Apple’s iPhone overtakes Android with more than half of the US market share

Just_Me_D

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It seems like more people are realizing that it’s not what the phone can do for them, but what they can do with the phone. It’s also could be one of the reasons why Google is pushing so hard for Apple to support RCS. Folks get downright nasty when their money is being messed with. ;)
 

FFR

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Highest ever iPhone market share and copious amount of android users switching to iPhone over the last 4 years.

giphy.gif



“According to Counterpoint research director Jeff Fieldhack:
“Operating systems are like religions — never significant changes. But over the past four years the flow has consistently been Android to iOS. This is a big milestone that we could see replicated in other affluent countries across the globe”.”

8f61e833d02419a6c10514b970c45bcb.jpg
 

anon(50597)

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It seems like more people are realizing that it’s not what the phone can do for them, but what they can do with the phone. It’s also could be one of the reasons why Google is pushing so hard for Apple to support RCS. Folks get downright nasty when their money is being messed with. ;)
I think this is a good point.

Phones haven't changed that much in a while now. Many people just want what it does to work well without messing around with it. Also many people, as they mature, find less enjoyment in playing around with features.
 

Up_And_Away

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Its hard to know precisely why the (certainly not mountainous) tangible shift is to iPhones. I saw a previous article that said teenagers trended even heavier toward iPhone. Getting customers early typically is a winning market strategy.
Could be user experience. Android on one hand can be commended for trying to add so much menus, features, customization as quickly as possible. It also makes YT tech channels giddy. But my experience in supporting a user base is to never! give them lots and lots. give them a focused user experience. (From setup, to a very wide number of users using it, to admin and technical support of it, IME a user base is more satisfied when you focus the experience).
Being able to sell an “ecosystem” gives a leg up. If it didn’t then you wouldn’t see Samsung and Google trying so hard to copy it.

But the biggest is: I think the years and years of stubbornly sticking to their guns, not trying to get into every gadget or selling low margin high volume electronics can/has paid off bigly. It’s the name, Apple. Buying anything but especially expensive can be loaded with prolonged uncertainty on what to buy. For most Apple buyers (except color or configuration) they buy without worry. It’s Apple, it’s the name, it’s good to go, you don’t have to worry about that purchase”. That leads further to, for example, smartphones. There’s two types of smartphones: Androids and iPhones. When I’m around people, “I have the iPhone 12 Pro Max”, “I still got the 11”, “still on the 6+? No way!”…the other person “I’ve got an Android”. See how that worked for “other person”?
 

FFR

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Its hard to know precisely why the (certainly not mountainous) tangible shift is to iPhones. I saw a previous article that said teenagers trended even heavier toward iPhone. Getting customers early typically is a winning market strategy.
Could be user experience. Android on one hand can be commended for trying to add so much menus, features, customization as quickly as possible. It also makes YT tech channels giddy. But my experience in supporting a user base is to never! give them lots and lots. give them a focused user experience. (From setup, to a very wide number of users using it, to admin and technical support of it, IME a user base is more satisfied when you focus the experience).
Being able to sell an “ecosystem” gives a leg up. If it didn’t then you wouldn’t see Samsung and Google trying so hard to copy it.

But the biggest is: I think the years and years of stubbornly sticking to their guns, not trying to get into every gadget or selling low margin high volume electronics can/has paid off bigly. It’s the name, Apple. Buying anything but especially expensive can be loaded with prolonged uncertainty on what to buy. For most Apple buyers (except color or configuration) they buy without worry. It’s Apple, it’s the name, it’s good to go, you don’t have to worry about that purchase”. That leads further to, for example, smartphones. There’s two types of smartphones: Androids and iPhones. When I’m around people, “I have the iPhone 12 Pro Max”, “I still got the 11”, “still on the 6+? No way!”…the other person “I’ve got an Android”. See how that worked for “other person”?

Indeed it could be any one or a combination of the points you made.

