Samsung Widens Gap Over Apple in Worldwide Smartphone Market

[warrior2000]

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.

I bet you thought you never would leave iPhone too when you owned iPhone 4 years ago.
Stop dealing with absolutes (never going back to iPhone again)

If Apple makes the best phone you will be back.
[doublepost=1454083703][/doublepost]

But the market that is going to buy an iPhone is also spending the same on an Android phone.

I doubt very few who are in the market for an iPhone will settle for a $200 Android.

That's my whole point. The data should be segmented by price range. It totally idiotic to compare unit sales of a $900 phone vs a $50 phone.

 

[Mockenrue]

Its Luxury brands vs luxury brands. We never see market share comparisons between Mainstream brand like Honda vs a luxury brand like BMW.

The very first result in a Goolge search for "automotive market share" is an Edmunds chart with GM, Toyota, and Ford at the top and BMW is 10th - just below Kia.

http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/data/market-share-by-manufacturer.html

It's a very good analogy. GM - like Samsung - has high market models (Cadillac ATS-V compared favorably to BMW M3 in a recent showdown video) as well as "cheap" models like the Chevy Cobalt. BMW only has higher priced cars. Yet market share between those brands is combined and compared.

 

[igorsky]

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.

Well if there are a million and one reasons why the iPhone is selling then you can certainly conclude that the package as a whole is still massively appealing. You can't say there are a million and one reasons people are buying the iPhone and none of them have anything to do with innovation. Unless you want to go with the "all iPhone users are sheep who will buy anything" narrative.

 

[samcraig]

I bet you thought you never would leave iPhone too when you owned iPhone 4 years ago.
Stop dealing with absolutes (never going back to iPhone again)

If Apple makes the best phone you will be back.
[doublepost=1454083703][/doublepost]

I doubt very few who are in the market for an iPhone will settle for a $200 Android.

That's my whole point. The data should be segmented by price range. It totally idiotic to compare unit sales of a $900 phone vs a $50 phone.

And again - my point is that this report is about overall smartphone marketshare. It's not comparing high end to high end. That would be another study.

I could just as easily say the data should be segmented by any criteria that I personally am interested in. But that's not this study.

 

[warrior2000]

The very first result in a Goolge search for "automotive market share" is an Edmunds chart with GM, Toyota, and Ford at the top and BMW is 10th - just below Kia.

http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/data/market-share-by-manufacturer.html

It's a very good analogy. GM - like Samsung - has high market models (Cadillac ATS-V compared favorably to BMW M3 in a recent showdown video) as well as "cheap" models like the Chevy Cobalt. BMW only has higher priced cars. Yet market share between those brands is combined and compared.

And does that data from edmunds give you any relevant information about the state of GM vs BMW?
No it doesn't.

Just like this survey about smartphone market share.

For every link about GM vs BMW marketshare I can show you 100x that talks about BMW's marketshare vs the other luxury brands.

One useless report by edmunds does not prove the value of another useless report on smartphone market share.
[doublepost=1454084423][/doublepost]

And again - my point is that this report is about overall smartphone marketshare. It's not comparing high end to high end. That would be another study.

I could just as easily say the data should be segmented by any criteria that I personally am interested in. But that's not this study.

Show me a study that shows market share by high end.

You won't find one. Do you know why?

 

[Misaki]

If you view shipping out a ton of unsold, often cheap/free, phones as "success".

That's the point that everyone here understands but stock flippers do not.

Samsung, in the pursuit of having the highest shipments is neither the most sold, most profitable, or even the most used. Look at anyone's public analytic and you will find that the iPhone and iPad are pretty much the only smartphone/tablet that is ever used to browse regular websites.

Windows: 61% (43% Win 7, 33% Win 10, Win 8.1 18%)
Android: 14% (21% 5.11 , 15% 4.4.2 , 10% 5.0, 8% 5.01, 8% 5.02, 7% 5.1, 7% 4.4.4, 6% 6.0.1)
iOS: 11% (52.07% 9.2, 8% 9.1, 6% 9.2.1, 4% 8.3, 3% 7.1.2, 3% 8.4)
OSX: 10% (40% 10.10, 30% 10.11, 17% 10.9, 4% 10.8, 4% 10.6, 4% 10.7)
Everything else is under 2% and barely matters.

If you use "just" mobile OS:
Android: 49%
iOS: 48%
Everything else under 1%.

