Sales of iPhones down year-on-year despite popularity of iPhone XR in US

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in iOS
The iPhone XR was the best-selling smartphone in the United States in the second quarter, according to research from Kantar, but the share of iOS device sales seem to have slipped in both the US and major European markets while Android vendors enjoy growth during the same period.




In the second quarter of 2019, the iPhone XR secured the top spot in US sales with a 7.8% share of the market. Apple dominated the top three spots entirely, with the iPhone 8 and iPhone XS Max in second and third place respectively, followed by Samsung's Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10 in fourth and fifth for the quarter.

The bulk of Kantar's report relates to the proportion of sales of devices with different operating systems, namely comparing iOS with Android and others. While the data does reveal year-on-year changes in operating system proportions for a selection of markets, it does not advise on how many smartphones are actually sold, nor the levels for specific companies, aside from Apple for iOS.

According to the company, iOS saw a year-on-year percentage drop in proportion of 0.8% to 19.1 percent of sales in the EU5 area, covering the five major markets in Europe. By contrast, Android saw a gain of 0.6% from 79.5% for the three-month period ending June 2018 to 80.1% for 2019.

On a country-specific basis for EU5, iOS gained the most share in Italy at 3.4%, followed by Spain and Germany. There was a drop of 0.8% in the UK and large 5% in France for iOS, contributing to the overall EU5 downturn.

For the United States, iOS saw its share of sales drop year-on-year from 38.7% for Q2 2018 to 36.3% for Q2 2019. Over the same period, Android saw its share increase from 61% for 2018 to 63.5% in 2019.

Apple saw year-on-year sales share drop for iOS by 5.5% in Japan to 37.4% while Android gained 6% to reach 61.8%. In Australia, iOS gained 0.7% to hit 33%, but Android saw no percentage change at 66.8%.

The important China market was good for Apple, with a moderate improvement in sales share for iOS from 19.4% in Q2 2018 to 19.7% for Q2 2019. Meanwhile, Android's 80.4% of sales in Q2 2018 dipped down by half a percent to 79.9% for the 2019 results in the market.

Huawei is seen to have endured a number of "large setbacks" in the period, Kantar global director Dominic Sunnebo suggests, alluding to bans put in place by the U.S. government to limit the company's activities in the country, which have since been rolled back. "Early indications are that Samsung and Xiaomi are the key beneficiaries, with Apple seeing a smaller uptick in sales as a result," Sunnebo highlights, but notes many Huawei owners are simply putting off upgrading until more clarity on the situation can be reached, rather than opting for a competing device.

Apple's small improvement in China is with a backdrop of unrest by the country's consumers who may view the iPhone maker as a symbol of the U.S., prompting calls for a boycott of its products, but the support for the local hero Huawei is seemingly helping it further its sales in its home country. When combined with sister brand Honor, Huawei is close to making up one in every two sales in China for the period, garnering a 46.1% share.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 96
    mubailimubaili Posts: 453member
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    schlackgilly33watto_cobraBart Y
  • Reply 2 of 96
    schlackschlack Posts: 719member
    As an Apple investor and ecosystem user who has historically upgraded my phone every 1-2 years, I'm frustratingly not expecting to upgrade my 3 year old iPhone 7 this year because the current and anticipated line up of phones don't provide enough value. Give me a smaller phone (anything sized between a SE and iPhone 7) with current generation design and internals and at least 128GB storage for $750 or less and I'll upgrade today.
    edited July 2019 AI_liasAppleExposedretrogustocornchippscooter63mike54pentaekitatitseanjelijahg
  • Reply 3 of 96
    caladaniancaladanian Posts: 380member
    I don’t need more variety. I criticise the price explosion after introducing the X (and corresponding Xs), especially for the iPhone last with more memory. 
    chemengin1n2itivguyAI_lias80s_Apple_Guyirelandentropysapplesnorangespentaekitatitelijahg
  • Reply 4 of 96
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    The problem is price, plain and simple. In 2016 the flagship iPhone started at $649. One year later the flagship model was $999. Even the Xr which is supposed to be the more affordable model starts at $749, $100 more than the flagship from 2 years prior. It doesn’t matter if the tech inside the phone or the materials it’s made with are more advanced/expensive to manufacture. At the end of the day the average selling price of the iPhone has steadily been going up. And consumers are starting to say no thanks, I’ll keep what I’ve got it’s good enough.

