iPhone dominates premium smartphone market with 62% of sales in Q1 2022

AppleInsider

Apple's iPhone took 62% of Q1 global market share for devices costing over $400, with the iPhone 13 lineup driving the sales.

The iPhone 13 lineup sales drove Apple's market share growth

The smartphone market is declining, but Apple's share within that market is growing. It grew from 57% premium market share in Q1 2021 to 62% in Q1 2022.

According to research from Counterpoint, this is the highest first-quarter share for Apple since Q1 2017. The iPhone 13 has been the best-selling model globally each month since October 2021.

The overall premium smartphone market, defined as devices costing more than $400, declined year over year. Despite that, the segment grew in importance, with almost three in ten smartphones sold coming from the segment and accounting for two-thirds of global smartphone value.

Apple sold five of the top ten smartphones in April 2022, and the top four slots are iPhones. Notably, the iPhone 13 mini didn't appear on the global sales charts, which seems to be the driver behind potentially discontinuing the model for the upcoming "iPhone 14" lineup.

iPhone market share grew year over year for Q1. Image source: Counterpoint

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max captured two-thirds of sales within the ultra-premium segment -- devices costing over $1000. This segment grew by 164% year over year, with sales driven by growth in the US, China, and Western Europe.

According to the report, Apple emerged as the biggest winner from Huawei's decline in the premium market. The premium market in China still holds potential, thanks to customers upgrading devices and moving to iPhones from aging Huawei devices.

Read on AppleInsider

Beats

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Mobile1stWeb

⚠️ Most people are not aware that even the most expensive Android smartphones can not process JavaScript code as fast as IOS smartphone

Beats

Mobile1stWeb said:

⚠️ Most people are not aware that even the most expensive Android smartphones can not process JavaScript code as fast as IOS smartphone

They’re garbage. It’s like making knockoff Jordan’s and selling them for the same price. 

avon b7

Beats said:

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Then you haven't been paying attention for literally years. 

Premium Android phones (and the 'ultra premium' models which Apple does not have btw) equalled and surpassed the iPhone in key areas long ago.

And yes, I'm talking build quality, materials, finish etc as well as specifications, features software... 

There is nothing 'crap' about premium Android phones, but I suppose you've never even held one. 

duel

avon b7 said:

Beats said:

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Then you haven't been paying attention for literally years. 

Premium Android phones (and the 'ultra premium' models which Apple does not have btw) equalled and surpassed the iPhone in key areas long ago.

And yes, I'm talking build quality, materials, finish etc as well as specifications, features software... 

There is nothing 'crap' about premium Android phones, but I suppose you've never even held one. 

If that would be the case they would sell o a lot more 😁 it’s exact opposite, Apple surpassed Android phones in key areas and they do it every year and iPhone is getting more and more popular. Sametime google haven’t been able to fix anything what always been wrong with Android.

avon b7

duel said:

avon b7 said:

Beats said:

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Then you haven't been paying attention for literally years. 

Premium Android phones (and the 'ultra premium' models which Apple does not have btw) equalled and surpassed the iPhone in key areas long ago.

And yes, I'm talking build quality, materials, finish etc as well as specifications, features software... 

There is nothing 'crap' about premium Android phones, but I suppose you've never even held one. 

If that would be the case they would sell o a lot more 😁 it’s exact opposite, Apple surpassed Android phones in key areas and they do it every year and iPhone is getting more and more popular. Sametime google haven’t been able to fix anything what always been wrong with Android.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Sales figures have little to do with anything.

How many $2,000 iPhones has Apple brought to market?

'Google' isn't 'Android' in the sense you seem to think it is and if you think it is you are very mistaken. The top Android vendors don't simply 'skin' Android. They put a LOT of resources into their own technologies and they sometimes end up in the general Android release.

https://www.androidpolice.com/android-13-erofs-file-system-read-only-partitions/

viclauyyc

avon b7 said:

duel said:

avon b7 said:

Beats said:

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Then you haven't been paying attention for literally years. 