Now look at the Device breakdown:
iPhone: 23.5%
iPad 17.3%

Everything else is under 2%

By Brand
Apple: 42%
Samsung: 23%
Motorola: 5%
LG: 4%
Google: 4%
HTC: 2%
Amazon: 2%
Everything else is under 2%

Depending on what metric you're aiming to market, you can pretty much say Apple wins all of them. Android "in total" might have more, but the majority of those do not run the current OS (less than 8% do) and are incapable of upgrades, while the Apple devices, 66% of the devices are on one of the latest iOS versions.

 

[dbri306]

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.
[doublepost=1454079484][/doublepost]

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.

Statistically you are right, it's not a representative analysis. But one should not ignore his personal experience. Previously I did not see many educated, tech savvy individuals who would change from Apple to MS based environment. Price is not a factor for these customers. My kids are telling me that in their universities most profs use Surface as well. I'm heavily invested in Apple and only wish them well, but IMHO they missing something that will be much more difficult to catch than bigger size screens.

 

[scoobydoo99]

The answer is not as simple as the question.

No matter how nice a car you may own, do you really think you will want to drive and own the same make and model forever?

What about your house? Do you think you will want to live in the same house forever, just happy changing the wallpaper and door handles, regardless of your personal and family requirements?

What about when you buy a really nice outfit? Would you keep a wardrobe full of the same thing, wearing it everyday?

If you answered yes to all the above then you are likely Apple's target consumer.

On the other hand, once you find a #2 pencil you like (like Ticonderoga), is there enough difference in others to change just for variety?

If you like Crayola crayons, should you occasionally switch to Rose or others just to shake things up?

If you're happy with Amazon's quality, selection, and service, should you switch to WalMart.com just because it's different?

I'm all for experimenting, researching, and staying aware of technology. However, mobile phones now are like toasters - commodity appliances that get incremental updates/design changes over time. It doesn't really matter which one I have, as long as it does what I need, why bother with constantly changing? "But wait!", some will say - "Apple isn't using the latest and greatest Wi-Fi chipset or the newest RAM that is marginally faster!", or whatever. It doesn't matter any more than which heating element is in my toaster.

 

[Mockenrue]

For every link about GM vs BMW marketshare I can show you 100x that talks about BMW's marketshare vs the other luxury brands.

Each link I followed after the Edmunds article includes BMW with GM, Toyota, etc.: Wall Street Journal, Statistica, Wards Auto, Wikipedia, and Automotive News. Wikipedia's main page for "Automotive Industry" shows Global Market Share with BMW mixed in with lower priced brands. That's six out of six links that include BMW with the non-luxury brands. It's the way the industry looks at it.

One useless report by edmunds does not prove the value of another useless report on smartphone market share.

And does that data from edmunds give you any relevant information about the state of GM vs BMW?
No it doesn't.

Ok, here's a comprehensive 11 part investment guide from Market Realist that goes over the state of GM vs. BMW (specifically named 23 times) and other brands in excruciating detail. It talks about market share as a strategy, including operating leverage advantages

http://marketrealist.com/2014/05/must-know-investors-guide-general-motors-company-gm/

I'm legitimately curious: do you believe that Global Market Share numbers truly are useless and irrelevant? Not even useful as one data point? Plenty of analytics articles provide info from just one perspective. There's a lot of important data and qualifications missing from Neilson TV ratings, but does that make them completely irrelevant?

 

[dBeats]

The 6S was not a success. God bless. Steve Jobs rest. Test. Breasts.

The phone that outsold the mighty "6" avalanche with an incremental upgrade was not a success?!? I'd say for an "S" model it was a complete grand slam.

 

[SMIDG3T]

That number will go up even higher this year once Apple removes the headphone jack from the iPhone 7.

It's happening. Get over it.

 

[MH01]

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.

That's an iPhone mate. Plenty of gimmicks on the android side also. Fundemtally it's a small portable computer running an OS

Car anologies fail, cause people compare apple products to ferraris, Mercedes, roll Royce etc...... People need to compare cars within 20% of what they say an android Device is v iPhone. An iPhone does not cost 20-30 times the price of an android Phone..... See the analogy issue...

If you really need to compare cars, use top end Korean manafactures v tesla. Comparing to highend European cars, way way off the mark.

 

[warrior2000]

That's an iPhone mate. Plenty of gimmicks on the android side also. Fundemtally it's a small portable computer running an OS

Car anologies fail, cause people compare apple products to ferraris, Mercedes, roll Royce etc...... People need to compare cars within 20% of what they say an android Device is v iPhone. An iPhone does not cost 20-30 times the price of an android Phone..... See the analogy issue...

If you really need to compare cars, use top end Korean manafactures v tesla. Comparing to highend European cars, way way off the mark.

