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Samsung Overtakes Apple to Reclaim Title of World's Largest Smartphone Maker
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Sure... you're right about that, but usually companies don't keep investing in products that loose money. Also, there is a point where they get pressure to make it profitable by their shareholders and usually that means lowering standards to save on product cost.
I saw an excellent article where a reviewer noted the subtle differences between the iPhone 6 and the new S6. The differences was the attention to details on the iPhone and how all ports, buttons and seams all perfectly aligned. On the S6 the alignment of the same was all over the place, a couple things even skewed on the body. The point was that it appeared Samsung rushed the design and lost track of details on the outside. So, it makes you wonder what details they lost track of on the inside?
Now I'm not saying the S6 is a bad phone. In fact, I'm confident in saying it's a very good phone and it surpasses the iPhone in some respects. But it does show Samsung is not detailed oriented and I believe eventually that will come back to bite them someday.
nothing makes readers of macrumors more defensive than a positive samsung article. 
it's crazy. the last 5 pages have been nothing but excuses.
"well what about their profits!"
"i guess they copied apple's success!"
"apple only cares about the premium market!"
"samsung makes crappy phones!"
"yeah, well, apple is the first to get things RIGHT!"
do most of you read what you type before posting it?
it's crazy. the last 5 pages have been nothing but excuses.
"well what about their profits!"
"i guess they copied apple's success!"
"apple only cares about the premium market!"
"samsung makes crappy phones!"
"yeah, well, apple is the first to get things RIGHT!"
do most of you read what you type before posting it?
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100% agree. Xiaomi is eating their lunch currently. Not only are they killing Samsung's lower end handsets, they're killing them with higher quality phones. Xiaomi sells high end handset at less than mid tier pricing. That's axe murdering Samsung's high end. Rock and hard place. They can ape Samsung style and use Android. They can only ape Apple's style but not iOS. Benefits of the garden I guess.
Does anyone know if Xiaomi receives any state sponsorship? Those margins can't be sustainable over the long haul.
Except in this case Apple has a large margin and a large number of devices. Profit is entirely relevant in this industry in that if these companies continue to not make or lose money then there's a certain possibility that they would exit the market. As a consumer this means leaving behind orphaned products and having less options to purchase in the market. Sony was certainly pondering it recently. Sustainability is also important. With razor thin margins and shrinking profits how will investors feel despite 70 million units shipped?
My original post was just pointing out how useless of a metric "total units shipped" is when the devices are sold dirt cheap or at cost amid shrinking profits. It's a losing strategy that continues to fail for Samsung. Yes it is embarrassing when you sell the most units in the industry and capture less than 10% of its profits. It means there's something very wrong with your business model. Last I checked companies were in business to make profit, not give away products at cost.
I don't think Apple will be number one in numbers again. It's difficult to outsell your competitor when they're selling $100 devices and yours are $650 minimum.
It would seem so.
Darn. I was getting excited seeing Apple pull ahead. Before anyone complains at me being a "fanboy" or anything, it's because I like developing for iOS and don't want a competing OS to take marketshare, I like it when my friends' phones work perfectly with mine, and I don't want Android to take over and be stuck with it like we were with Windows.
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I would actually take the profits into account since the company's success affects the support for the product. It's riskier to buy something from a company that could either stop producing that product or drop support because they stop caring since they're hardly making money off of it anyway. It's already somewhat riskier to buy a Mac nowadays since Apple doesn't really care about Macs anymore. I've noticed an apparent drop in quality and support. As a more extreme example, think of the suckers who bought Fisker cars and now have absolutely no support.
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I would actually take the profits into account since the company's success affects the support for the product. It's riskier to buy something from a company that could either stop producing that product or drop support because they stop caring since they're hardly making money off of it anyway. It's already somewhat riskier to buy a Mac nowadays since Apple doesn't really care about Macs anymore. I've noticed an apparent drop in quality and support. As a more extreme example, think of the suckers who bought Fisker cars and now have absolutely no support.
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Samsung just had a piss poor earnings call. Can they ship more units/models a quarter than Apple? Absolutely they can. It 100% doesn't matter. People are losing interest in actually BUYING Samsung phones. That's what really matters.
As an American, I never see that. The biggest one I see is that people don't understand that "if" statements aren't reversible. "If A implies B, then B implies A."
