Apple Loses ‘Most Profitable Smartphone Vendor’ Title

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Can you hear that popping sound? That’s the sound of Champaign corks flying all over the Samsung corporate office after announcing the company stripped Apple of its Most Profitable Smartphone Vendor title after outselling Apple by over a three to one margin. Sue me again, I double dog dare you. :D

“Apple’s reign as the world’s most profitable handset vendor lasted almost four years, from Q3 2009 to Q1 2013,” Neil Mawston, also of Strategy Analytics, said. “Apple’s profit margin for its handset division has been fading recently due to lackluster iPhone 5 volumes and tougher competition from rivals.”
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Well, there goes another one of Apple's talking points. I'm trying to remember them all...

"The iPhone has more marketshare."
"The Android Market isn't even close to being as good as the App Store."
"Android isn't nearly as fluid as iOS."
"Gingerbread devices are still by far the majority. GINGERBREAD!"
"Well, the iPhone is far more profitable."

I wonder what they'll think of next.
 
Like rats on a lifeboat theyll cling to the talking point that apple users buy more apps and every android user is a pirate, unfortunately the trajectory of each appstore and platform foretells a future where that's no longer true either.

Its a death by a thousand cuts thing happening here, couldn't have happened to a more arrogant company.
 
yeah, but what is Samsung's profit margin? It's understandable if they're selling a shitload of phones for lower profit margin.

Samsung could have sold more phones, but apple probably made more money per phone.
 
Apple has been screwing it up. if given a chance i would actually buy iphone 3g than iphone 5. my sister and brother in law has iphone 5 and it's pretty slow compare to iphone 3g i've used. iphone 4s is also slow but not as slow as iphone 5. it has hardware but the system uses too many resources.
 
If the Apple HQ blew up tomorrow, I couldn't care less. There are so many reasons that I despise the company so I once again enjoy saying: F you, Apple.
 
Cbshahji said:
Apple has been screwing it up. if given a chance i would actually buy iphone 3g than iphone 5. my sister and brother in law has iphone 5 and it's pretty slow compare to iphone 3g i've used. iphone 4s is also slow but not as slow as iphone 5. it has hardware but the system uses too many resources.
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Not sure what was wrong with the phones you were using but the 4s is much faster than the 3G and the 5 is quite a bit faster than my 4s. My 4s isn't slow by any means but doing the same thing on he 5 is noticeably quicker.
 
I doubt anyone is really surprised. I see people with Samsung phones 3:1 over iPhones. It's mostly my poorer friends with iPhones and they're usually a generation or two behind, when their contracts allow for refreshes, I wouldn't be surprised to see many of them switch to Samsung phones running Android.
 
I never understood why everyone on this site would prefer a foreign company (Samsung) to outperform an American company. It doesn't make any sense.
 
I hate both apple and samsung equally.

Apple is a global company anyways, as are any giant successful corporations these days.
 
jhirsh said:
I never understood why everyone on this site would prefer a foreign company (Samsung) to outperform an American company. It doesn't make any sense.
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I love Apple products... I use a macbook as my main computer. They make excellent hardware. However, that doesn't really matter, because this thread is about phones and not companies or brand loyalty. The fact is that the iPhone is dead unless Apple does something new to reinvigorate it. This is what happens when your product remains stagnant for 5 years.

Also, to your specific "Pro-America" point, they are both international companies supporting major industries in the US, and I doubt you can find evidence to back the argument that Samsung generates fewer jobs or taxes in the US.
 
while I'm not interested in arguing, I would assume the economy of Cupertino would disagree.
 
jhirsh said:
I never understood why everyone on this site would prefer a foreign company (Samsung) to outperform an American company. It doesn't make any sense.
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Maybe because they prefer one product over another!? :confused:
 
If you guys don't watch out, Samsung will become the new Apple. You can see it in the attitude of the users. And you can even see it in their advertising. I'm seeing billboards with words like "experience" and "family" being used.

