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Samsung Widens Gap Over Apple in Worldwide Smartphone Market
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Who cares if it’s cars. The analogy stands.Car analogies suck... and you know it
Here's a Samsung phone that sells for around $125 in India. LINK
And there are plenty more in other countries.
Do you think Samsung sells a lot of phones like those around the world? YES
So no... Samsung and Apple aren't going for the "same" customers. There is some crossover at the high-end... but there are other categories that Apple actively avoids.
Samsung can have those.
The guy in the next village with the 8 bedroom £800,000 house is, guess what, going to buy the same iPhone as the chav down the road that has had no job for the last 5 years. Something tells me they aren’t going to be purchasing cars from the same dealer though.
Stop splitting hairs.
Apple is not chasing low-end customers. They don't sell phones below a certain price range.
Therefore... Apple and Samsung don't target the same customers... which is what the comment I replied to said initially.
Apple has simply stopped innovating.
Delivering nothing but small incremental refinements and bug fixes, the public has lost any true excitement over the product. Only spec hungry Apple devotees care enough to keep upgrading annually or every two years. The mainstream buyer doesn't care about the minor features Apple makes such a big deal about.
It's just a phone. A bloody expensive one at that
Delivering nothing but small incremental refinements and bug fixes, the public has lost any true excitement over the product. Only spec hungry Apple devotees care enough to keep upgrading annually or every two years. The mainstream buyer doesn't care about the minor features Apple makes such a big deal about.
It's just a phone. A bloody expensive one at that
although apple is going to release a cheaper price phone iPhone 5se, but it does not have too much competitiveness comparing with other brand.
Most users of in these price range are more likely to have a big screen, high configuration, approach to the flagship model.
Most users of in these price range are more likely to have a big screen, high configuration, approach to the flagship model.
You're confusing profits with profit margins.Then really expensive phone makers like Vertu stomp everyone
As for bragging about profits, that's like bragging that one's favorite gasoline brand makes larger profits. Doesn't make sense as a consumer to brag that they paid a lot more than was really necessary. Especially in Apple's case, where most of the profit is just sitting in overseas banks.
People, not necessarily you, keep getting stuck on this and I'm going to keep trying:
I have yet to see anyone say "I gave Apple money I didn't need to for something I didn't want and that makes me awesome." Nobody is bragging that they're paying more than they have to. The discussion here is about the strength and value of the company and it's products. Profit is a metric by which such a discussion can be evidence-based as opposed to a few blowhards spouting personal opinions.
Gasoline is a bad comparison because it is a low margin product and essentially a highly regulated interchangeable chemical compound (excepting whatever detergents they claim to include), so if your favorite gas company is more profitable than another it is most likely a sign that their operations are more efficient. That, in itself, doesn't matter to you the consumer because you paid what you thought your fuel was worth and whether that money became profit or was lost in inefficiency doesn't impact you in the slightest. It may matter to you as an admirer of the company, however, even if you don't buy your gas there.
In the mobile phone case the situation is a bit different. Higher margin, non-identical products. Some of the profit margin is a result of efficiency, but most of it is the value added to the product by the company. You know there is value added by the company because customers are willing to trade more money for the product than the cost of the materials used to make the product. Nobody came and beat that extra money out of the customer, or ransomed their children for it. That extra money is paying for value to the customer. Maybe they see that value as a way to make or save more money in the future, or it makes them more efficient or is a better source of entertainment, or maybe having it just makes them inexplicably happy. In the end, it doesn't matter, trading money for something means that something has value.
[Edit: actually, there is some design efficiency involved in not using cost where there is no value. I think this is actually a big part of where the arguments happen here-- people want more of something, but it turns out they don't want to pay for it. Cost, but no value.]
When a company sells things that people value more, then more people buy those things for higher prices. If Apple makes more profit than Samsung does, it means that if you multiply the number of Apple units sold times the value Apple adds to each product it is a bigger number than if you multiply the number of Samsung units sold times the value Samsung adds to each product. In effect, Apple has put more value into the world. That's not a personal judgement, it's a numerical one.
Then there's a big feedback loop where all that extra money that goes into a company enables it to grow and compete more effectively in the future. If two companies are competing and one of them is making consistently higher profits than the other, it will be very hard for the weaker company to keep up. The don't have the R&D resources or market leverage.
It doesn't matter whether you agree with any one person's decision, nor does anyone have to agree with your personal decision about what you value. If you paid more for it than I would be willing to, then it's worth more to you than it is to me. That's an individual choice. If one company is more profitable than another, then that company is better adapted to the needs and wants of the marketplace and one or other of us may just may statistically fall in the other camp.
And, just like with gasoline, whether the money you've spent becomes profit or goes to buying components doesn't affect you, the consumer, in the slightest. You got what you wanted for a price you were willing to pay.
Meme? It's a legitimate concern. I know I'm not getting a phone with no headphone jack. My iPhone 6 will probably last until Apple finishes dismantling every part of their ecosystem that I use.