Every sale the iPhone makes takes away from android. Bit by bit apple has been regaining markershare over the last 4 years. Which seem to wholly contradict some opinions on this board regarding what apple should and shouldn’t do.


I found a post on another website on why a long time android user decided to switch to the iPhone:

7a9076f8a9f4ad57816560a01d36a4d6.jpg

8f96c18d9b28a86daf2d000e855dbb9c.jpg



I’m afraid it is telling as to the mindset behind some switchers.
 

Annie_M

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I prefer iPhone because it’s consistent. While I enjoy the iOS updates and new features, overall, I am not looking for something different or something exciting. I want what I know and understand and what is stable. I feel safe with iPhone and the Apple walled garden. But I realize also that that what I want isn’t necessarily what others want. So in the end it’s good that there are many different choices because there are many different people in the world all of which have different needs and desires.
 

Up_And_Away

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That’s a great example FFR. And now I have to say I think, in my last post, I underplayed the benefit of the ecosystem and how that’s been more and more pulled away. Apple’s vertical integration is just so far ahead of the pack. The efficiency of building precise custom silicon to suit the OS->vision of the user experience? That is a tremendous advantage versus everyone else buying off the shelf (not to be confused by Google taking an off the shelf chip, make a few changes, calling that “custom”). iPhone, Watch, AirPods, IPad, Apple Silicon Macs, even HomePod mini and AppleTV. Buy, connect, add to your iCloud, sw updates industry leading length of time, enjoy.
But I still believe the name, Apple, is the biggest impetus for sales. They’ve had a few issues but as of 2022, Apple has crushed it. If you buy Apple you are simply confident and at ease that you’ve bought the best or close to the best, long lasting product.
 

Laura Knotek

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I think much of the shift can be attributed to the fact that people in the USA who want a flagship device have only two realistic choices: Apple or Samsung. The latest Google Pixel line is plagued with bugs. All other Android devices are pretty much cheap products from brands that are virtually unknown (Alcatel, Revvl, TCL). HTC and LG are gone. Sony never had a presence in the USA. Motorola switched exclusively to budget devices.

For the record, I'm an Android user with a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. However, if that device was not available or I didn't like Samsung, I would have no other choice besides Apple, since there aren't any other flagship Android devices available to me.
 

FFR

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I think much of the shift can be attributed to the fact that people in the USA who want a flagship device have only two realistic choices: Apple or Samsung. The latest Google Pixel line is plagued with bugs. All other Android devices are pretty much cheap products from brands that are virtually unknown (Alcatel, Revvl, TCL). HTC and LG are gone. Sony never had a presence in the USA. Motorola switched exclusively to budget devices.

For the record, I'm an Android user with a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. However, if that device was not available or I didn't like Samsung, I would have no other choice besides Apple, since there aren't any other flagship Android devices available to me.

It’s the entire US user base not just flagships in the ultra premium segment (>$1000) that have shifted to iOS, the first time ever since 2007.

Don’t forget about one plus, they also offer a flagship in the US. That’s Samsung, Sony, One plus, and google. Quite a bit of choice and variety if a consumer actually wanted a $1000+ android device.


To be honest ultra premium android devices or flagships always had meager sales compared to apple at a similar price point. I believe it must be something else entirely. A lack of choice is usually caused by a lack of demand in the market.

By the way it’s not only Motorola that has gone completely budget, Nokia no longer sells any smartphones over 250 euros.
 

Laura Knotek

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It’s the entire US user base not just flagships in the ultra premium segment (>$1000) that have shifted to iOS, the first time ever since 2007.

Don’t forget about one plus, they also offer a flagship in the US. That’s Samsung, Sony, One plus, and google. Quite a bit of choice and variety if a consumer actually wanted a $1000+ android device.


To be honest ultra premium android devices or flagships always had meager sales compared to apple at a similar price point. I believe it must be something else entirely. A lack of choice is usually caused by a lack of demand in the market.

By the way it’s not only Motorola that has gone completely budget, Nokia no longer sells any smartphones over 250 euros.