Premium Android phones (and the 'ultra premium' models which Apple does not have btw) equalled and surpassed the iPhone in key areas long ago.

And yes, I'm talking build quality, materials, finish etc as well as specifications, features software... 

There is nothing 'crap' about premium Android phones, but I suppose you've never even held one. 

If that would be the case they would sell o a lot more 😁 it’s exact opposite, Apple surpassed Android phones in key areas and they do it every year and iPhone is getting more and more popular. Sametime google haven’t been able to fix anything what always been wrong with Android.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Sales figures have little to do with anything.

How many $2,000 iPhones has Apple brought to market?

'Google' isn't 'Android' in the sense you seem to think it is and if you think it is you are very mistaken. The top Android vendors don't simply 'skin' Android. They put a LOT of resources into their own technologies and they sometimes end up in the general Android release.

https://www.androidpolice.com/android-13-erofs-file-system-read-only-partitions/

Is the “lot of resources into their own technology” including the force AD in Samsung phone?

viclauyyc

The bar for “premium” phone is rather low. $400 is middle range at best. 

avon b7

viclauyyc said:

The bar for “premium” phone is rather low. $400 is middle range at best. 

I'd agree with that but 'premium' goes way above that too. In some cases way above the iPhone. 

avon b7

viclauyyc said:

avon b7 said:

duel said:

avon b7 said:

Beats said:

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Then you haven't been paying attention for literally years. 

Premium Android phones (and the 'ultra premium' models which Apple does not have btw) equalled and surpassed the iPhone in key areas long ago.

And yes, I'm talking build quality, materials, finish etc as well as specifications, features software... 

There is nothing 'crap' about premium Android phones, but I suppose you've never even held one. 

If that would be the case they would sell o a lot more ߘᠩt’s exact opposite, Apple surpassed Android phones in key areas and they do it every year and iPhone is getting more and more popular. Sametime google haven’t been able to fix anything what always been wrong with Android.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Sales figures have little to do with anything.

How many $2,000 iPhones has Apple brought to market?

'Google' isn't 'Android' in the sense you seem to think it is and if you think it is you are very mistaken. The top Android vendors don't simply 'skin' Android. They put a LOT of resources into their own technologies and they sometimes end up in the general Android release.

https://www.androidpolice.com/android-13-erofs-file-system-read-only-partitions/

Is the “lot of resources into their own technology” including the force AD in Samsung phone?

Absolutely anything non-Android in the sense of stock Android releases. We're talking about a huge amount of technology. Good or bad. It doesn't matter. Apple has had it fair share of bad stuff too. 

leftoverbacon

"iPhone 13 mini didn't appear on the global sales charts"

Um, it has to rank somewhere. Is it 11th? 23rd? 50th? Would really like to know.

leftoverbacon

avon b7 said:

Sales figures have little to do with anything.

Um, capitalism would beg to differ. What's the point in making a $2k phone if nobody buys them. AAPL exists as a business to sell as many units as possible at price points that the market will bear.

The market domination shows that they've hit a pretty good sweet spot.

avon b7

leftoverbacon said:

avon b7 said:

Sales figures have little to do with anything.

Um, capitalism would beg to differ. What's the point in making a $2k phone if nobody buys them. AAPL exists as a business to sell as many units as possible at price points that the market will bear.

The market domination shows that they've hit a pretty good sweet spot.

Capitalism has nothing to say about $2,000 phones or who is buying them. 

How many people buy the wheels for a Mac Pro?

What counts is the model spread in your general business. All major Android vendors have their sweet spots and selling a $2,000 phone doesn't mean you can't sell cheaper ones.

The expensive models usually get the expensive cutting edge components (folding screen assemblies would be an example today) and then they slowly come down in price as they ship in greater quantities and enter the lower ranges). 

duel

avon b7 said:.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Well android is uncontrolled mess and it’s getting worse, exactly reason why premium sales are going iPhone direction, people just don’t want to pay premium price for Android flagship phones these days. 