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(And in response to other posts complaining about this article's statistics)
Why are you guys arguing about revenue vs profit vs sales vs shipped? I don't see why most people here should care about any of Apple's finances besides the stock price.
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Yeah, that's the reason I sold my AAPL stock for SPY. Apple can't continue growing at a rate to justify its valuation. Like, nobody is going to care about the nth iPhone iteration. They're also showing their weakness by putting out all these new variations of their products. Classic last resort.
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I just logged in so I could say something similar!
This article is wrong in so many ways.
Who cares if Samsung sells more than Apple?
The vehicle analogy is perfect - Ford or Chevy cars, on average, are lower in cost than their competitors.
Btw, this is not in any way, shape or form slamming any vehicle manufacturers...just facts:
Let's do some pretend math:
You sell 100 Ford Taurus at $27K per = $2.7 million
your neighbour doesn't sell as many cards, but sells 90 Lexus ES 300 at $38K per - $3.8 million
Of course, you may sell more Fords because they do the same thing essentially, albeit a lower cost.
Some may argue, they do things the same, but not quite as good.
But your shareholders don't give a crap about that.
Bottom line: your neighbour made $1.1 million more.
Who's happier?
There will be people who always see the value and be able to afford a Lexus or iPhone, if they choose.
There will, of course, be people who can afford the Lexus/iPhone, but choose the Ford/Samsung.
There will be a pile of people who see the value of a Lexus/iPhone and for whatever reason, they can't fit it in their budget. Not judging any - it's fact. Samsung, I believe, is hedging their bets on this category and pleading with the 2nd group.
It's quite possible I'm off in my thoughts, but from what I see, I'm pretty bang on with it
Cheers,
Keebler
Car analogies are really bad. A device designed in the USA and built in China using same components as the competition...... Sure find a BMW or Mercedes with the internals of a Hyundai and you a product to compare.
Looks aside, the iPhone has nothing to do with high end cars. It's a nice looking device with the same internals as the competition. Hyundai are making the parts, being assembled in China ......here is the apple car.
I really hope apple makes a car, finally these analogies can be put to rest.....
Nope. You've summed up most the very legitimate problems with Apple products these days. Too bad you're too much of a fanboy and think all those problems are just a joke
its always fun to see comments on these kind of articles. reaction from 'obsessed' apple fans are always entertaining.
in serious notes, for those who cares about $$ per unit, do you know how much money Samsung gets for every pre-installed apps on Samsung phones??
yes i dont think Samsung makes enough profits compare to iphones.. but they do sell alot. and there are tons of ways to make them more rich from those numbers.
in serious notes, for those who cares about $$ per unit, do you know how much money Samsung gets for every pre-installed apps on Samsung phones??
yes i dont think Samsung makes enough profits compare to iphones.. but they do sell alot. and there are tons of ways to make them more rich from those numbers.
No doubt iPads/iPhones are still very popular. I'm talking about the trend between most skilled and educated consumers: senior physicians, university professors. They used to be "all in" in Apple ecosystem and not anymore. They still use iPad for entertainment but switched to surface for work related tasks. I think hybrid is an answer to some consumers needs - not a magic pill, same way as MacBook is not for everyone.
They overlap in their targeting. Pretty sure that Samsung's advertising and marketing efforts are geared towards their higher end phones. Not the "cheap" ones people are talking about.
How many people are you basing this trend on? How many professors? Physicians? How many of these highly skilled people have you seen that are no longer using iPhone? And how do you know if they used iPhone before? Did you interview them?
I'm just guessing but at most you have come into contact with probably a few hundred or a few thousand of these highly skilled people at most. I'm sorry but seeing a few dozen people using Android phones is not strong evidence of a regional, national, or worldwide trend.
The bottom line is Apple sold 40,000,000 more iPhones in 2015 than in 2014.
The bottom line is Apple now has over 1,000,000,000 active devices around the world in 2015.
That is an increase of 25% over 2014.
That means over 200,000,000 new Apple devices were added to the massive install base just last year.
So I'm sorry. But those massive numbers make your observations void and null.
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What Android phone has A-class CPUs?
What Android phone has TouchID and ApplePay?
What Android phone has 3D touch?
What Android phone has iOS and Apple ecosystem?
Its absolutely false to say that an Android phone is build with the same parts as an iPhone. And yes iOS is a huge 'part' of the iPhone.
This analogy works with Cars also. Many people are making car buying decisions based on the software and enfotainment system built into the cars. This trend will only get strong as time go by. And that is a big reason why Google and Apple are so interested in cars.
So car analogies are a valid yet imperfect way of understanding why so many people are willing to spend much more to buy iPhones.
Can someone please make a redo of that Spanish guy laughing about the headphone jack being removed. I want to lol badly
An iPhone is not that expensive for an average USA citizen.
You can buy an iPhone for $650.
Or you can buy a decent Android phone for $250. Get any cheaper and you are getting into piece of crap territory.
