Apple may be fighting saturated smartphone market in US, but iPad still has room for growt...
Apple's efforts to continue growing its market share in the United States may be facing resistance from the market itself, as Pew research data indicates high levels of saturation for smartphones and cellphones, leaving few relatively few brand new customers to acquire.
The data, released by the Pew Research Center on Saturday, suggests that the overall use of Internet-connected devices and related services has remained in approximately the same state as was found in 2016. While previous surveys showed general growth trends across all monitored segments, the differences between 2016 and 2018's results are relatively minimal.
Approximately 95 percent of U.S. Adults in 2018 own and use cellphones, while 77 percent claim to own or use smartphones. The recorded results are notably the same values as found in 2016, just as discovered for social media's usage by 69 percent of adults.
Of elements that have changed, Internet use has grown from 88 to 89 percent, tablet usage has increased from 51 percent to 53 percent, and desktop or notebook computer usage has dropped from 78 percent to 73 percent.
"A contributing factor behind this slowing growth is that parts of the population have reached near-saturation levels of adoption of some technologies," writes Pew's Paul Hitlin. "Put simply, in some instances there just aren't many non-users left."
via Pew Research Center
Drilling down into specific groups, approximately 91 percent of people aged 18 to 49 currently own or use a smartphone, with 99 percent using some form of cellular communication, with college graduates measured at 91 percent and 97 percent respectively for each area. Smartphone penetration is also up to 93 percent for households with an income of $75,000 or more, with 98 percent owning or using a cellphone.
For tablet ownership and usage, like for the iPad, the figures again suggest the educated and the affluent to be the biggest users. While 55 percent of adults aged 18 to 49 say they own or use a tablet, higher than the 53 percent for all surveyed, the number grows to 66 percent for college graduates, and 72 percent for those with a $75,000 minimum household income.
With figures generally below 60 percent, the data suggests the iPad isn't encumbered by a saturation problem, and has a fair way to go before wide ownership and usage of tablets becomes a problem for sales.
While the saturation of the highly competitive U.S. market may be causing problems for increasing iPhone shipments for Apple, the company has already worked to continue the growth in other areas. Apple continues to make headway in growing and emerging markets that are far from saturation, such as China and India, meanwhile the higher average selling price created by the introduction of last year's iPhone X and this year's iPhone XS models will help increase iPhone-derived revenue.
In the United States specifically, Apple continues to enjoy a healthy lead over other smartphone producers, with domestic sales in the March quarter said to have been up 16 percent year-on-year in a May report. Furthermore, the same report revealed Apple had six of the 10 most popular smartphone models sold in the U.S in the first quarter, with the top five of the list made up of variants of the iPhone X and iPhone 8.
The data, released by the Pew Research Center on Saturday, suggests that the overall use of Internet-connected devices and related services has remained in approximately the same state as was found in 2016. While previous surveys showed general growth trends across all monitored segments, the differences between 2016 and 2018's results are relatively minimal.
Approximately 95 percent of U.S. Adults in 2018 own and use cellphones, while 77 percent claim to own or use smartphones. The recorded results are notably the same values as found in 2016, just as discovered for social media's usage by 69 percent of adults.
Of elements that have changed, Internet use has grown from 88 to 89 percent, tablet usage has increased from 51 percent to 53 percent, and desktop or notebook computer usage has dropped from 78 percent to 73 percent.
"A contributing factor behind this slowing growth is that parts of the population have reached near-saturation levels of adoption of some technologies," writes Pew's Paul Hitlin. "Put simply, in some instances there just aren't many non-users left."
via Pew Research Center
Drilling down into specific groups, approximately 91 percent of people aged 18 to 49 currently own or use a smartphone, with 99 percent using some form of cellular communication, with college graduates measured at 91 percent and 97 percent respectively for each area. Smartphone penetration is also up to 93 percent for households with an income of $75,000 or more, with 98 percent owning or using a cellphone.
For tablet ownership and usage, like for the iPad, the figures again suggest the educated and the affluent to be the biggest users. While 55 percent of adults aged 18 to 49 say they own or use a tablet, higher than the 53 percent for all surveyed, the number grows to 66 percent for college graduates, and 72 percent for those with a $75,000 minimum household income.
With figures generally below 60 percent, the data suggests the iPad isn't encumbered by a saturation problem, and has a fair way to go before wide ownership and usage of tablets becomes a problem for sales.
While the saturation of the highly competitive U.S. market may be causing problems for increasing iPhone shipments for Apple, the company has already worked to continue the growth in other areas. Apple continues to make headway in growing and emerging markets that are far from saturation, such as China and India, meanwhile the higher average selling price created by the introduction of last year's iPhone X and this year's iPhone XS models will help increase iPhone-derived revenue.
In the United States specifically, Apple continues to enjoy a healthy lead over other smartphone producers, with domestic sales in the March quarter said to have been up 16 percent year-on-year in a May report. Furthermore, the same report revealed Apple had six of the 10 most popular smartphone models sold in the U.S in the first quarter, with the top five of the list made up of variants of the iPhone X and iPhone 8.
Comments
That woul not be innnovation again as claimed by Apple crowd frequently. And for the record iPhone and iPad already has support for external mouse or even wirless mous and keyboard. It does not draw cursor only. I playd with it and I can select or type with those devices... unless of course iOS 12 disabled that and I tested on older versions of iOS. In fact, Apple devices recognize quite a lot standard USB devices connected to it with dongle.
This article is incomplete by not accounting for Apples other business units encompassing; services, wearables, HomePods, AppleTV, future Augmented reality product and Transportation as a service(TAAS). For some reason Pew doesn’t want to look at Apple as a platform of devices and services, wonder why......
Additionally, many people lease their phones, getting a new device every 12 to 24 months. These longer lasting devices filter down to lower economic demographics and make them accessible. If Apple wanted to turbocharge iPad sales, they could offer the same leasing program as the phones.
Regarding mouse capability, that’s a mixed bag as only some people truly need such functionality. I use a HP elite book for work and never use the touchscreen functionality, but accidentally touch spreadsheets a lot, causes problems.
I understand my case is specific but it highlights one fact, moving between touch controls, keyboard, and mouse is awkward.
Apple will most likely skip this confusing dual interface, by jumping straight into augmented technology. If the glasses know where you’re looking, and creates virtual screens and dynamic GUIs as needed, the mouse becomes null.
There’s always the MacBook...
Releasing meh updates won’t make people want to upgrade.
Funny they fail to mention "smartwatches" as that would make Apple. look too good.
And every year we hear this reply. Shouldn't iPhone had been saturated 4 years ago if these articles are to be believed?
Truth is, more people are upgrading to iPhone and people with old iPhones will eventually buy a newer one. These articles make it seem like once everyone has an iPhone, sales will hit 0.
I so agree. Apple has become so infatuated with iPhone that they treat iPad like a step child. There's absolutely ZERO reason an iPhone should have more functionality/better specs than an iPad.
iPad needs to be the future for animated films, music, engineering, enterprise, plane cockpits, restaurants/retail, movie editing, art, etc.
Not just a toy that keeps your kid amused on a long road trip.
These critics are similar to those who say iPhone would sell more if Apple added a headphone jack, SD card slot and USB port.
Apple invented the iPad as a device for the future not to repeat old tech.
Yet, the main difference between it and a MacBook is its lack of a cursor. That's fairly easily fixed. Just add a cursor and produce a keyboard with a touchpad. Problem solved.