It's is to the point now that when you speak of Android Vs iOS, most are referring to Samsung Galaxy S3 or 4. So, now the entire platform is being pushed to one phone. Very Apple like.
 
Cbshahji said:
Apple has been screwing it up. if given a chance i would actually buy iphone 3g than iphone 5. my sister and brother in law has iphone 5 and it's pretty slow compare to iphone 3g i've used. iphone 4s is also slow but not as slow as iphone 5. it has hardware but the system uses too many resources.
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Just put the keyboard down and slowly back away from the desk.
 
dr.kevin said:
yeah, but what is Samsung's profit margin? It's understandable if they're selling a shitload of phones for lower profit margin.

Samsung could have sold more phones, but apple probably made more money per phone.
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Profit is measured in dollars, not percents.
 
jhirsh said:
I never understood why everyone on this site would prefer a foreign company (Samsung) to outperform an American company. It doesn't make any sense.
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Apple products are made in China, and their profits are shuffled around in foreign countries to avoid paying American taxes.

I'd rather support South Korea than China.

If you want American, buy Motorola. They opened a plant in Texas to make their Moto X phones.
 
BladeVenom said:
Apple products are made in China, and their profits are shuffled around in foreign countries to avoid paying American taxes.

I'd rather support South Korea than China.

If you want American, buy Motorola. They opened a plant in Texas to make their Moto X phones.
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Apple pays 2.5% of every income tax dollar collected for the entire country.

Apple makes products in the US too. Aside form that, most major US companies doge taxes because the tax laws int the US are fucked.
 
dr.kevin said:
yeah, but what is Samsung's profit margin? It's understandable if they're selling a shitload of phones for lower profit margin.

Samsung could have sold more phones, but apple probably made more money per phone.
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Its a combination of things. Samsung sells low end phones in very high volume. Another part of it is that the iPhone 5 is more expensive to produce than the iPhone 4 and 4S, driving down their profit margin even on increased sales.

In any case, Samsung sold over 70 million smartphones, only 20 million of which were high end devices like the GS4, GS3, and GN2. Apple sold about 35 million iPhone in the same time period, all of which are in the high-end catagory. Those high end phones bring Samsung higher profit margins than their low end, but add it all up with a massive number of cheap devices and there they are, $$$
 
BombermanX said:
I love Apple products... I use a macbook as my main computer. They make excellent hardware. However, that doesn't really matter, because this thread is about phones and not companies or brand loyalty. The fact is that the iPhone is dead unless Apple does something new to reinvigorate it. This is what happens when your product remains stagnant for 5 years.
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The iPhone is still the top selling high end phone by a wide margin. Even the old iPhone 4S outsells the GS4, and the iPhone 5 is selling about twice as much.

App developers make several times more from iOS, and even Google makes most of their mobile ad revenue from iOS than they do their own Android platform.

Both are good platforms in their own way, but to say that the iPhone is dead is kind of farfetched. The hardware is selling as well as it ever has and it is still leads the high-end based on usage statistics (internet traffic, mobile ad revenue, software downloads and purcheses).
 
I would say the more unfortunate side of this is that Samsung is equally ruthless with competition as Apple is. Both Apple and Samsung rule the roost of smartphones at this point. Nokia, Motorola, HTC, and Blackberry are all trapped trying to prove themselves as viable alternatives to the Samsung/Apple duopoly. It's largely no longer a case of Android versus iOS, but of Samsung versus iOS. While Apple has a strong command of the high end market, Samsung has command of every other area, and is the only strong competitor to Apple in the high end at this point. Samsung is absolutely killer when it comes to their vertical integration. They honestly remind me a lot of the Japanese zaibatsu in the way they are built as a company (and they should as a chaebol as they are similar both to zaibatsu and keiretsu).

Don't get me wrong, Samsung makes some excellent products. But, equally excellent products (and often enough better ones) are often lost in the sea of Samsung devices. However, I don't see Samsung's dominance lasting long. I think that will come in the form of even cheaper Chinese Android phones as I don't think Samsung has quite the same draw as a premium brand as Apple or even Nokia or Blackberry have. And when people start seeing the Chinese phones that run Android and are a good bit cheaper than Samsung, I think they'll opt for those over Samsung phones especially in the foreign markets. After all, that's how Samsung themselves displaced Sony, and how Sony displaced RCA. And it seems I'm not alone in that thinking.
 
