Android leader Motorola still well behind Apple's iPhone

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Motorola reported a phenomenal 600 percent leap in earnings this quarter, but is still behind Apple in mobile units sold and is far behind in smartphone sales, leaving Apple the top US phone vendor by units for the second quarter in a row.



Motorola has greatly increased is profits due to a its push with Verizon Wireless in selling the Android-based Droid, also marketed as the Motorola Milestone. The latest model, Droid X, is currently the model being held up against iPhone 4.



Motorola's quarterly sales of 8.3 million phones is still behind Apple's 8.4 million units in the second calendar quarter of 2010, which ended in June. However, only 2.7 million of Motorola's sales were smartphones, meaning Apple sold more than three times as many smartphones as the leading Android maker.



In comparison, Taiwan's HTC (the manufacturer of Google's Nexus One, Verizon's Droid Incredible and Sprint EVO) sold 2.8 million phones in the first quarter of 2010, or 3.5 million counting its OEM sales through other vendors. It expected to sell a total of 4.5 million in the second quarter.



Motorola unit sales plunge as iPhone ascends



Motorola has seen a sharp decline in the total number of phones it has shipped since the iPhone arrived in 2007. In the last three quarters of 2007, the company was selling more than 35-40 million devices per quarter.



In 2008, Motorola's shipments fell down into the range of 25 million per quarter, ending the year under 20 million. In 2009, the company's quarterly sales consistently slipped under 15 million. This year, the company hasn't reached 9 million in sales of all phones, with its smartphone sales being below 3 million.



In contrast, Apple has incrementally expanded its iPhone sales as it entered new markets internationally and began adding new carriers. The company's June quarter results were particularly impressive given the media attention devoted to the publicized iPhone 4 prototype, which Apple feared would result in depressed sales as customers anticipated the new model launch.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 107
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Well obviously. This is the fate of most iPhone copycats.
  • Reply 2 of 107
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    It's pretty amazing what Apple has managed to achieve with the iPhone. I can only imagine what the landscape would look like if the iPhone ever appeared on Verizon's network.



    - Perhaps there would be another bottom-of-the-barrel purchase for HP.
  • Reply 3 of 107
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post




    Motorola's quarterly sales of 8.3 million phones is still behind Apple's 8.4 million units in the second calendar quarter of 2010, which ended in June. However, only 2.7 million of Motorola's sales were smartphones, meaning Apple sold more than three times as many smartphones as the leading Android maker.




    This is the only relevant paragraph. 2.7M versus 8.4M.



    Not even a worthy competitor.
  • Reply 4 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    It's pretty amazing what Apple has managed to achieve with the iPhone. I can only imagine what the landscape would look like if the iPhone ever appeared on Verizon's network.



    - Perhaps there would be another bottom-of-the-barrel purchase for HP.



    Much, much worse. While American sales would likely look better, international sales (the majority) would be unbelievably smaller, as CDMA (the technology Verizon uses) is a dying breed and is rapidly being abandoned worldwide.
  • Reply 5 of 107
    orlandoorlando Posts: 601member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    This is the only relevant paragraph. 2.7M versus 8.4M.



    Not even a worthy competitor.



    You should add the (potentially) 4.5 million from HTC and all the other Android phones to that 2.7 million from Motorola. And you should add the iPad and iPod touch to the iPhone figures.



    Comparing a single manufacturer or a single product is silly. We should be comparing platforms: Android v iOS.
  • Reply 6 of 107
    The iPhone sales trend seems to have flattened out. Will Q3 have a spike with the new iPhone 4 or will it still be level or trending down?



    Predicting the future is a tricky business.



    I'm not so sure about whether Android vs iOS would be more relevant. That might be different from the Windows vs OS X comparison. So many flavors of Windows with so many vendors.



    Whatever. I like my phone. I don't think it's going to become marginal in the next two years.
  • Reply 7 of 107
    chopperchopper Posts: 246member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Orlando View Post


    Comparing a single manufacturer or a single product is silly. We should be comparing platforms: Android v iOS.



    Dilger won't do that though - his whole reason for being is to knock Apple's opposition and try to make Apple look good. So he cherrypicks the data that works for his agenda.



    He's absolutely correct about the comparison he draws with Motorola.