The average iPhone sells for $700.
There are a ton of smartphones that sell for $50.
In fact I bet the majority of phones in that survey is priced at $50-$100.

So the average iPhone cost 12x more than tens if not hundreds of millions of those $50 phones.

A Toyota Camry cost $25k
A Ferrari 458 cost $250k
A BMW 7-series cost $130k
A Mercedes S-Class cost $140k

All those cars are less than 12x more expensive then your average priced family sedan.
[doublepost=1454091233][/doublepost]

Each link I followed after the Edmunds article includes BMW with GM, Toyota, etc.: Wall Street Journal, Statistica, Wards Auto, Wikipedia, and Automotive News. Wikipedia's main page for "Automotive Industry" shows Global Market Share with BMW mixed in with lower priced brands. That's six out of six links that include BMW with the non-luxury brands. It's the way the industry looks at it.



Ok, here's a comprehensive 11 part investment guide from Market Realist that goes over the state of GM vs. BMW (specifically named 23 times) and other brands in excruciating detail. It talks about market share as a strategy, including operating leverage advantages

http://marketrealist.com/2014/05/must-know-investors-guide-general-motors-company-gm/

I'm legitimately curious: do you believe that Global Market Share numbers truly are useless and irrelevant? Not even useful as one data point? Plenty of analytics articles provide info from just one perspective. There's a lot of important data and qualifications missing from Neilson TV ratings, but does that make them completely irrelevant?

You can believe what you want.

But do you seriously think BMW and Mercedes give a damn how many Toyota Corrolla's were sold last year? Give me break.

 

[Jvanleuvan]

Posting responses inline, hope you don't mind. Just easier on an iPad

Point one(too long to quote )
While I do understand that apple is almost embarrassed by it's riches, and all of that money could do some social good; from a consumers point of view, that really doesn't matter (except again, that the company is healthy so I can receive support, meaning I might no buy an HTC phone because they may not be around it a year to warranty the phone!) An iPhone and top-tier Samsung phone cost almost exactly the same, perform almost the same, and are nearly equals in every aspect, so the amount of profit baked into the iPhone vs the Samsung doesn't really affect me, as a consumer.

Been using bbm for years. It's actually a really good product. :
Agreed, but how do you feel about it's continued existence given the state of Blackberry? If I were really baked into BBM, I'd be worried that it will either die or whiter from lack of investment.

The point I'm trying to make is that the declaration of profits as some be all end all factor that instantly makes an iPhone and Apple the best
Agreed, from an end user's point of view, other than making sure the company is healthy so that you receive continued support, profits do not equate to "best" products. The s6 Edge, I think, is the coolest looking phone out right now.

BUT; if one is of the mindset of an investor (which I am , although small-potatoes ) then profits are a MAJOR driver of the value and health of the business.

So two points of view mostly: which company would I rather own as compared to which product I'd rather own. they don't have to be the same answer.
(p.s. I do own an iPhone instead of the s6 edge because of the apple ecosystem, apps I own, and Apple's support which has been overly generous with my family before, replacing things that are out of warranty when they didn't have to.)

 

[Keirasplace]

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.

Seemingly not, because their profits have gone down the tube in the last few years.
Those who buy cheap phones are not spending big on anything after they bought it.

 

[prowlmedia]

Haha! Apple is no Rolls Royce.

Who mentioned Apple? I was just stating other pointless news.

 

[MH01]

The average iPhone sells for $700.
There are a ton of smartphones that sell for $50.
In fact I bet the majority of phones in that survey is priced at $50-$100.

So the average iPhone cost 12x more than tens if not hundreds of millions of those $50 phones.

A Toyota Camry cost $25k
A Ferrari 458 cost $250k
A BMW 7-series cost $130k
A Mercedes S-Class cost $140k

All those cars are less than 12x more expensive then your average priced family sedan.
[doublepost=1454091233][/doublepost]

You can believe what you want.

But do you seriously think BMW and Mercedes give a damn how many Toyota Corrolla's were sold last year? Give me break.

Nice try mate. You cannot start a debate off asking which android those have top end features of the iPhone, and than turn around and compare to the $50..... Lol

Car anologies have been used on MR for years.

Let's focus here, android v iOS , iPhone 6s v Samsung 6 edge.

Since car analogies work so well for you, what make model is the Samsung, and what make model is the iPhone ?

FYI a Toyota Camry is not the cheapest car sold in the USA, around $14k is the cheapest and the top end is around a million....... Nice try choosing cars to fit your iPhone pricing .

 

[warrior2000]

Nice try mate. You cannot start a debate off asking which android those have top end features of the iPhone, and than turn around and compare to the $50..... Lol

Car anologies have been used on MR for years.

