“Apple’s impressive sales figures from Q4 2014 continue to have an impact on the smartphone market, with a recent survey highlighting the number of new switchers from Android to iOS devices (reports AppleInsider’s Neil Hughes),” Ewan Spence reports for Forbes. “The numbers are good for Apple, but they also highlight the challenge facing rival manufacturers struggling to find profit in the smartphone space.”
“Looking at the sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Cowen And Company’s Timothy Arcuri discovered that ‘about 25 percent of all iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus purchases came from users who are new to the iPhone platform, mostly Android switchers,'” Spence reports. “That could be as much as seventeen million users who have left Android for Apple during the quarter.”
“This is where the Android manufacturers have an uphill battle. Seventeen million users who are happy to pay for a high-priced smartphone (with an associated high margin) is a particularly attractive demographic… Those users can all be seen as legitimate lost sales, and are not easily replaced,” Spence reports. “With Samsung needing to tap into these customers to generate strong sales and financial returns for the Galaxy S6 family, Apple’s strong iPhone sales have not only handed Apple one of the greatest quarters of any business, it has removed a significant chunk of the addressable market that its rivals would have hoped to target during 2015.”
An iPhone with a larger screen option will hurt Samsung immeasurably more than myriad, unending traipses through the legal morass. – MacDailyNews Take, May 2, 2014
My thinking is that most Android users are perfectly satisfied with smartphones like the Moto E or other midrange Android devices. I believe there are a limited number of consumers looking to own Android flagship smartphones. I don’t think the average consumer who buys Android smartphones has a need for high-end models. I’m willing to bet the Galaxy 6 has no better sales than the Galaxy 5.
Now that Samsung has done away with a removeable battery and microSD slot, it’s going to be a hard sell to earlier Galaxy users who will have to eat their microSD cards. They’re probably not going to want to pay a premium for Galaxy models with 128GB of storage. iPhone users have no alternative and have never been spoiled with microSD card use so it’s an accepted practice to pay extra for more storage when they purchase the iPhone.
I believe Samsung will not be able to break Apple’s grip on high-end smartphones no matter what they do. Apple has everything going for it with their retail stores and unified ecosystem. Samsung putting out smartphones with endless amounts of features isn’t going to cut it. Most users don’t need superHD displays which is one of Samsung’s strengths. I don’t believe Samsung can build a smartphone for a reasonable price that’s good enough to pull users away from the iPhone.
My father-in-law is a typical Android user as I see them: concerned about only one thing, the price of the device. He has a cheapo Android tablet he can barely figure out how to use. But oh, it only cost this, and it has XX Gigs of memory! He thinks my wife and I are foolish for using expensive iPhones when his Windows Phone he got for next to nothing can do all the same stuff, as far as he can tell.
Apple is never going to win over that kind of customer, and they shouldn’t even try. Just let them continue buying the cheap knockoffs, patting themselves on the back for their frugality, and asking for help from iOS-owning relatives when they can’t figure out how to use their cheap crap.
I think there are plenty of those consumers in the market, which is a market Apple has no desire to pursue. However, these people are starting to buy iPhones now that Apple has cheap offerings (with a 2 year contract).
However, I there are plenty of high-end Android users who try to convince iPhone users that their phone is better because of screen size, megapixel count, or other such specs. These tend to be high-tech consumers, some who depend on specs to make their case. But Apple appears to be attracting these people now that the iPhone 6+ is out, because it removes their biggest argument – screen size.
With more and more people realizing that its the ecosystem which makes the hardware, Apple will continue to expand its dominance in the premium smartphone market. For those who insist on cheap prices, they can have the junk. Apple gladly will take the profits and the noteriety.
The problem really is that Google enables the lower class bottom of the barrel type people. They give anyone a YouTube channel, and idiots follow idiots, and people who grew up in trailer parks have a voice and complain about things not being free and handed to them, thus: the android fanboy. Just look at this crap: http://youtu.be/DoXd9f-JRoA
It completely disgusts me. “Why would you pay a thousand dollars for a laptop when you can get a chromebook for dirt cheap”. Yeah and why buy a modern house and have a job when you can live in run down section 8 housing.
I don’t have the same negative view of “everyone having a YouTube channel” that you do. If you don’t enjoy something that someone posted on YouTube then do not watch it. I have found many interesting and entertaining things that have been posted on there that would never be available otherwise.
Corp. IT departments getting tired of Android have something to do with it also.
So Samsung is left with mostly the undesirable detritus/effluvia end of the phone market? Have fun widdat! It’s really all they deserve having no real ecosystem and just a scattered tech approach (part and parcel to haphazard Android OS) that most smart people don’t have the time, energy or patience to play around with. Only tinkering geektards without a life need apply to Skunksucks. Le pew!
Many think value is the cheapest, but in reality the definition of value is a product or service that has great build quality, timely support and costs more upfront. Over the life of a value product a consumer will save more time and money compared to a consumer owning a cheaply made product with poor customer support.