    It's just not convenient to point out that Android as a platform was second behind RIM and Apple has slipped to third. And he certainly won't publish the fact that the iPhone sold just slightly more than one third of the smartphones that Nokia did in that quarter. And that Apple's share of the smartphone market has dropped from 17% to 14% over consecutive quarters. Or that Apple also sold fewer than the 11.2 million smartphones that RIM did.



    No doubt we'll hear about Apple's profit margins from some of AI's illuminati, and they will have a very good point. But it seems that Motorola is making money again also. Being a US corporation, I'd have thought that would be good news to some of the American posters, but I won't be surprised if it turns out not to be.
  • Reply 8 of 107
    markmsmarkms Posts: 9member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mbarriault View Post


    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    It's pretty amazing what Apple has managed to achieve with the iPhone. I can only imagine what the landscape would look like if the iPhone ever appeared on Verizon's network.



    - Perhaps there would be another bottom-of-the-barrel purchase for HP.



    Much, much worse. While American sales would likely look better, international sales (the majority) would be unbelievably smaller, as CDMA (the technology Verizon uses) is a dying breed and is rapidly being abandoned worldwide.



    I think what Postulant meant was imagine Apple having both a CDMA and GSM iPhone like RIM does with its BlackBerry lineup. Sales would be off the charts. There are many on Verizon that would love this phone but don't want to break their contract because AT&T isn't that good in their area or that they have a really good deal.
  • Reply 9 of 107
    daveswdavesw Posts: 406member
    Apple did this with ONE phone.
  • Reply 10 of 107
    daveswdavesw Posts: 406member
    and checkout Fortune's front page cover. pretty harsh.





  • Reply 11 of 107
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chopper View Post




    No doubt we'll hear about Apple's profit margins from some of AI's illuminati, and they will have a very good point. But it seems that Motorola is making money again also. Being a US corporation, I'd have thought that would be good news to some of the American posters, but I won't be surprised if it turns out not to be.



  • Reply 12 of 107
    daveswdavesw Posts: 406member
    You haven't anything.....wait for the iPhone 4 to come to Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.
  • Reply 13 of 107
    chopperchopper Posts: 246member
    @ Postulant



    There wasn't a comment that I could see accompanying your images so rather than me guess your point, perhaps you could be so kind as to make it in reply to this.



    As Dilger puts it... "Motorola reported a phenomenal 600 percent leap in earnings this quarter"



    I assume that's mostly down to the Android handsets they're selling but I don't know for sure. So as the Android platform grows, assuming of course that it will and nothing's a given, then so too should Motorola's profitability. It would take some seriously poor decision making to mess that up, I'm thinking. But the game is young...
  • Reply 14 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chopper View Post


    @ Postulant



    There wasn't a comment that I could see accompanying your images so rather than me guess your point, perhaps you could be so kind as to make it in reply to this.



    As Dilger puts it... "Motorola reported a phenomenal 600 percent leap in earnings this quarter"



    I assume that's mostly down to the Android handsets they're selling but I don't know for sure. So as the Android platform grows, assuming of course that it will and nothing's a given, then so too should Motorola's profitability. It would take some seriously poor decision making to mess that up, I'm thinking. But the game is young...



    I think the point he was making is with the arrows on both companies. The images are directly taken from Wikipedia and show Moto on the way down and Apple on the way up.



    Only problem is that if you're not careful you can be on the way down..... again. Sometimes Apple's arrogance can rub the public the wrong way.
  • Reply 15 of 107
    This article ignores the real truth. And that is that Android OS devices have been outselling Apple's OIS devices for the last 3 months. Apple is now in a solid 3rd place for smartphone sales. You may say you need to compare one phone to one phone. But that is one of Apple's weaknesses. The iphone will soon go the way of the MAC which struggles to get 5% of the market.
  • Reply 16 of 107
    chopperchopper Posts: 246member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by HammerofTruth View Post


    I think the point he was making is with the arrows on both companies. The images are directly taken from Wikipedia and show Moto on the way down and Apple on the way up.



    Only problem is that if you're not careful you can be on the way down..... again. Sometimes Apple's arrogance can rub the public the wrong way.