So you pay $450 more upfront for the iPhone.
In 2 years you decide to upgrade. At that point you can sell your iPhone for about $250. You won't be able to sell a low level Android phone for even $5.
So you paid $200 more to own an iPhone for 2 years.
On average you pay about $8 a month more to use an iPhone. That's a friken stop at McDonalds or Starbucks for the average person.
So it is really worth it to cheap out on a low-level Android phone to save $8 a month? Is it?
Please understand that people use their smartphones every day, every hour, 365 days a year. For many a smartphone is mission critical for their job, social life, and family obligations. Is it really worth skimping $8 a month on a lesser experience?
And now that Apple is doing a full leasing plan (zero down) you don't even have to put down the $650 up front.
So no iPhones are NOT expensive compared to a low-level Android phone.
At the end it literally cost 25 cents more a day to own an iPhone over a 2 year period vs a $250 Android phone.
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This anti-Apple sentiment is a growing trend. Those who are self confident and not insecure, don't need to be seen with an iPhone or Apple Watch. They don't care what others think and they certainly don't want to be paying a premium when they can have an excellent Android phone and save money. Just like the people who don't need to spend the huge sum of money for a German luxury car.
For those true smartphone enthusiasts, they're noticing a new emerging segment of the market rapidly becoming populated with terrific mid price smartphones from OPO, MOTO, ASUS, Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Kyocera, BLU and more. These perform very well and only cost $100 to $300. Readily available through many sources like Amazon, they're unlocked and ready you go. At the college campus level these reasonably priced phones are rapidly catching on.
It's a smart dynamic market, the competition isn't standing still. There's a lot more on the way.
So your proof of this trend of users switching away from iPhone to cheaper Android phones is based on what college kid's are buying? Really? So I guess you think these other trends will catch on to the broad market also:
1. More people will start buying 30 year old rust bucket cars. I've seen a ton of old beat up cars in college campus parking lots.
2. More people will binge drink on the weekends.
3. More people will dye their hair green.
4. More people will have a regular diet of 50 cent dry Raimen and 2-liter Pepsi
Just because more college students are buying cheap phones does not mean jack. Most college students are extremely price sensitive. Of course many will buy cheaper phones, cheaper cars, and cheaper food.
But do you think that will be the case once they graduate and get a nice job? Do expect those college graduates to continue to eat Raimen noodles, drive a 30 year old rust bucket, and room with 4 other guys? Really?
The massive number of people emphasizing this point is interesting given that so many of the same people happily drive Hondas and call out BMW snobbery. How many of us would defend the value of our high market share/low profit "good" A/V receiver (that we bought on a high market share/low profit store called Amazon) and call someones high profit Krell or Anthem separates overpriced and unnecessary? And while we're talking about Samsung, how many of us bought a high market share/low profit Samsung TV from Best Buy instead of getting the best from a boutique TV store?
Why is it that we celebrate Apple's high prices and scoff at still-great-but-better-value Samsung and other Android devices? My family has 4 iPhones, 3 iPads, an iMac, an Apple TV, and a Macbook Air. So it's safe to say that we like Apple's products. But I wish they *were* a better value, and I hope that Samsung and others continue to apply pressure so Apple doesn't get complacent. I still think my 1st Gen Moto X was the best form factor of a phone that I've ever owned. Even though I'm no longer in the Android ecosystem, I still root for those products!
Its not about celebrating Apple's relatively high prices. Its about this research company spewing out useless and misleading information.
In most industries (cars, clothes, housing, consumer electronics) they always compare products by segments. In the car industry its Mainstream cars vs Mainstream cars. Its Luxury brands vs luxury brands. We never see market share comparisons between Mainstream brand like Honda vs a luxury brand like BMW.
That's my only gripe about this report. They should be comparing top end phone marketshare with top end phones only. Lumping $50 phones with $900 phones is misleading and does not give a good picture of the market dynamics.
The report should have 2 or 3 market segments:
Phones above $500
Phones from $200-$499
Phones below $200
lumping everything together is madness and useless information.
Its like comparing the sales of a nice $40 handbags to $1200 Louis Vutton handbags. Comparing the market share of a $40 generic brand and Louis Vutton is useless information. That is why most marketshare compares always segment by price.
And there is a big difference between buying a $25k Honda vs a $60k BMW or buying a $650 iPhone vs a $300 Android. IMO paying 25 cents more a day for using an iPhone vs a low-level Android is well worth it. Paying $5000 more a year to drive a BMW isn't.
Last quarter about 75 million buyers disagreed with you. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but it's not supported by facts.
But the market that is going to buy an iPhone is also spending the same on an Android phone.
Not really - you can't validate what features are selling points for the iPhone just from this data. There are a million and one reasons why the iPhone may be selling 75 million. So you can't say they agree or disagree with anyone.
I had Iphones 1 through 6. I'm using a Galaxy 6 Edge now and am very happy. With the news of the headphone jack going away, I don't see myself ever going back to an IPhone again.