That's cool! Now if we could just get Android phones that have decent battery life, don't crash all the time, and don't act as pocket-sized spyware for Uncle Google, we'd have something awesome.
 
It's always good to shake up our corporate overlords periodically ... the other advantage of Samsung's dominance is they should now have the bargaining power to force Google to better align to their specific needs rather than continuing to support the one size fits all model for Android ;)
 
Well, that didn't take long. I guess we're falling back to per-device sales, developer profitability, and...tax dollars. Hm :confused:

That's cool! Now if we could just get Android phones that have decent battery life, don't crash all the time, and don't act as pocket-sized spyware for Uncle Google, we'd have something awesome.
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I don't think anyone would dispute that iOS has better battery life than many Android handsets due to the way it's designed, but to act like Apple turns a blind eye to its users' activities when it wants to be the center of said activities is just ridiculous.

Don't want to be tracked? Then don't use Google apps. It's as simple as that. The newer versions of Android even give you an option to selectively turn off location tracking just for G-apps. The only one I still use is the Play Store, and that's only for stuff that I can't find elsewhere. Everything else has been removed and/or disabled.

Me, I just get a kick out of watching these companies get their just desserts. After Apple gets knocked down another peg or two, I'm sure Samsung will get its own somewhere down the road.
 
blitzkommando said:
I would say the more unfortunate side of this is that Samsung is equally ruthless with competition as Apple is. Both Apple and Samsung rule the roost of smartphones at this point. Nokia, Motorola, HTC, and Blackberry are all trapped trying to prove themselves as viable alternatives to the Samsung/Apple duopoly. It's largely no longer a case of Android versus iOS, but of Samsung versus iOS. While Apple has a strong command of the high end market, Samsung has command of every other area, and is the only strong competitor to Apple in the high end at this point. Samsung is absolutely killer when it comes to their vertical integration. They honestly remind me a lot of the Japanese zaibatsu in the way they are built as a company (and they should as a chaebol as they are similar both to zaibatsu and keiretsu).

Don't get me wrong, Samsung makes some excellent products. But, equally excellent products (and often enough better ones) are often lost in the sea of Samsung devices. However, I don't see Samsung's dominance lasting long. I think that will come in the form of even cheaper Chinese Android phones as I don't think Samsung has quite the same draw as a premium brand as Apple or even Nokia or Blackberry have. And when people start seeing the Chinese phones that run Android and are a good bit cheaper than Samsung, I think they'll opt for those over Samsung phones especially in the foreign markets. After all, that's how Samsung themselves displaced Sony, and how Sony displaced RCA. And it seems I'm not alone in that thinking.
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they might not stay on top but they will be around for long time
look @ how much they are spending on R&D each year and constantly expanding into new business
companies like apples on other hand.. they barely spend any compared to likes of samsung/intels/google etc
 
jhirsh said:
I never understood why everyone on this site would prefer a foreign company (Samsung) to outperform an American company. It doesn't make any sense.
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Because Apple treats their customers like shit while Samsung treats their customers like people. Steve Jobs inculcated his personal belief, that all consumers are flaming retards, into the corporate culture of Apple. Samsung's leadership doesn't think that way, and even if they did it wouldn't matter because they don't have the cult of personality built around themselves to make this kind of belief a true part of the corporate culture.

This belief will stay until Apple gets ground under the heel of a company like Samsung. Then, and only then, might we begin to see Apple treating their customers with respect rather than disdain.
 
Apple has got real trouble coming. Talk to 16-18 year kids Apple has lost its cool. I had a 16 year old girl grumble at me because the new phone her parents got her was a iPhone 4S when Android and Windows phones "were so much better", a lot of them are saying the same type things about the iPad. iOS feels stodgy and dated and I don't think slapping a My Little Pony color scheme on iOS7 is going to change that.