Just like you said android vendors have their own skins. There isn’t unified design language which all use, this means when you download app from Play store there’s big change it doesn’t quite fit to your phone because developer only make one Ui, they don’t make Ui for every Android skin. That means when you download apps you can have many different Ui apps and things just doesn’t quite fit together. Where in Apple devices developer have only one Ui to follow, so when you use iPhone it kind a feels Apple have designed all those 3rd apps because they feel like they are part of the OS. It makes the experience seamless, unified and polished.

iPhone camera been among best or best for many years there haven’t been any catching up.

muthuk_vanalingam

duel said:

avon b7 said:.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Well android is uncontrolled mess and it’s getting worse, exactly reason why premium sales are going iPhone direction, people just don’t want to pay premium price for Android flagship phones these days. 

Just like you said android vendors have their own skins. There isn’t unified design language which all use, this means when you download app from Play store there’s big change it doesn’t quite fit to your phone because developer only make one Ui, they don’t make Ui for every Android skin. That means when you download apps you can have many different Ui apps and things just doesn’t quite fit together. Where in Apple devices developer have only one Ui to follow, so when you use iPhone it kind a feels Apple have designed all those 3rd apps because they feel like they are part of the OS. It makes the experience seamless, unified and polished.

iPhone camera been among best or best for many years there haven’t been any catching up.

That is a pretty bold one to make... Camera - Low Light Evaluation - The Huawei P20 & P20 Pro Review: Great Battery Life & Even Better Night Vision (anandtech.com)

Camera - Low Light Evaluation - The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets (anandtech.com)

Camera - Low Light Evaluation - Night Sight - The Google Pixel 3 Review: The Ultimate Camera Test (anandtech.com)

Camera - Low Light Evaluation - The Apple iPhone 11, 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max Review: Performance, Battery, & Camera Elevated (anandtech.com)

Camera - Low Light Evaluation - The iPhone 12 & 12 Pro Review: New Design and Diminishing Returns (anandtech.com)

avon b7

duel said:

avon b7 said:.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Well android is uncontrolled mess and it’s getting worse, exactly reason why premium sales are going iPhone direction, people just don’t want to pay premium price for Android flagship phones these days. 

Just like you said android vendors have their own skins. There isn’t unified design language which all use, this means when you download app from Play store there’s big change it doesn’t quite fit to your phone because developer only make one Ui, they don’t make Ui for every Android skin. That means when you download apps you can have many different Ui apps and things just doesn’t quite fit together. Where in Apple devices developer have only one Ui to follow, so when you use iPhone it kind a feels Apple have designed all those 3rd apps because they feel like they are part of the OS. It makes the experience seamless, unified and polished.

iPhone camera been among best or best for many years there haven’t been any catching up.

There is so much wrong in all that. 

iOS is vendor specific (Apple) 
All Android 'skins' are vendor specific. 

If Samsung is what you go for, then the UI and system experience will be pretty much equivalent from Samsung phone to Samsung phone. 

Same for Huawei etc. 

In years of Android use I have yet to see a single app that looked wonky or weird due to GUI differences. Every single app has looked pretty much native to the devices I've used. 

Even in those cases where technically there was a difference, I never even noticed it because it didn't look out of place. The same differences can apply to iOS apps that haven't been updated for a while. 

Now, my wife needs system wide font enlargement on her iPhone and that does introduce weirdness.

As for your camera claims... 

You clearly haven't been paying attention either. 

Apple has had its tongue out playing catch up in camera tech. It took nearly two whole years to get its low light act together. Noise has been a historically big problem on iPhone camera output. Versatility? Apple wasn't even playing in that game. Stock camera app? Woeful until recently. Dual ISP engines. Periscope lenses. Multi cameras. Portrait Mode? In beta for almost a year while Huawei already had its out there. Deep Fusion? DX0 Mark deliberately held off reviewing the iPhone that could use it until it shipped and it still couldn't displace the best Android results.