Today, Android phones and tablets are seen as devices for those that don’t understand value. Even when a couple of Android phones do have high-end specs, the perception is that it’s just like putting lipstick on a pig.
As time progresses consumers will earn more money (look at China upper and middle classes) and/or become wiser. This means they will increasingly gravitate towards value products like the iPhone.
Die Samscum, Karam’s got legs
And so does Karma…
Sungsam and Go-ogle deserve to whither away.
My thinking is that most Android users are perfectly satisfied with smartphones like the Moto E or other midrange Android devices. I believe there are a limited number of consumers looking to own Android flagship smartphones. I don’t think the average consumer who buys Android smartphones has a need for high-end models. I’m willing to bet the Galaxy 6 has no better sales than the Galaxy 5.
Now that Samsung has done away with a removeable battery and microSD slot, it’s going to be a hard sell to earlier Galaxy users who will have to eat their microSD cards. They’re probably not going to want to pay a premium for Galaxy models with 128GB of storage. iPhone users have no alternative and have never been spoiled with microSD card use so it’s an accepted practice to pay extra for more storage when they purchase the iPhone.
I believe Samsung will not be able to break Apple’s grip on high-end smartphones no matter what they do. Apple has everything going for it with their retail stores and unified ecosystem. Samsung putting out smartphones with endless amounts of features isn’t going to cut it. Most users don’t need superHD displays which is one of Samsung’s strengths. I don’t believe Samsung can build a smartphone for a reasonable price that’s good enough to pull users away from the iPhone.
My father-in-law is a typical Android user as I see them: concerned about only one thing, the price of the device. He has a cheapo Android tablet he can barely figure out how to use. But oh, it only cost this, and it has XX Gigs of memory! He thinks my wife and I are foolish for using expensive iPhones when his Windows Phone he got for next to nothing can do all the same stuff, as far as he can tell.
Apple is never going to win over that kind of customer, and they shouldn’t even try. Just let them continue buying the cheap knockoffs, patting themselves on the back for their frugality, and asking for help from iOS-owning relatives when they can’t figure out how to use their cheap crap.
——RM
I don’t bother to help anyone who buys Android anything, they can figure it out themselves. I will never assist anything related to Android.
I think there are plenty of those consumers in the market, which is a market Apple has no desire to pursue. However, these people are starting to buy iPhones now that Apple has cheap offerings (with a 2 year contract).
However, I there are plenty of high-end Android users who try to convince iPhone users that their phone is better because of screen size, megapixel count, or other such specs. These tend to be high-tech consumers, some who depend on specs to make their case. But Apple appears to be attracting these people now that the iPhone 6+ is out, because it removes their biggest argument – screen size.
With more and more people realizing that its the ecosystem which makes the hardware, Apple will continue to expand its dominance in the premium smartphone market. For those who insist on cheap prices, they can have the junk. Apple gladly will take the profits and the noteriety.
The problem really is that Google enables the lower class bottom of the barrel type people. They give anyone a YouTube channel, and idiots follow idiots, and people who grew up in trailer parks have a voice and complain about things not being free and handed to them, thus: the android fanboy. Just look at this crap: http://youtu.be/DoXd9f-JRoA
It completely disgusts me. “Why would you pay a thousand dollars for a laptop when you can get a chromebook for dirt cheap”. Yeah and why buy a modern house and have a job when you can live in run down section 8 housing.
I don’t have the same negative view of “everyone having a YouTube channel” that you do. If you don’t enjoy something that someone posted on YouTube then do not watch it. I have found many interesting and entertaining things that have been posted on there that would never be available otherwise.
Corp. IT departments getting tired of Android have something to do with it also.
So Samsung is left with mostly the undesirable detritus/effluvia end of the phone market? Have fun widdat! It’s really all they deserve having no real ecosystem and just a scattered tech approach (part and parcel to haphazard Android OS) that most smart people don’t have the time, energy or patience to play around with. Only tinkering geektards without a life need apply to Skunksucks. Le pew!
😥 Samsung 😥 Google 😥 soooo screwed 😥
Big thumbs up, best use of emoticons I have seen in a very long time.
But think of the children who will lose their jobs when Samsung is forced to cut production.
Brilliant melanie.
“Think of the children.”
lol.. indeed.
Many think value is the cheapest, but in reality the definition of value is a product or service that has great build quality, timely support and costs more upfront. Over the life of a value product a consumer will save more time and money compared to a consumer owning a cheaply made product with poor customer support.
Today, Android phones and tablets are seen as devices for those that don’t understand value. Even when a couple of Android phones do have high-end specs, the perception is that it’s just like putting lipstick on a pig.
As time progresses consumers will earn more money (look at China upper and middle classes) and/or become wiser. This means they will increasingly gravitate towards value products like the iPhone.