Smartphones outsell feature phones for first time, while Apple's iPhone loses market share - Gartner

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Despite moving 3 million more iPhones in the second quarter of 2013 than in the same period last year, Apple's share of the overall smartphone market shank more than 4 percent, while total smartphones outsold feature phones for the first time worldwide, according to new data from research firm Gartner.

Gartner


Samsung was the chief beneficiary of Apple's decline, according to the new data published on Wednesday, with the Korean electronics giant capturing 31.7 percent of the market. Apple, meanwhile, conceded 4.6 percentage points from the same period a year ago, securing 14.2 percent of smartphone sales to end users, Gartner said.

LG Electronics, another Korean conglomerate, and Chinese companies Lenovo and ZTE also posted gains, taking 5.1 percent, 4.7 percent, and 4.3 percent, respectively. Though iPhone sales grew year over year, Apple's smartphone hasn't been growing as fast as the rest of the market, according to Gartner.

Among mobile operating systems, the Asian companies' advances pushed Google's Android to a commanding 79 percent market share among smartphones sold, followed by 14.2 percent for iOS, 3.3 percent for Microsoft's Windows Phone, and 2.7 percent for BlackBerry OS. Samsung's nascent Bada OS and Nokia's formerly dominant Symbian rounded out the top 5 with less than a percent of the market combined.

The report also suggested that brisk sales of the three-year-old iPhone 4 were responsible for a "significant" drop in the iPhone's average selling price in the second quarter, cautioning that a new low-cost model, rumored to be dubbed the "iPhone 5C," may exacerbate the trend.

"Although the possible new lower-priced device may be priced similarly to the iPhone 4 at $300 to $400, the potential for cannibalization will be much greater than what is seen today with the iPhone 4," Gartner analyst Rashul Gupta said. "Despite being seen as the less expensive sibling of the flagship product, it would represent a new device with the hype of the marketing associated with it."

Apple, however, did see an increase in the company's overall mobile phone market share, from 6.9 percent in the second quarter of 2012 to 7.3 percent in the same period of calendar 2013. The uptick appeared to come chiefly at Nokia's expense, with the Finnish company's share dropping nearly 6 percent thanks to slackening sales of feature phones.

The data released on Wednesday shows that Apple's share of the worldwide smartphone market has continued to slide throughout 2013. Data for the year's first quarter released by Gartner in May showed that Apple had fallen from 22.5 percent of sales to end users in 2012 to 18.2 percent in 2013.

Then, too, Apple's losses were largely the benefit of rival Samsung, which grew from a 27.6 percent market share in the first quarter of 2012 to 30.8 percent in the same three-month period in 2013.
«134

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 76
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    What is the difference between a smartphone and a feature phone? Are most of Samsung's smartphones actually feature phones without too much smarts? Are there even any feature phones still being manufactured or has the industry changed everything to smartphones?
  • Reply 2 of 76
    ruel24ruel24 Posts: 432member


    You know, you guys can continue to defend Cook all you want, but as Apple loses marketshare, so too will it eventually lose revenue. It's time for Cook to innovate or get out.

  • Reply 3 of 76
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Originally Posted by ruel24 View Post


    You know, you guys can continue to defend Cook all you want, but as Apple loses marketshare, so too will it eventually lose revenue. It's time for Cook to innovate or get out.


     


    Shut up and go away.

  • Reply 4 of 76
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ruel24 View Post


    You know, you guys can continue to defend Cook all you want, but as Apple loses marketshare, so too will it eventually lose revenue.



     


    You can keep on losing market share and still have revenues rise you know?  Innumeracy strikes again!

  • Reply 5 of 76
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    If Apple doesn't take the low-end low-feature low-quality low-usage cheapo market by storm, they are doooooomed!! :) Why would developers bother making apps for anyone but that end of the market? You know, the end that under-uses their phone, never buys apps, and has no money? Developers love that!

    Note that Apple does better with second-time smartphone buyers than first-time. Thus, Apple doesn't need the entry market.
  • Reply 6 of 76

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post


     


    paid by Samsung?


     


    These stats are USELESS.  You need to compare Apple's marketshare in the HIGH END smartphone segment only ($500-$700).  In that segment Apple is dominating.  Comparing a $50 Chinese crap 'smartphone' that can barely load Google.com to a premium $600 phone is plain stupid and lazy.



    I have to agree. You HAVE to compare Apples to....well... Apple copies. It's pointless to compare Apples to all the fruits in the world, beginning with tiniest berries  ending with biggest watermelons.

  • Reply 7 of 76
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    ruel24 wrote: »
    You know, you guys can continue to defend Cook all you want, but as Apple loses marketshare, so too will it eventually lose revenue. It's time for Cook to innovate or get out.

    Lol! And replace him with who exactly?
  • Reply 8 of 76
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,884member


    No mention at all about whether customers went in seeking a smartphone or they just bought whatever the sales staff pushed on them.  God, spare us from these pig-ignorant, insight-free analyst write-ups. 