Don't get me wrong, the iPhone has had great output for years where it was good at (just like all major flagship vendors) but to say it hasn't been playing catch up is a huge stretch. 

duel

^ all this is quite irrelevant, iPhone strenght is always been consistent great results when taking photos. Every phone camera have it's down and ups. I'm talking about the overall camera experience and it's been among top for many years and will be in future too.

davidw

avon b7 said:

duel said:

avon b7 said:

Beats said:

“Premium” android phones are snake oil. Can’t believe people fall for their crap. Talk about sheep. 

Then you haven't been paying attention for literally years. 

Premium Android phones (and the 'ultra premium' models which Apple does not have btw) equalled and surpassed the iPhone in key areas long ago.

And yes, I'm talking build quality, materials, finish etc as well as specifications, features software... 

There is nothing 'crap' about premium Android phones, but I suppose you've never even held one. 

If that would be the case they would sell o a lot more ߘᠩt’s exact opposite, Apple surpassed Android phones in key areas and they do it every year and iPhone is getting more and more popular. Sametime google haven’t been able to fix anything what always been wrong with Android.

Just name a few areas and we'll see how far you get. Apple has been playing catch up in some key areas (most notably camera and battery tech) over the last few years.

Sales figures have little to do with anything.

How many $2,000 iPhones has Apple brought to market?

'Google' isn't 'Android' in the sense you seem to think it is and if you think it is you are very mistaken. The top Android vendors don't simply 'skin' Android. They put a LOT of resources into their own technologies and they sometimes end up in the general Android release.

https://www.androidpolice.com/android-13-erofs-file-system-read-only-partitions/

Not only you, but many others are under the misconception that Apple competition is "Android". That is far from the case. Apple competition is the likes of Samsung, Oppo, Huawei, Vivo, Xiaomi and other makers of devices that runs on Android. Even with Google with their Pixel phone. And even Android phones without Google Play. (like the ones in China)  Apple is not licensing out "iOS" to compete with "Android", anywhere in the World.

 Apple iPhone competes with other mobile phone makers and only in the "premium" market. Which is why iPhones are more popular in wealthy developed nations like USA, Japan, UK, Australia, Germany, etc., where Apple market share is significantly higher than their global market share of 25%. That being the case, Apple is winning. They are not playing "catch up" with any Android mobile phone makers. (In fact,Apple is still winning in the "premium" market, when all Android phones are combined.) 

It's going to take a lot more then faster charging, multiple app stores, side loading, more customization and better cameras, to get a iPhone users to switch to an "Android" phone. Specially when they still run on "Android" and price is factored in (it's not the $399 "affordable" Android phone that have a better camera than an iPhone 13.)  It's the Android phone makers that are trying to "catch up" with Apple, in the premium market, because that's where the money is. Apple only have 25% of the global market share but makes the majority of the smartphone market's profit. Tell us again how Apple is  playing "catch up", with "Android".

The reason why companies like Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, Huawei and other makers of Android phones, are investing in making their phones more attractive to users with the likes of better cameras, faster charging, larger screens, custom features only found on their brand, etc., is to primarily go after the low hanging fruits. And those fruits are the other Android users. They are the ones that would most likely switch Android brand and compose of way more than just 25% of the smartphone market. The loyalty of customers staying with Apple is over 85%. Even if the loyalty of Android customers staying with Android is about 80%, that doesn't mean that they would not switch Android brand. (One can do that with Android and still be loyal to Android.) So you see, all these fancy features found on some Android phones will more likely serve to attract other Android users to switch brand and not so much to attract Apple users to switch to an Android phone. The percent of customers switching from Apple to Android or vice versa, is in the single digit every year.  I'm sure that the better charging tech or better camera of a "premium" Samsung phone is paying off for Samsung, but not at Apple's expense.

