I was chatting in the break room with a co-worker recently about the iPhone X and casually remarked that the iPhone is less than 15% of the smartphone market worldwide. Some people overheard, the person I talked to was flabbergasted, and after some quick Googling to out me as a “hater” everyone discovered I was right. A quick poll of the break room also showed that only 10% of the 30 or so people owned iPhones (and the newest was a 6), despite claims I’ve heard that it’s about 30% of the US market. Is this news to anyone here? And how do people that don’t own iPhones wind up thinking everyone else has one?
Sure, it’s only 15% worldwide, but much higher in the US - 35% and growing.
While its true that in absolute numbers of phones sold, Samsung beats out Apple, as far as actual profits go its another story:
https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/08/aapl-iphone-profits-profitability-2016-strategy-analytics/
How on Earth could they capture that much of the profit share? I realize that the iPhone is a high-end product, for which the markup is much higher, but there are other phones out there at a similar pricepoint, and which have a comparable popularity.
Actually, on looking at that number again, it must mean something different than what it looks like, because 91% to Apple and 14% to Samsung is already more than 100%, even without considering other manufacturers. Maybe they’re actually talking about net margin over the company’s entire line, rather than the market as a whole? In that case, you’d expect the number to be much higher for a company that only makes a high-end product than for one with a wide range.
Yeah I first posted a quote and then changed to a link on edit because it was confusing I think at one point they did have 91% of the profit and then it dropped but was coming back up but they had Samsung’s profit from a different year in the quote I originally posted. It might be easy to understand when you think about it, I think the iPhone X is supposed to be the first $1000 smartphone, yikes!
So I think the actual profit ratio is Apple 79.2% vs Samsung 14.6% that sounds right.
Virgin Mobile in the U.S. seems to think everyone wants an iPhone, so they’re pushing away their Android users. We pranced off to another carrier that gave us shiny, free Android phones.
Remember that Apple owns the whole ecosystem, so they make money from the App Store, songs, movies, the ads, accessories, and so forth, in addition to the hardware. In the Android world, that revenue is split between Samsung, Google and others.
And oddly enough, Samsung makes money from the components it sells to Apple for use in the iPhone X and other iPhone products.
It seems like the whole Apple/Android thing is quickly becoming another typical US “pick a side” type deal.
I think Apple is gaining so rapidly for the very reason they are so expensive. Another thing US citizens like to do? Show how well-off they are. A lot of the people that buy them and show them off also seem to be the kind to drive the largest truck/SUV they can afford.
I’ve also heard they are user-friendly for the technically-challenged. I prefer Android, myself. I like to be able to tweak things and see what they’re doing. Apple products come off as being too idiot-proof for me, but I can understand the idea of “it just works.”
While I don’t know the situation concerning smartphones, you can have these kinds of numbers when other manufacturers are having significant losses. So you have an industry where total profits are $1 billion while company A has profits of $910 million, company B has profits of $140 million and the rest of the industry has a loss of $50 million.
Apple penetration is higher in the U.S. because Americans have more disposable income to waste on overpriced gadgets. Secondary to that is their proclivity to view said gadgets as status symbols, fueling the annual upgrade cycle. With higher margins on the over-priced hardware, profits increase faster. They have it figured out better than the Russians gauged the electorate. Go Apple! :rolleyes:
Apple’s iPhone products are high-priced compared to Android and other smartphones in the same way that Apple desktop and notebook computers are high-priced compared to Windows PCs. If you compare the price of an Apple iPhone to a newer model Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you’ll find them to be comparable. Similarly, if you compare the price of a Macbook to a Microsoft Surface Pro notebook computer (or a similar, top-of-the-line notebook computer from HP, Dell, Lenovo or whoever), you’ll find them to be comparable.
iPhones are drastically over priced. $750 and up? No way!
I’m typing on a $350 Motorola X pure running Android. Works perfectly.
Right, and a $300 laptop computer will “work perfectly”, compared to a $1,500 Macbook Pro.
Depends on what you’re trying to do with it. As a status symbol, certainly not. 
I try to notice what people have and feel like over 50% that I’ve observed have iPhones. Very unscientific, and a lot of the people are college students so I don’t pretend my experience is fact. It’s just surprising. Most of the rest I see are Samsung. I have a LG but haven’t seen really any people with my phone.
Maybe because not only does Apple hold more than a third of the US smartphone market, as mentioned, but also because almost two thirds of Americans own at least one Apple product, with the average US household having 2.6 Apple things. Add to that Apple’s overwhelming mindshare when it comes to all things mobile and it’s very easy to think everyone has one.
I haven’t seen the actual Strategy Analytics report mentioned in the link that refers to the whole of 2016, but in the past when Strategy Analytics has reported quarterly profit shares, they include hardware sales only. I assume it’s the same for the annual profit shares.
So it’s (probably) just sales of physical smartphones only. Ecosystems, etc. not included.
But like I said, I haven’t seen the actual report.
OK, I’m a household with many Apple products in the house (we actively use about eight or nine), but I’m having a difficult time believing that 2/3 of American households have an Apple product.
You really seem to miss the point.
This is what I have (provided by my employer). It’s priced at $2199 at Best Buy
The same specs for a windows machine: $2099.
So it’s $100 for the Apple; in that price range the difference is trivial. I can’t say what the Dell is like, but my MB Pro is by far the best laptop I’ve ever had. And no, my employer would not get me this machine as a ‘status symbol.’