Glad you like your phone.
But can't help but feel like I just read an ad
Ha! Reading back over it - it sort of does read that way
. Might just be new device enthusiasm at play - but I really do like the device in a way I never did like my Windows or iOS phones. Each OS does have its positives, but I am just happy with how far Android and Samsung have come. Maybe its because I had such low expectations for them. LOL.
Isn't this a bit inaccurate? Apple still sells older devices for far less than $650. Also wouldn't the discussion about profit fit a little better in the report that will be out by the next week or two? You know, the report on profit.
Shipping vs sold?
Does it make a difference that Samsung is stuffing the channel to artificially push the numbers to improve the optics of the news? It's not like Samsung has ever fudged numbers to try to sell to gullible buyers. Oh wait, they have been fudging performance numbers and specs to do exactly that and they have a history of never reporting actual sales.
Does it make a difference that Samsung is stuffing the channel to artificially push the numbers to improve the optics of the news? It's not like Samsung has ever fudged numbers to try to sell to gullible buyers. Oh wait, they have been fudging performance numbers and specs to do exactly that and they have a history of never reporting actual sales.
I'm sure with the iPhone 6S, Apple will lead once again.
I keep hearing more android to iphone switchers lately so we will see.
I keep hearing more android to iphone switchers lately so we will see.
They needed to do this becuase Apple is now selling more phones in China alone than in the USA.
Wow, bizarre. Tim Cook said only 20% of people upgraded to get those numbers. So, there is plenty of upside there (not to mention China emerging as a mega market for Apple).
As for the temporary nature of this?
They beat their last year total by 18M phones in Q2, that's 40% higher than last year. 80% of Samsung's phone sales unit sales come from sub $200 phones; apple sell no sub $450 phones. That tells you all you need to know about this.
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Their "cheapest" device is the 5c at $460, not exactly cheap is it... I'd say 85% of Samsung's unit sales (at least) are cheaper than this...
I'm in no rush to upgrade my 5s plus I don't like the look of the new iPhones.
I think performance for the 5 and 5s reached a point where it's adequate or more than enough (5s) for a device of that size and for what most people mainly use them for.
Going forward will offer less compelling reasons to upgrade. Apple already made the screen sizes bigger. What can they do next apart from make the internals ever faster or the device ever slmmer and more bendable? Maybe focus on the camera but that too has reached a point where it's good enough for a phone.
I won't be upgrading to iOS 9 because I don't trust Apple anymore and their motivation to keep my device performing well. They care about profit so it makes sense for them to push out increasingly bloated versions of iOS that older phones can't handle.
As for the Edge it looked kind of nice but what's the practicality or use in having a screen "wrap" around the side? Aren't you going to obscure some of it when holding and how can you use a case without covering the screen and pretty edge?
I think performance for the 5 and 5s reached a point where it's adequate or more than enough (5s) for a device of that size and for what most people mainly use them for.
Going forward will offer less compelling reasons to upgrade. Apple already made the screen sizes bigger. What can they do next apart from make the internals ever faster or the device ever slmmer and more bendable? Maybe focus on the camera but that too has reached a point where it's good enough for a phone.
I won't be upgrading to iOS 9 because I don't trust Apple anymore and their motivation to keep my device performing well. They care about profit so it makes sense for them to push out increasingly bloated versions of iOS that older phones can't handle.
As for the Edge it looked kind of nice but what's the practicality or use in having a screen "wrap" around the side? Aren't you going to obscure some of it when holding and how can you use a case without covering the screen and pretty edge?
Yes it does, it get me all distraught that Apple, Samsung, and Huawei all shipped more phones than my phones company. I don't think I'll be able to show my face in public anymore. I'll only see sunshine again after I buy an Apple/Samsung/Huawei.
Count me as an official fan of that much underrated company named "Others". Sold more than Apple, Samsung and Lenovo together
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Apple's smartphone revenue in this quarter was slightly over $40bn. The latest numbers that I could find were world wide total smartphone revenue in Q1 2014 (one year ago) was $72bn. That revenue has probably grown a bit, but fact is that Apple has close to half the total world wide smartphone revenue.
iLondoner said:
I think you are answering another post, I am questioning the accuracy of the smartphone statistics that reckon 47.7% of all sales by volume are made by bottom tier manufacturers.