Let's focus here, android v iOS , iPhone 6s v Samsung 6 edge.

Since car analogies work so well for you, what make model is the Samsung, and what make model is the iPhone ?

FYI a Toyota Camry is not the cheapest car sold in the USA, around $14k is the cheapest and the top end is around a million....... Nice try choosing cars to fit your iPhone pricing .

To me the Samsung6 edge is like a Acura RLX. Its a $50k luxury car with nice tech.
The iPhone is like the BMW 5 series. It starts at about $55k.

I'm 100% fine with these 'research' companies comparing unit sales of iPhones vs Samsung GalaxyS/Note.

What I think is misleading is comparing $700 iPhones to $100 Android phones. That skews the data and makes the data useless.

Samsung 6 = Acura RLX
iPhone = BMW 5 series
LG/HTC = Infiniti Q50

Moto G = Toyota Corolla
Cheap ass $50- $100 phones = Scooters

 

[MH01]

To me the Samsung6 edge is like a Acura RLX. Its a $50k luxury car with nice tech.
The iPhone is like the BMW 5 series. It starts at about $55k.

I'm 100% fine with these 'research' companies comparing unit sales of iPhones vs Samsung GalaxyS/Note.

What I think is misleading is comparing $700 iPhones to $100 Android phones. That skews the data and makes the data useless.

Samsung 6 = Acura RLX
iPhone = BMW 5 series
LG/HTC = Infiniti Q50

Moto G = Toyota Corolla
Cheap ass $50- $100 phones = Scooters

These sales figures mean very little. Apple is way ahead when comparing actual premium handsets.

for me at best apple would be tesla, cause they have a small range and all expansive .

For Samsung you need a manfacturer that creates low budget cars, and some top end models to match tesla top end, I don't think one exists.

I'd take the Acura RLX v BMW 5 series. Though as you have seen on this read, Royce rolls has already been dropped

 

[Michael Scrip]

Let's focus here, android v iOS , iPhone 6s v Samsung 6 edge.

I would imagine most of the 74.8 million iPhones sold last quarter were the newest flagship iPhone 6S and 6S+

That seems to be the usual trend: the current iPhones drive the majority of Apple's sales.

So... any guesses on how many of the 81.3 million Samsung smartphones were Galaxy S6 and Edge?

There's not that much difference between 74 million and 81 million. Hell... a year ago Apple and Samsung were tied! But I tend to believe that Apple's product mix is vastly different than Samsung's product mix.

Even though Apple and Samsung don't break down sales by model... we do have some pretty big clues.

Just look at the average selling price: $670 for iPhone... under $300 for Samsung smartphones.

That strongly suggests that Samsung is not selling a lot of their high-end Galaxy S6 and Edge.

 

[warrior2000]

I would imagine most of the 74.8 million iPhones sold last quarter were the newest flagship iPhone 6S and 6S+

That seems to be the usual trend: the current iPhones drive the majority of Apple's sales.

So... any guesses on how many of the 81.3 million Samsung smartphones were Galaxy S6 and Edge?

There's not that much difference between 74 million and 81 million. Hell... a year ago Apple and Samsung were tied! But I tend to believe that Apple's product mix is vastly different than Samsung's product mix.

Even though Apple and Samsung don't break down sales by model... we do have some pretty big clues.

Just look at the average selling price: $670 for iPhone... under $300 for Samsung smartphones.

That strongly suggests that Samsung is not selling a lot of their high-end Galaxy S6 and Edge.

Samsung Averaging price for smartphones is below $200
http://www.reuters.com/article/samsung-elec-results-q-idUSS6N0V702H20150429

Apple is near $700.

It really is mathematically impossible for Samsung to have sold even close to 75 million GalaxyS/Note units in the 4th quarter.

If Samsung sold 20 million Galaxy/Note phones for $600 then the other 60 million phones they sold would have to have an average price of $65.

The math says they sold about 10-15 million Galaxy/Note phones in the December quarter

 

[Michael Scrip]

Samsung Averaging price for smartphones is below $200
http://www.reuters.com/article/samsung-elec-results-q-idUSS6N0V702H20150429

Apple is near $700.

It really is mathematically impossible for Samsung to have sold even close to 75 million GalaxyS/Note units in the 4th quarter.

If Samsung sold 20 million Galaxy/Note phones for $600 then the other 60 million phones they sold would have to have an average price of $65.

The math says they sold about 10-15 million Galaxy/Note phones in the December quarter

Wow! Thanks for the update/clarification!