    With the X I think Apple was testing how much of a price increase the market would bear (and the higher ASP would allow them to show revenue growth even when sales were flat to down). I think they got their answer. I’d be surprised if there are any price cuts this year and I’ll bet the XS gets removed from the lineup. But I don’t think we’ll see any price increases or storage configurations that push up the price. And I’ll bet we see Apple aggressively pushing trade-ins again.
    gatorguyAI_liasn2itivguyflyingdp80s_Apple_Guymuthuk_vanalingamirelanddesignrmike54applesnoranges
  • Reply 5 of 96
    qwweraqwwera Posts: 281member
    And congressmen want to investigate Apple for being a monopoly.
    flyingdpAppleExposeddavenStrangeDayspscooter63anantksundaramwatto_cobraBart Yjony0
  • Reply 6 of 96
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    When will idiot analysts realize Apple isn’t chasing volume.Or  else apple could easily cut prices like Samsung & Huawei. Profitability & revenue matters more.
    StrangeDaysBart Y
  • Reply 7 of 96
    schlack said:
    As an Apple investor and ecosystem user who has historically upgraded my phone every 1-2 years, I'm frustratingly not expecting to upgrade my 3 year old iPhone 7 this year because the current and anticipated line up of phones don't provide enough value. Give me a smaller phone (anything sized between a SE and iPhone 7) with current generation design and internals and at least 128GB storage for $750 or less and I'll upgrade today.
    I 'upgraded' my iPhone 7 to an iPhone 8 and traded in the 7. That brought the price down to the sort of area that you mentioned.

    AppleExposedwatto_cobraBart Y
  • Reply 8 of 96
    1348513485 Posts: 340member
    I'm not sure what all the angst is for. Apple has always been at the top of the price lists, and always leads the market in sales of those pricy phones.

    And, true to form, Apple XR was the top selling phone in the US in 2019 Q2 followed by iPhone XS and 8. Clearly, pricing is not the barrier for those wanting flagship phones. What this report says, if it's accurate, is that there were a few more cheaper phones sold in the quarter. 

    So what? Market share only matters to Wall Street. Since Apple is notoriously parsimonious with sales data, *estimated" market share is the only hook the Street has to hang its predictions on. Nobody looking at the company books is going to say "Wow, you are losing your ass financially, but you really have nice market share."

    It is well understood that not everybody can afford high-priced phones (by anybody), and there is a market for lower-priced units. But as we all know, Apple chooses not to go after the lower end in any of their products, almost never has.
    lkruppStrangeDayswatto_cobraBart Y
  • Reply 9 of 96
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. The Macintosh has never had more than a 10% share of the worldwide market and it has been a success for Apple all these years. Discerning customers see the value and TCO of Apple products and are very willing to pay the mythical Apple Tax. When has Apple EVER had a dominating share of ANY market? They have literally created or boosted markets out of thin air (personal computers, portable music players, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc) only to see them dominated by cheap knock-offs and lookalikes. Through it all Apple has remained true to its mission statement to provide well designed, reliable, usable products that customers like to use. Again, tech blog forums like AI are filled with comments from a market segment that doesn’t value design, only cares about specs, and wants everything cheap.
    edited July 2019 flyingdpAppleExposedmacpluspluspscooter63StrangeDaysBart Yjony0
  • Reply 10 of 96
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,714member