Apple has become a big slow moving giant that tries to hold the status quo. Apple has introduce three phones in the last three years and their biggest sellers are 2-3 year old models (and a lot of those were given away free with new accounts) while dozens of Android and Windows phones have been released at various price points.

Apple has got real trouble coming.
 
arentol said:
Because Apple treats their customers like shit while Samsung treats their customers like people. Steve Jobs inculcated his personal belief, that all consumers are flaming retards, into the corporate culture of Apple. Samsung's leadership doesn't think that way, and even if they did it wouldn't matter because they don't have the cult of personality built around themselves to make this kind of belief a true part of the corporate culture.

This belief will stay until Apple gets ground under the heel of a company like Samsung. Then, and only then, might we begin to see Apple treating their customers with respect rather than disdain.
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Haha!? Have you ever even dealt wit either company's tech support? Pretty sure the answer is no on at least one count.

And the cult argument is very 1993. Grow up, seriously.
 
Yeah that's right, compile the figures before the launch of the new models, as well as the new iOS.

We will be seeing different numbers next year...

But it's ok for all you Samsung/Android lovers, I can understand the lure of a cheap phone.
 
Stimpy88 said:
Yeah that's right, compile the figures before the launch of the new models, as well as the new iOS.

We will be seeing different numbers next year...

But it's ok for all you Samsung/Android lovers, I can understand the lure of a cheap phone.
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Trying to be ironic? A huge hunk of Apple's sales are of dated cheap (give away) iPhone 4.
 
westrock2000 said:
If you guys don't watch out, Samsung will become the new Apple. You can see it in the attitude of the users.
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No kidding. I bought a TV a few months back and when I went into the store, I was thinking LG. I had gotten a great one at a good price at that same store for my brother not long before that, but they were out of stock when I went (kind of expected that, to be honest). Not wanting to go home empty-handed I started checking out the Samsung televisions.

I was mulling over whether or not to spend more than the LG's sale price or to come back later for the LG. Some random guy saw me checking it out and as he walks by he just says "Samsung is the best" in the exact same way I've heard tons of people talk about the iPad and iPhone versus the Android competitors.

I understand that televisions are a bit different than phones but the attitude was such that it could have been "Apple" instead of "Samsung." The guy was a total hipster. I ended up going with the Samsung but I must admit that I found some things lacking (no audio out? wtf?) like their support (going on their site to get a simple manual was just...not with ease). Not that Apple has bad support, it's just the customer culture made me feel like I should expect a Samsung Genius Bar sometime soon...
 
BombermanX said:
I love Apple products... I use a macbook as my main computer. They make excellent hardware. However, that doesn't really matter, because this thread is about phones and not companies or brand loyalty. The fact is that the iPhone is dead unless Apple does something new to reinvigorate it. This is what happens when your product remains stagnant for 5 years.

Also, to your specific "Pro-America" point, they are both international companies supporting major industries in the US, and I doubt you can find evidence to back the argument that Samsung generates fewer jobs or taxes in the US.
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If you count retail which is irrelevant as to whose phone they make.

That being said, apple at least does some engineering here, but both are made abroad with probably a token assembly plant or two here. The scenario engineered here, made there is a temporary one. Eventually engineering will be there too. Its how the US wrestled manufacturing from England.
 
The iPhone 6 had better be something special, or Android is going to win this war. At least for the next several years. MS Phone? Only it's mother could love it's interface. It's useless on PC's, and sucks just a little less on phones.

The iP6 had better be at least a 5" screen, thinner than anything else out there, and faster than anything else out there.

And the prices need to come WAY down, including the data services.
 
TechLarry said:
And the prices need to come WAY down, including the data services.
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Apple doesn't control the data service prices (the carriers do) and both Android and Apple devices cost the same for data (or are you referring to cloud and music match pricing) :confused:
 
Samsung has over a dozen different phone models. Apple has 2 or 3? iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, iPhone 3GS. So this doesn't really compare equally.
 
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