You're right regarding midrange phones. However, I just had a look at Apple's official site. The cheapest iPhone is the 11, starting at $499. That's definitely not the $100 cheap no name Android.

No US carriers currently sell anything from Sony, and that's how Americans typically buy their phones (unless they go to an Apple Store or a Best Buy). The only US carrier that sells OnePlus is T-Mobile. Another issue is that other than Apple and Samsung, many factory unlocked phones don't support the radio bands for all carriers. Therefore, whether cheap or expensive, those are the only two brands guaranteed to work. Even the Google Pixels have differences between the Verizon model and the unlocked Google model. If someone had something else, switched carriers and found out whatever they had previously couldn't be used, then they will probably play it safe and go with Apple or Samsung. Again, if they don't want Samsung then Apple is the only option. So I'd say that the carriers are another reason for the Apple/Samsung de facto duopoly in the USA.

The Pixel devices are more in the mid-range than flagship for the most part. We'll see what pricing of the new Pixel 7 line is like and if Verizon devices are different yet again.

Nokia hasn't ever been relevant in the USA other than feature phones. The Symbian devices never sold well here. Back when Symbian was popular in Europe, the popular smartphones here were running PalmOS, Windows Mobile and Blackberry.
 

FFR

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You're right regarding midrange phones. However, I just had a look at Apple's official site. The cheapest iPhone is the 11, starting at $499. That's definitely not the $100 cheap no name Android.

No US carriers currently sell anything from Sony, and that's how Americans typically buy their phones (unless they go to an Apple Store or a Best Buy). The only US carrier that sells OnePlus is T-Mobile. Another issue is that other than Apple and Samsung, many factory unlocked phones don't support the radio bands for all carriers. Therefore, whether cheap or expensive, those are the only two brands guaranteed to work. Even the Google Pixels have differences between the Verizon model and the unlocked Google model. If someone had something else, switched carriers and found out whatever they had previously couldn't be used, then they will probably play it safe and go with Apple or Samsung. Again, if they don't want Samsung then Apple is the only option. So I'd say that the carriers are another reason for the Apple/Samsung de facto duopoly in the USA.

The Pixel devices are more in the mid-range than flagship for the most part. We'll see what pricing of the new Pixel 7 line is like and if Verizon devices are different yet again.

Nokia hasn't ever been relevant in the USA other than feature phones. The Symbian devices never sold well here. Back when Symbian was popular in Europe, the popular smartphones here were running PalmOS, Windows Mobile and Blackberry.

You are quite right, apple doesn’t sell any phones under $400, which is the cut off mark for premium smartphones. But that is quite remarkable that apple now has the largest user base of users in the US surpassing android without offering a device that costs less than $400.

I was living in the states, when the iPhone launched exclusively on Cingular, I switched over from voice-stream in order to purchase one. It took a while but eventually all carriers offered the iPhone. That was due to massive demand from consumers, the same is not happening with android. Once more I do not believe it is from a lack of choice but a lack of demand that has caused android user base to decline.

If you only focus solely on the flagship devices from both apple and Samsung which are being offered ubiquitously in the Us, consumers have been found to purchase iPhones at a considerably higher degree than galaxy smartphone. In fact the report shows that the iPhone now eclipses not only flagship Samsung smartphones, but cumulatively all of samsung smartphones as well as the entire android market, budget phones included.

Even if we discount both one plus and Sony which do offer flagships to US consumers (but not on all carriers) Pixels are still premium devices selling for over $400, they are just not selling in any significant numbers.

Regarding Nokia, it was only to illustrate an example of a current android oem that has abandoned flagship android phones like Motorola, due to a lack of demand. What do you expect phone companies to do when they can’t sell at a certain price range? Take the loss and keep going? That didn’t work out for htc or lg.

I am also well aware of Symbian phones, I have actually purchased most of them and a couple of prototypes back in the day. Still have most of them somewhere.


Here is how well the s22 series did globally in the first three months of sale. Samsung flagship sales aren’t what they used to be.