    OK. I get the picture. Perhaps he feels that Motorola won't be able to reverse the trend and become a growing enterprise even with the success so far of its Android handsets. Could be, but as I pointed out in my reply, it would take some poor management indeed to not get a lift from Android's growth. Perhaps if they can't turn that to their advantage, they don't deserve to succeed?



    I really don't see Apple suffering any significant reverse in the near term. Apple is a highly profitable corporation with a massive cash horde and large margins. That might change when SJ is no longer at the helm, but that's another debate I think.
  • Reply 17 of 107
    bcs123bcs123 Posts: 46member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davestall View Post


    This article ignores the real truth. And that is that Android OS devices have been outselling Apple's OIS devices for the last 3 months. Apple is now in a solid 3rd place for smartphone sales. You may say you need to compare one phone to one phone. But that is one of Apple's weaknesses. The iphone will soon go the way of the MAC which struggles to get 5% of the market.



    I would hardly say the Mac is struggling. Apple has consistently outperformed any manufacture in the market and posted record profits on Mac sales. Sometimes it's not about being the biggest company. It's all bull that one company has to dominate to be successful. Apple has proven that you can be successful, relevant and profitable without being the biggest company in their market.
  • Reply 18 of 107
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davestall View Post


    This article ignores the real truth. And that is that Android OS devices have been outselling Apple's OIS devices for the last 3 months.



    Not that I don?t believe you, nor would is it unexpected that a free OS that can used on any manufacturer?s HW would have a higher marketshare of an OS tied to a single vendor, but I?d like to see some numbers showing "Android OS devices have been outselling Apple's OIS devices?



    Quote:

    Apple is now in a solid 3rd place for smartphone sales.



    The reports I keep reading is that Apple is #1 in smartphone sales. They make more profit than any other handset vendor (not just smartphone vendor) on the planet, and they did that in under two years from entering the market.



    Quote:

    You may say you need to compare one phone to one phone. But that is one of Apple's weaknesses. The iphone will soon go the way of the MAC which struggles to get 5% of the market.



    No one is comparing "one phone to one phone?, they are comparing vendor to vendor, the only real measure that makes sense here. You say it?s Apple?s weakness that they don?t license their OS to any and all who want it yet here they are with more profit than any other PC vendor.
    How about them Apples?



    You?ve also failed to notice that Motorola has finally been able to turn a profit after continuous loses by focuses on a single better product instead of going after marketshare. We can look at Nokia and LG as other examples that will have to follow Apple?s footsteps or risk fading away.



    LG sold 2% more phones over last year but had record loses. Market share isn?t keeping their investors or employees warm at night.
  • Reply 19 of 107
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davestall View Post


    This article ignores the real truth. And that is that Android OS devices have been outselling Apple's OIS devices for the last 3 months. Apple is now in a solid 3rd place for smartphone sales. You may say you need to compare one phone to one phone. But that is one of Apple's weaknesses. The iphone will soon go the way of the MAC which struggles to get 5% of the market.



    I don't know where you get your figures from, but even though there might be more units sold in the last 3 months, they don't reflect the profit made from those sales as shown by Motorola's and Verizon's reports. Verizon lost money, and Motorola has sold more units, but compared to what? The big push was the buy one get one free by Motorola. That is where the real momentum was, just like when they practically gave away Razor phones. In the end though it hurt them, like whoring out computers practically killed Dell.
  • Reply 20 of 107
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by HammerofTruth View Post


    I don't know where you get your figures from, but even though there might be more units sold in the last 3 months, they don't reflect the profit made from those sales as shown by Motorola's and Verizon's reports. Verizon lost money, and Motorola has sold more units, but compared to what? The big push was the buy one get one free by Motorola. That is where the real momentum was, just like when they practically gave away Razor phones. In the end though it hurt them, like whoring out computers practically killed Dell.



    I don’t get why some posters think marketshare is the Holy Grail of success, as if Apple didn’t have a choice to create their own OS for their own HW, as opposed to Dell, HP, Moto, and others who simply don’t have the chops to do it. Additionally, MS’ biggest nightmare of the 1990s was Apple finally giving into the PC vendors and licensing their OS which would have made it impossible for MS to sell at inflated prices and shrunk their stock overnight and their marketshare thereafter. Of course, this would have killed Apple’s core focus on selling HW, so it was never a real possibility.
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