BTW... that article is from 9 months ago. I'm sure not much has changed... but is there anything more recent?

 

[tdale]

This kind of post is = or even more annoying than the one that it is supposed to "stop / represent"......

I don't know how you can publish this article in good consciousness without mentioning that Samsung makes almost no profits or loses money on each of those units sold. That kind of matters. Apple could sell each of their phones at half price and quadroople their shipments but that be idiotic.

But, forget revenue, profits, Sammy phones are still a solid price in the top tier. That they sell low to end end is not relevant as they always have done that. Its about popularity, and their graph is rising more than Apples graph

Apple sell at half price??? LOL What if Sammy halved its prices??
[doublepost=1454097965][/doublepost]

Samsung Averaging price for smartphones is below $200
http://www.reuters.com/article/samsung-elec-results-q-idUSS6N0V702H20150429

Apple is near $700.

It really is mathematically impossible for Samsung to have sold even close to 75 million GalaxyS/Note units in the 4th quarter.

If Samsung sold 20 million Galaxy/Note phones for $600 then the other 60 million phones they sold would have to have an average price of $65.

The math says they sold about 10-15 million Galaxy/Note phones in the December quarter

Your picking stats to suit. Forget stats, as the relationship of Apples phones and Sammy phones is stable. Look at the trend
[doublepost=1454098736][/doublepost]

I would imagine most of the 74.8 million iPhones sold last quarter were the newest flagship iPhone 6S and 6S+

That seems to be the usual trend: the current iPhones drive the majority of Apple's sales.

So... any guesses on how many of the 81.3 million Samsung smartphones were Galaxy S6 and Edge?

There's not that much difference between 74 million and 81 million. Hell... a year ago Apple and Samsung were tied! But I tend to believe that Apple's product mix is vastly different than Samsung's product mix.

Even though Apple and Samsung don't break down sales by model... we do have some pretty big clues.

Just look at the average selling price: $670 for iPhone... under $300 for Samsung smartphones.

That strongly suggests that Samsung is not selling a lot of their high-end Galaxy S6 and Edge.

The point of the article is trend. If Apple increases their profit how does that help my iPhone perform?
Its about a trend. Ongoing hardware issues and OS bugs. No headphone soon. Product Recalls, latest was a few days ago.
Is there a trend? Seems to be. Forget all the metrics and analogy that are cherry picked to suit, there is a trend going on.

 

[Michael Scrip]

The point of the article is trend. If Apple increases their profit how does that help my iPhone perform?
Its about a trend. Ongoing hardware issues and OS bugs. No headphone soon. Product Recalls, latest was a few days ago.
Is there a trend? Seems to be. Forget all the metrics and analogy that are cherry picked to suit, there is a trend going on.

I see a trend... Samsung selling more low-end phones.

 

[warrior2000]

Wow! Thanks for the update/clarification!

BTW... that article is from 9 months ago. I'm sure not much has changed... but is there anything more recent?

Could not find anything newer. But I doubt the average selling price for Samsung phones went up since 9 months ago.

From 4 months ago:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...-in-profits-due-to-faltering-smartphone-sales

"Samsung admitted that margins were hurt by higher marketing costs and lower selling prices for its handsets."
[doublepost=1454099206][/doublepost]

But, forget revenue, profits, Sammy phones are still a solid price in the top tier. That they sell low to end end is not relevant as they always have done that. Its about popularity, and their graph is rising more than Apples graph

Apple sell at half price??? LOL What if Sammy halved its prices??
[doublepost=1454097965][/doublepost]
Your picking stats to suit. Forget stats, as the relationship of Apples phones and Sammy phones is stable. Look at the trend
[doublepost=1454098736][/doublepost]
The point of the article is trend. If Apple increases their profit how does that help my iPhone perform?
Its about a trend. Ongoing hardware issues and OS bugs. No headphone soon. Product Recalls, latest was a few days ago.
Is there a trend? Seems to be. Forget all the metrics and analogy that are cherry picked to suit, there is a trend going on.

The trend is Samsung is selling phones at lower prices. That leads to lower profits. Lower profits means you can't hire top talent or spend as much on R&D. Lower profits means you don't have the money to build a top tier operating system and ecosystem.

Apple has $200 billion in the bank and is making about $50 billion a year. That just about guarantee's they can hire the best talent in the world, spend the most on R&D, and not cut corners. That huge cash and profit allows Apple to continue to invest and build the ecosystem.

I am not cherry picking stats. The stats are clear as day:

iPhone average selling price $700
Samsung average $200 and going down each year

Apple $50 billion in profit
Samsung mobile division $3 billion in profit