432fa91a4bb59d89f9c09e28eb465f89.jpg
 

Laura Knotek

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You are quite right, apple doesn’t sell any phones under $400, which is the cut off mark for premium smartphones. But that is quite remarkable that apple now has the largest user base of users in the US surpassing android without offering a device that costs less than $400.

I was living in the states, when the iPhone launched exclusively on Cingular, I switched over from voice-stream in order to purchase one. It took a while but eventually all carriers offered the iPhone. That was due to massive demand from consumers, the same is not happening with android. Once more I do not believe it is from a lack of choice but a lack of demand that has caused android user base to decline.

If you only focus solely on the flagship devices from both apple and Samsung which are being offered ubiquitously in the Us, consumers have been found to purchase iPhones at a considerably higher degree than galaxy smartphone. In fact the report shows that the iPhone now eclipses not only flagship Samsung smartphones, but cumulatively all of samsung smartphones as well as the entire android market, budget phones included.

Even if we discount both one plus and Sony which do offer flagships to US consumers (but not on all carriers) Pixels are still premium devices selling for over $400, they are just not selling in any significant numbers.

Regarding Nokia, it was only to illustrate an example of a current android oem that has abandoned flagship android phones like Motorola, due to a lack of demand. What do you expect phone companies to do when they can’t sell at a certain price range? Take the loss and keep going? That didn’t work out for htc or lg.

I am also well aware of Symbian phones, I have actually purchased most of them and a couple of prototypes back in the day. Still have most of them somewhere.


Here is how well the s22 series did globally in the first three months of sale. Samsung flagship sales aren’t what they used to be.

432fa91a4bb59d89f9c09e28eb465f89.jpg

Perhaps things are different in Europe. Here in the USA, premium devices would be around the $700 and up price range. $400 to $699 would be midrange. Anything under $400 would be budget.

The less expensive iPhones sold now are those that aren't current or have tiny storage space.

Did you notice that the highest seller of the S22 line was the most expensive? I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung eliminates the other devices and consolidates everything candybar style besides the Ultra into the A series of midrange and budget devices.

There simply are no Sony devices sold by any carriers here. I believe that goes back to the old CDMA vs GSM networks. Sony never supported CDMA, which was the network technology used by our largest carrier Verizon. Sprint also was a CDMA carrier.

Moto went downhill after its acquisition by Google and then Lenovo.

Other than USA carriers I believe another reason for the Apple/Samsung duopoly is because of corporate policies. Most enterprises only allow Apple and Samsung devices on their corporate accounts. So those are the only choices if one uses the device for work.
 

tadpoles

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Carplay in my Mitsubishi is just an example of why I have to acknowledge that iOS is superior FOR ME. I love Samsung’s willingness to innovate. Android Auto only worked sometimes with my Samsung and OnePlus phones. If you want to customize and control your phone its hard to argue against Android.

If you want to take for granted that your phone is going to work, as expected, most of the time? Well, iOS has proven to me its the correct choice. …and then there’s iMessage.

Anywho, this has all been said here before but sometimes it bears repeating.
 

Annie_M

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Carplay in my Mitsubishi is just an example of why I have to acknowledge that iOS is superior FOR ME. I love Samsung’s willingness to innovate. Android Auto only worked sometimes with my Samsung and OnePlus phones. If you want to customize and control your phone its hard to argue against Android.

If you want to take for granted that your phone is going to work, as expected, most of the time? Well, iOS has proven to me its the correct choice. …and then there’s iMessage.

Anywho, this has all been said here before but sometimes it bears repeating.

CarPlay! Yes, absolutely! I love it so much, yet I always forget to include it whenever I’m talking about my favorite features!
 

Up_And_Away

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I think it was you FFR (?) that put up the graph about smartphone market share by earnings. Apple was so far out in front of Samsung and everyone else. I believe Apple was semi comfortably ahead of all others combined. Assumingly the budget phones make up much bigger shares of others. The budgets can get the market share in sales, the premium market gets the market share by earnings. Apple is obviously crushing the premium market, now especially in the USA.