    With the X I think Apple was testing how much of a price increase the market would bear (and the higher ASP would allow them to show revenue growth even when sales were flat to down). I think they got their answer. I’d be surprised if there are any price cuts this year and I’ll bet the XS gets removed from the lineup. But I don’t think we’ll see any price increases or storage configurations that push up the price. And I’ll bet we see Apple aggressively pushing trade-ins again.
    People only look at the cost of materials and don't really see the cost of engineering (software, hardware, and manufacturing) which goes into complete redesigns like the X.  So it's not just "seeing how much of a price increase the market will bear", it's recouping the huge investment made in designing a brand new phone.  All of the people who whine about lack of brand new phone designs need to understand that new designs cost money.  Over time (up front investments are recouped, manufacturing processes are scaled and optimized), those brand new designs make their way down into the cheaper models and that's where the price cuts come.  We're already seeing that with the XR.
    edited July 2019 king editor the grateAppleExposedStrangeDaysapplesnorangeswatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 96
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,293member
    lkrupp said:
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. The Macintosh has never had more than a 10% share of the worldwide market and it has been a success for Apple all these years. Discerning customers see the value and TCO of Apple products and are very willing to pay the mythical Apple Tax. When has Apple EVER had a dominating share of ANY market? They have literally created or boosted markets out of thin air (personal computers, portable music players, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc) only to see them dominated by cheap knock-offs and lookalikes. Through it all Apple has remained true to its mission statement to provide well designed, reliable, usable products that customers like to use. Again, tech blog forums like AI are filled with comments from a market segment that doesn’t value design, only cares about specs, and wants everything cheap.
    While writing up responses to Avon b7, with great job security at that, I decided to find out how many Huawei models use the Kirin 980 SOC.

    Interestingly enough, I found a link that had images for 53 different models of using the Kirin 980, and that is certainly less actually numbers of devices than those using Apple's current A12 SOC. That's a lot of engineering resources devoted to a line of products that starts at much lower price points than Apple's current product line, and basically doesn't challenge Apple all that well on the flagship end of the market, and this is all provable by the ASP's generated by both product lines. I don't have to note, but I will, that Huawei mostly competes in the Android OS device market, and not directly with Apple's iPhone.

    Compare and contrast to Apple that has only current three models, all with high ASP's, and all with long lifecycle's, and of course, all of the benefits of the expanding Apple ecosystem, and all of which carry at least a one year advantage in SOC performance over any Android OS devices. Whether Apple needs to make a lower price model, perhaps along the line of the SE, is certainly debatable, but there isn't any current crisis from not doing that.

    edited July 2019 macplusplusStrangeDaysgilly33Bart Ywatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 96
    2770 Lorca2770 Lorca Posts: 14unconfirmed, member
    Let me see if I understand. Apple stop reporting o iPhones sales because they did not want to be under the tyranny of a speculative market versed more on unit sales, not in profits; and therefore, manipulating the value of the market of Apple. Yet, I also I understand, (please, correct me) that the revenue of Apple’s services corresponds to a combined revenue of Microsoft and Google all together, and while the focus is on Apple and the capacity of service growth with is variables of uncertainty, all the same variables are not applied to the competition; because those companies are projecting for the future. Well, at mi 70’s, and already a bit cynic, let me tell you all, that Apple has been for the last 25 years not only projecting for a future more realistically but also collecting profitable revenues as a result of those projections. When is WS going to realize that they are “holding the market wrong”?
    AppleExposedStrangeDaysgilly33FileMakerFellerBart Ywatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 96
    2770 Lorca2770 Lorca Posts: 14unconfirmed, member
    Let me see if I understand. Apple stop reporting o iPhones sales because they did not want to be under the tyranny of a speculative market versed more on unit sales, not in profits; and therefore, manipulating the value of the market of Apple. Yet, I also I understand, (please, correct me) that the revenue of Apple’s services corresponds to a combined revenue of Microsoft and Google all together, and while the focus is on Apple and the capacity of service growth with is variables of uncertainty, all the same variables are not applied to the competition; because those companies are projecting for the future. Well, at mi 70’s, and already a bit cynic, let me tell you all, that Apple has been for the last 25 years not only projecting for a future more realistically but also collecting profitable revenues as a result of those projections. When is WS going to realize that they are “holding the market wrong”?
    AppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 96
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,034member
    Apple is up against the good enough problem. 

    iOS HW and SW has matured enough to be able to meet expectations  of a substantial percentage of the user base. Apple kept profits growing for an while by marching the ASP up, but that has probably reached the point of demand destruction- paying $1000 for a cell phone is obscene.
    elijahgGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 15 of 96
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    The problem is price, plain and simple. In 2016 the flagship iPhone started at $649. One year later the flagship model was $999. Even the Xr which is supposed to be the more affordable model starts at $749, $100 more than the flagship from 2 years prior. It doesn’t matter if the tech inside the phone or the materials it’s made with are more advanced/expensive to manufacture. At the end of the day the average selling price of the iPhone has steadily been going up. And consumers are starting to say no thanks, I’ll keep what I’ve got it’s good enough.

