Apple is acting greedily and it's affecting potential sales of product.

Steve Jobs mantra was price aggressively and go for volume. If Apple dropped the iPhone by $100 or $200, priced it aggressively, not only would they have the most revered product in more hands, they'd've a flood of new players to the Apple ecosystem, maybe leading to complementing products like Apple Watch, iPad, maybe a Mac or Apple TV, spending using Apple Pay, purchasing in iTunes and the App Store etcetera.

Sorry, on this occasion, your assertion that Apple would not make any profit doesn't stand up to scrutiny I'm afraid.

Makes sense but they released the iPhone SE, and dropped the iPhone price in countries like India where they want to go for market share.

 

[JayIsAwesome]

One of the reasons Shamesung has "sold" so many phones is because they're giving them away. I've seen so many "get a free Samsung phone" ads, it's starting to get nauseating.

There's been many and I mean many BOGO deals for the iPhone. Or "if you sign up for *insert carrier* you'll get a free iPhone 6S 16gb on us" deals. Bottomline, the S7 was/is a phenomenal phone. Samsung deserves the success it's getting. S7 is the best phone of 2016, thus far IMO

 

[thekeyring]

What design/research and development? iPhone 7 is going to be almost the same as the iPhone 6. Can't see that there are billions poured into new design/research and development here... You?
[doublepost=1469785356][/doublepost]

You're half right about that, lol. About half the tech inside the iPhone is Samsung.
[doublepost=1469785862][/doublepost]

Totally (a)greed with you. The Apple of now is about profits and not about bringing the best to their customers at a reasonable price. Time will tell... but I can predict that their prices will come down soon. Apple hasn't mentioned numbers of their foot traffic in their stores this last quarterly results if im remember right. They always did... Why not this time?

Can't see the to be released iPhone 7 draw lines at their shops either...

That Apple is 'busy' with their car project seems to me an escape from computers and phones. I think Apple will abandon that category all together by 2020. Because they seem not able to compete in the fast changing high tech.

I'm happy that Xaomi, Huawei, Samsung and others are pushing hard. Sooner or later Apple has to respond and think about customers

If we're going on rumours, the iPhone 8 sounds pretty interesting.

If we're going on things they've released: products like ResearchKit and Apple Watch have come together an allowed a firm to develop an app which will predict epileptic seizures. Pretty amazing thing to come from an Apple invention.

Then there's the more boring stuff like Apple Pay, Touch ID... all things which existed vaguely before but received new focus from competitors once Apple introduced them. Or the ecosystem: iOS is fantastic, and iOS 10 looks like a solid upgrade.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Apple on the other hand, can ship without selling. Apple has its own retail stores that they ship merchandise to. So for Apple, shipped may not equal sold.

A "shipped" iPhone doesn't sit on the shelf for very long. It eventually becomes "sold"

Overall... Apple shipped 40.4 million iPhones last quarter... which would break down to:

449,000 iPhones per day
18,700 iPhones per hour
311 iPhones per minute
5 iPhones per second

So who is Apple shipping them to at this crazy pace?

Retailers wouldn't order iPhones if they didn't plan on them being sold to consumers in a timely fashion. Nobody wants a bunch of stock sitting around. This includes Apple's own stores and tens of thousands of 3rd-party retailers.

If Apple is shipping this many iPhones... don't you think retailers would be selling roughly that same amount too?

I've never heard of a retailer sending an iPhone back to Apple because they couldn't find someone to buy it.

Even with declining shipments these past two quarters... they'll still sell every iPhone they ship. Eventually.

So yes... shipped = sold... it's only a matter of time

 

[EricTheHalfBee]

Or that they don't care what another poster thinks, especially one who comes off as dismissive about the S7.

Ah, but they DO care. Otherwise, why do they feel the need to continually bring up the S7 and how it's superior to their iPhone in any iPhone related thread? On an Apple website, no less. And why disappear from any thread when someone calls them on it? If people make claims they should be prepared to back them up.

 

[asfdasdf]

Samsung reports shipments, Apple reports sales. No telling where all those "shipments" are sitting right now.

False
[doublepost=1469823977][/doublepost]

Here in the Netherlands you'll see far more S7 edge then iPhone 6 (S and S plus). Youngsters allmost all have Samsung device because they're 'cooler' then Apple these days. It's sad to see it but it's true. I think I can speak for whole Europe.

the iPhone market share in Europe, even in the high price space, is low. I think it's only very relevant in the US

 

[Retired Cat]

How is Samsung doing with their monthly security update initiative? I went with iPhone partly because Apple supports its devices for a long time.

The one thing that has given me pause about Android (outside of Nexus) has been the shoddy software support of many handset makers. I know that Samsung and LG have tried to improve their track record.

The one thing I don't like about the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the glass back. Very bad idea. Easy to break. It was a bad idea on the iPhone 4/4s and Nexus 4, and it's still a bad idea today.