Off topic: An argument is then often put forth that Apple overcharges on pricing. The direct sale price comparison not withstanding, add up software-security-HW longevity as well as the resale value in the secondary market. That has been done. Cost to value begins leaning toward IPhone.
 

Up_And_Away

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Maybe it has been said before tadpoles but what you said is still well said. :)
Android being open source has definite advantages. And Customization can be a number of layers in the process deep. But it is that substantial customization that makes the Android wild difficult to support. It answers the question ‘why doesn’t Android support their phones as long as Apple’. It’s because there’s a crazy amount of variation in the wild. It would take a very substantial amount more of engineers to make that happen = not economically viable.
(Important note on this. A lot of mentions in the tech channels regarding Samsung supporting newer phones for 4 years. They didn’t bother to read the fine print. Samsung’s 4 years is like Apple’s 5 years + year or two of security updates).
 

FFR

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Perhaps things are different in Europe. Here in the USA, premium devices would be around the $700 and up price range. $400 to $699 would be midrange. Anything under $400 would be budget.

The less expensive iPhones sold now are those that aren't current or have tiny storage space.

Did you notice that the highest seller of the S22 line was the most expensive? I wouldn't be surprised if Samsung eliminates the other devices and consolidates everything candybar style besides the Ultra into the A series of midrange and budget devices.

There simply are no Sony devices sold by any carriers here. I believe that goes back to the old CDMA vs GSM networks. Sony never supported CDMA, which was the network technology used by our largest carrier Verizon. Sprint also was a CDMA carrier.

Moto went downhill after its acquisition by Google and then Lenovo.

Other than USA carriers I believe another reason for the Apple/Samsung duopoly is because of corporate policies. Most enterprises only allow Apple and Samsung devices on their corporate accounts. So those are the only choices if one uses the device for work.

It’s not really a Europe or Us definition, It’s a market standard:
$400 and up are premium
$900 and up are ultra premium.

Ofcourse, due to iPhones strong second and third hand value their devices keep proliferating within the market increasing the iPhones user base. That’s what the thread is all about, iPhones having surpassed the entire android user base in the US.

I actually noticed the non ultra s22s have declined significantly. As for the”most expensive” 4 million globally in 3 months is incredibly minute for a global roll out and can very well be the reason Samsung announced it is shifting focus away from the s series and going all in with the foldables.

Lack of demand will bring about a lack of choice as android oems abandon certain flagships like the galaxy note, or like lg and htc abandon the industry entirely.

Sony flagships are still available from third party retailers which is a part of the market. If demand called for it, Sony would be more than willing to make devices for all Carriers. If there was demand.

Google absolutely gutted Motorola before they sold it. But the begs the question how long does the pixel really have? If sales continue to falter due to poor hardware and bugs. Google did kill of its nexus brand and sold Motorola due to declining sales.

Do you have any numbers in regard to apple or Samsungs enterprise marketshare?



Here is an example of the industry defining premium as $400 dollar
ce4518998f4389874afe7c5e6e977a03.png
 
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FFR

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I think it was you FFR (?) that put up the graph about smartphone market share by earnings. Apple was so far out in front of Samsung and everyone else. I believe Apple was semi comfortably ahead of all others combined. Assumingly the budget phones make up much bigger shares of others. The budgets can get the market share in sales, the premium market gets the market share by earnings. Apple is obviously crushing the premium market, now especially in the USA.

Off topic: An argument is then often put forth that Apple overcharges on pricing. The direct sale price comparison not withstanding, add up software-security-HW longevity as well as the resale value in the secondary market. That has been done. Cost to value begins leaning toward IPhone.

Are you taking about revenue or profit earnings?
Also keep in mind Samsungs profit in smartphones is being hammered by their $900 discounts.

b5688a1708d5f3f233c54fab2c9dda18.png



With the recent news this is certainly not a good sign for android going forward. Let see what happens as the iPhone 14 launches.


da5ae8b61bd1279c4c49d0065d837648.png
 

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