Over the past 8 or more years, in wealthy nations where Apple iPhone is most popular, Apple iPhone market share has climbed steadily from the mid to high 30 percent range, to almost or slightly over 50% now. (remember, Apple only competes in the premium smartphone market.) Why is that? If your claim that Apple have been behind the advance tech of Android and is playing "catch up" with features on Andoid phones for over 10 years.  Why haven't all these advance features on Android phones stop iPhones from gaining market shares, if Apple is always playing "catch up"?  Could it be you're wrong? Could it be that Apple is already where they want to be and it's where Android phone makers wants to be?  So Android phone makers are the ones that are desperately trying to "catch up", in order to capture more of the premium market. After all, it's where the money is.

A lot more consumers care about privacy and security, than faster charging battery tech. So far all these Android phones with better charging and battery tech have not significantly improve where it counts the most ...... better battery life. Who cares about faster charging time, if your phone last you all day with just one 4 hour charge when you're asleep? The people that care are the ones using phones that needs to be charged every 3 to 4 hours because their phone has an issue with battery life, due to an inherent inefficiency of their OS.  

The is no "race" to come up with the phone with the fastest charge time or best camera.  Android phone makers are trying to copy a page out of Steve Jobs marketing. The only thing is that they haven't yet figured out what the customers want.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/988332-some-people-say-give-the-customers-what-they-want-but

And you don't see Apple "cheating" on their CPU bench mark test. What is the use of having an Android phone with a faster CPU than an iPhone, if the Android phone has to throttle the CPU speed all the time, in order to maintain a decent battery life? Oh, I get it now. That's why Android phones needs faster charge time.  It's come in handy when you have to charge your Android phone every 3 hours because you want to run it all the time,  at the rated CPU speed.  

https://www.yahoo.com/video/geekbench-bans-galaxy-s22-cheating-123138295.html

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/03/samsung-caught-throttling-10000-phone-apps-and-its-own-home-screen/

Funny how when Samsung get caught for throttling their CPU speed in order to maintain a decent battery life and overheating, nearly all the time, they only get banned. While Apple was caught throttling CPU speed on iPhones with an already near end of life bad battery, in order to prevent a sudden system crash, loses billions in lawsuits.  

avon b7

duel said:

^ all this is quite irrelevant, iPhone strenght is always been consistent great results when taking photos. Every phone camera have it's down and ups. I'm talking about the overall camera experience and it's been among top for many years and will be in future too.

In that case you will have meant 'consistent results' with very limited scope and with good lighting because anything else that needed, more zoom, wider angles, lower noise, better low light performance etc would have given you sub optimum results. Consistently sub optimum, though.

Good (great even) photos aren't an Apple only thing. All Android flagship phones (and heaps of non flagship phones) can get you consistently great photos. It's been that way for years. 

Over the last few years though, 'versatility' has been the key feature in photography. You won't get a great shot if your camera hardware can't even accommodate it. 

For example when Apple finally upped its low light game, noise was still an issue. On top of that the wide angle lens wasn't given any of the low light features. That came later but that is Apple. Drip feeding users features. 

tmay

avon b7 said:

duel said:

^ all this is quite irrelevant, iPhone strenght is always been consistent great results when taking photos. Every phone camera have it's down and ups. I'm talking about the overall camera experience and it's been among top for many years and will be in future too.

In that case you will have meant 'consistent results' with very limited scope and with good lighting because anything else that needed, more zoom, wider angles, lower noise, better low light performance etc would have given you sub optimum results. Consistently sub optimum, though.

Good (great even) photos aren't an Apple only thing. All Android flagship phones (and heaps of non flagship phones) can get you consistently great photos. It's been that way for years. 

Over the last few years though, 'versatility' has been the key feature in photography. You won't get a great shot if your camera hardware can't even accommodate it. 

For example when Apple finally upped its low light game, noise was still an issue. On top of that the wide angle lens wasn't given any of the low light features. That came later but that is Apple. Drip feeding users features. 

Focusing on flagship features isn't the market that Apple has established for the iPhone; it's the ecosystem, which is by all accounts, is superior to any other phone. That Apple chooses to dominate the premium market with well balanced devices that work well in the ecosystem is the reason for Apple's high ASP, high Margin, and industry leading revenues.

Hence, why those Android OS device makers want to be more like Apple.