    With the X I think Apple was testing how much of a price increase the market would bear (and the higher ASP would allow them to show revenue growth even when sales were flat to down). I think they got their answer. I’d be surprised if there are any price cuts this year and I’ll bet the XS gets removed from the lineup. But I don’t think we’ll see any price increases or storage configurations that push up the price. And I’ll bet we see Apple aggressively pushing trade-ins again.
    They will be pushing up ASP again by discontinuing iPhone 7. iPhone 8 will likely drop by a little ( i.e not to iPhone 7 's level ) So Entry iPhone price will be up again. I am guessing the iPhone 8 will start with 128GB Model and drop to the current iPhone 7 128 Price tier. 

    I really wish they just offer iPhone Subscription model, or iPhone Upgrade Programme worldwide with AppleCare + included and up to 48 months financing.  I guess that will be coming once Apple Card is lunched. 
    edited July 2019 tmayrogifan_newwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 96
    gilly33gilly33 Posts: 433member
    lkrupp said:
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. The Macintosh has never had more than a 10% share of the worldwide market and it has been a success for Apple all these years. Discerning customers see the value and TCO of Apple products and are very willing to pay the mythical Apple Tax. When has Apple EVER had a dominating share of ANY market? They have literally created or boosted markets out of thin air (personal computers, portable music players, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc) only to see them dominated by cheap knock-offs and lookalikes. Through it all Apple has remained true to its mission statement to provide well designed, reliable, usable products that customers like to use. Again, tech blog forums like AI are filled with comments from a market segment that doesn’t value design, only cares about specs, and wants everything cheap.
    Well said lkrupp. Appreciate your insight as always. It’s the same stuff every year Android phones is outselling Apple. Apple is losing market share. Apple remains focused on the core mission. Mistakes made yes but mission focused. 
    StrangeDayselijahgBart Ywatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 96
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    gilly33 said:
    lkrupp said:
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. The Macintosh has never had more than a 10% share of the worldwide market and it has been a success for Apple all these years. Discerning customers see the value and TCO of Apple products and are very willing to pay the mythical Apple Tax. When has Apple EVER had a dominating share of ANY market? They have literally created or boosted markets out of thin air (personal computers, portable music players, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc) only to see them dominated by cheap knock-offs and lookalikes. Through it all Apple has remained true to its mission statement to provide well designed, reliable, usable products that customers like to use. Again, tech blog forums like AI are filled with comments from a market segment that doesn’t value design, only cares about specs, and wants everything cheap.
    Well said lkrupp. Appreciate your insight as always. It’s the same stuff every year Android phones is outselling Apple. Apple is losing market share. Apple remains focused on the core mission. Mistakes made yes but mission focused. 
    I truly believe Apple can dominate the market but there's 2 problems:

    1. IP laws fail. So anything Apple invents or adds will be copied by knockoffs. Look at all the people buying phones with a gimmicky notch(plus chin) becasue it's the poor mans iPhone X.

    2. It's everyone Vs. Apple.
    When you have 1,000+ companies. 3,000+ phone models and 50 buck knockoffs battling Apple it's gonna be tough fighting them off.

    lkrupp said:
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. The Macintosh has never had more than a 10% share of the worldwide market and it has been a success for Apple all these years. Discerning customers see the value and TCO of Apple products and are very willing to pay the mythical Apple Tax. When has Apple EVER had a dominating share of ANY market? They have literally created or boosted markets out of thin air (personal computers, portable music players, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc) only to see them dominated by cheap knock-offs and lookalikes. Through it all Apple has remained true to its mission statement to provide well designed, reliable, usable products that customers like to use. Again, tech blog forums like AI are filled with comments from a market segment that doesn’t value design, only cares about specs, and wants everything cheap.

    iPod.

    iTunes.

    Airpods before the knockoffs come in with 20 buck crap.

    iPad would have been dominating but when carriers are handing them out for free and Amazon is selling them for 40 bucks it gives competitors an unfair advantage.