  • Reply 9 of 76
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    tundraboy wrote: »
    You can keep on losing market share and still have revenues rise you know?  Innumeracy strikes again!

    Not mention that markets hare is being defined comparing apples and pears.
  • Reply 10 of 76
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ruel24 View Post


    You know, you guys can continue to defend Cook all you want, but as Apple loses marketshare, so too will it eventually lose revenue. It's time for Cook to innovate or get out.



    I hate giving someone who doesn't understand the way a company works any credit for posts but Cook is one person in a large company. Removing him won't do anything because the company (Apple) has product plans in line a couple years in advance. Cook has done a great job keeping Apple financially secure. This started before he took over Steve Job's position. Steve Jobs was a visionary but he absolutely needed help form others to implement his vision. Those people are still at Apple and are still creating better products. Innovation is a stock market buzz word used to either sell or buy stock. It rarely has anything to do with the actual success of a company. Someone can innovate and produce a product that doesn't sell much, it's still called innovation. Apple is selling products into an user environment, they're aren't selling static products. Look at what Samsung is selling. They're selling a bunch of individual products dependent on the environment of others. Many people only look for what's the least expensive item in a store without admitting they'll buy another cheap item very soon. They refuse to add up the similar items they buy each year. Apple sells a very good product environment that doesn't need to be purchased every couple months.


     


    I'd like to hear from Gartner home many repeat customers of the same type of phone in the same year each company has. I bet Samsung would average two to three times as many purchases a Apple customers because their phones don't last or don't do what they thought they would. Of course, someone would spin this as repeat customers but I see it as unsatisfied customers.

  • Reply 11 of 76
    The chart doesn't match the data on Gartner's site. Apple sold 28 million phones in the quarter last year, not 33. The chart makes it look like their sales went down.
  • Reply 12 of 76
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member


    Of course Apple's marketshare is going down.. they are going to be releasing two new phones in what, 2-4 weeks? Nobody in their right mind would buy an iPhone right now. In fact, people probably have already sold their old iPhones and bought some cheap Android POS until this new one comes out. :p

  • Reply 13 of 76
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    Quote:


    The report also suggested that brisk sales of the three-year-old iPhone 4 were responsible for a "significant" drop in the iPhone's average selling price in the second quarter, cautioning that a new low-cost model, rumored to be dubbed the "iPhone 5C," may exacerbate the trend.

     




     


    The average selling price is a complete bogus stat. If Apple keeps its margins across market segments a lower average selling price wont mean anything. This is why lower segments will have lower cost casings.


     


    Those stats are in line with IDC and shows the importance for Apple to enter more market segments if it want to continu to growth and to avoid painting itself into a niche market, which could be harmfull to the ecosystem.

  • Reply 14 of 76
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    So basically there are a lot of cheap feature phones being replaced by cheap android "smartphones". I'm not sure Apple is too worried about that.
  • Reply 15 of 76
    There is absolutely no way Apple can gain market share against Android smartphone manufacturers shipping under $100 smartphones in BRIC nations. Apple can only gain market share on Android if and when Samsung switches over to Tizen OS and it seems that has been put on hold. Even if Apple could sell 50 million iPhones a quarter, the iPhone would still continue to lose market share but at a slightly slower rate. Android OS is bound to peak out at some point, but it doesn't seem likely within the next couple of years.
  • Reply 16 of 76
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tundraboy View Post


     


    You can keep on losing market share and still have revenues rise you know?  Innumeracy strikes again!



     


    At some point people will realize they are getting rip off and go else where.  Market shares matters to some degree.

  • Reply 17 of 76
    Market share ? Apple is so low , can u give me the chance to buy Aapl again at $400 ?
  • Reply 18 of 76


    'Worldwide' is such a useless metric. I'd like to know the shares (and growth rates) broken down by: US, EU, China, India, Japan, Rest of the World.


     


    Until Apple has a viable, profitable, low-priced product, it is pointless to compare it to others whose sales are dominated by low-end, low-margin products sold in high volume in low-income countries.

  • Reply 19 of 76
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    'Worldwide' is such a useless metric. I'd like to know the shares (and growth rates) broken down by: US, EU, China, India, Japan, Rest of the World.

    Until Apple has a viable, profitable, low-priced product, it is pointless to compare it to others whose sales are dominated by low-end, low-margin products sold in high volume in low-income countries.

    There's more detail at Gartner
    http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2573415
  • Reply 20 of 76
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    There is absolutely no way Apple can gain market share against Android smartphone manufacturers shipping under $100 smartphones in BRIC nations. Apple can only gain market share on Android if and when Samsung switches over to Tizen OS and it seems that has been put on hold. Even if Apple could sell 50 million iPhones a quarter, the iPhone would still continue to lose market share but at a slightly slower rate. Android OS is bound to peak out at some point, but it doesn't seem likely within the next couple of years.

    Gain market share of what? Why on earth would Apple want to sell into those cheap low end markets? Just to please idiot journalists and analysts who group disparate items together?
Sign In or Register to comment.