    Apple Watch is heading in this direction also but will face the cheap alternatives problem.
    StrangeDaysgilly33Bart Ywatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 96
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,593member
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    The problem is price, plain and simple. In 2016 the flagship iPhone started at $649. One year later the flagship model was $999. Even the Xr which is supposed to be the more affordable model starts at $749, $100 more than the flagship from 2 years prior. It doesn’t matter if the tech inside the phone or the materials it’s made with are more advanced/expensive to manufacture. At the end of the day the average selling price of the iPhone has steadily been going up. And consumers are starting to say no thanks, I’ll keep what I’ve got it’s good enough.

    With the X I think Apple was testing how much of a price increase the market would bear (and the higher ASP would allow them to show revenue growth even when sales were flat to down). I think they got their answer. I’d be surprised if there are any price cuts this year and I’ll bet the XS gets removed from the lineup. But I don’t think we’ll see any price increases or storage configurations that push up the price. And I’ll bet we see Apple aggressively pushing trade-ins again.
    I agree with your points on pricing but I'm in the camp of seeing price cuts this year. I think Apple learned the lesson, that people reached their ceilings on price, that there was little to nothing really compelling on offer last year and that competition is ahead of them where it counts (on the most sought after features).

    I know all the rumours point to another iterative upgrade this year so if there is room to stimulate sales, one of the options is to bring pricing down. There have been a few rumours about component cost being a deciding factor on some areas of this year's phones.

    I also think there is room for a new SE type device (lower cost) with a higher screen to body ratio. The 6s, 7 series and 8 series don't fit well with today's entry level and mid rangers all sporting 'full' displays. It makes them look dated. Moving such a release out of the main release cycle (to say, March) would also serve a good purpose.
    edited July 2019 propod
  • Reply 19 of 96
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    auxio said:

    With the X I think Apple was testing how much of a price increase the market would bear (and the higher ASP would allow them to show revenue growth even when sales were flat to down). I think they got their answer. I’d be surprised if there are any price cuts this year and I’ll bet the XS gets removed from the lineup. But I don’t think we’ll see any price increases or storage configurations that push up the price. And I’ll bet we see Apple aggressively pushing trade-ins again.
    People only look at the cost of materials and don't really see the cost of engineering (software, hardware, and manufacturing) which goes into complete redesigns like the X.  So it's not just "seeing how much of a price increase the market will bear", it's recouping the huge investment made in designing a brand new phone.  All of the people who whine about lack of brand new phone designs need to understand that new designs cost money.  Over time (up front investments are recouped, manufacturing processes are scaled and optimized), those brand new designs make their way down into the cheaper models and that's where the price cuts come.  We're already seeing that with the XR.
    I’m just talking about the price to end consumer. I think the market is telling us people don’t want to spend $1000 on a phone. Or even $800. Hence the longer upgrade cycles. 
    gatorguyirelanddesignrseanjelijahgpropod
  • Reply 20 of 96
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member

    gilly33 said:
    lkrupp said:
    mubaili said:
    Apple must not talk itself into believing that it cannot gain more market share. It must act aggressively, speed up the cycle, and push more variety of devices, i.e., do what they have done to the iPad line up to the iPhone line up. 
    Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. The Macintosh has never had more than a 10% share of the worldwide market and it has been a success for Apple all these years. Discerning customers see the value and TCO of Apple products and are very willing to pay the mythical Apple Tax. When has Apple EVER had a dominating share of ANY market? They have literally created or boosted markets out of thin air (personal computers, portable music players, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc) only to see them dominated by cheap knock-offs and lookalikes. Through it all Apple has remained true to its mission statement to provide well designed, reliable, usable products that customers like to use. Again, tech blog forums like AI are filled with comments from a market segment that doesn’t value design, only cares about specs, and wants everything cheap.
    Well said lkrupp. Appreciate your insight as always. It’s the same stuff every year Android phones is outselling Apple. Apple is losing market share. Apple remains focused on the core mission. Mistakes made yes but mission focused. 
    Except the core mission now seems to be extracting more money out of existing customers since hardware growth is stagnant. Which might be one reason why Jony Ive thought now was a good time to leave. The Apple of the future seems to be how can we get someone to spend $10 a month on x service.
    designrAI_liaselijahganantksundarampropodchemengin1
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