Apple, Samsung now tied for the title of world's largest smartphone maker

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 73

    hold on a sec- this is all before samsung's new hire, their own Johnny Ive. things are going to be different this year- those crap phones are going to look pretty.

  • Reply 22 of 73
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by revenant View Post

     

    hold on a sec- this is all before samsung's new hire, their own Johnny Ive. things are going to be different this year- those crap phones are going to look pretty.


     

    Lipstick on a pig. The software will still be trash. As well as everything else. Literally the only weapon Samsung had was "big". Now that that's gone, they've got nothing. Thats how much of an empty shell their mobile division is. 

  • Reply 23 of 73
    noivadnoivad Posts: 186member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by LighteningKid View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post

     



    Foxconn makes Samsung's phones too Einstein.  So what's your point?




    What you just said supports my point. The title of the piece is that Apple and Samsung are tied for largest smartphone maker, but neither makes the smartphones, Foxconn makes them for both companies, so Foxconn is the largest smartphone maker.

     

    I guess "maker" could be ambiguous here, but in the context it would seem to imply "builder" more strongly than "designer".




    Except it’s not ambiguous to anyone that has a firm grasp of comprehension and the market. There is no semantic confusion for anyone but you and people who interpret things literally. If you want to get hyperbolic, Foxconn doesn’t actually make anything, people working for Foxconn make them. But this line of reasoning would be grasping at straws. Apple subcontracts other manufacturers to build the parts and they delegate that out to workers at various plants. Foxconn takes the components and assembles them. 

     

    See, there are a lot of things to pick at, but in order to actually have intelligent criticism/commentary, one must know about the environment to see the important pieces of info to comment on. Not only has Apple regained share lost by giving consumers Phablets and devices that meet or exceed features and specs of competitors, but they have managed to tie for first place — once again disproving industry analyst projections a few years back of Apple only occupying about 10% of the smartphone market by 2015.

  • Reply 24 of 73
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member

    Anyone still hoping Apple will go back to 4" screen phones should probably accept that it isn't likely to happen.

  • Reply 25 of 73
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post

     

    Anyone still hoping Apple will go back to 4" screen phones should probably accept that it isn't likely to happen.




    Anything can happen with Apple.4inch screens are more handy to use than the bigger ones.Less clumsy.

  • Reply 26 of 73
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cnocbui View Post

    Anyone still hoping Apple will go back to 4" screen phones should probably accept that it isn't likely to happen.


    except they haven’t gone away from the 4" screen.

    They simply added 4.7" & 5.5” screens.

  • Reply 27 of 73
    mubailimubaili Posts: 453member
    To say Apple ties with Samsung is a very disguised way of saying Apple's just concluded blowout quarter doesn't mean much. Come on, Apple and Samsung don't play in the same league at all, never have been.
    In an earlier post, I teased that Strategy Analytics would find a way to spin Apple's blow out iPhone sales in favor of Android. To learn Strategy Analytics actually ranked Apple and Samsung as equals for the number one spot gave me an OMG moment! I still expect Strategy Analytics (and the very credible IDC) to discover missing white box Android smartphones that buoy Android's market share. Until that happens, I am going to enjoy this new ranking.

    Oh... Something more... Come on Samsung! You spent a lot of money bad mouthing the iPhones 6 and 6+ last summer and fall. Tell the world how many smartphones you sold last quarter.
  • Reply 28 of 73
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by LighteningKid View Post

     



    Technically, Apple only *designs* smartphones, doesn't it? I'm not aware that Apple owns the plants, so that would mean Foxconn is the largest smartphone *maker*, wouldn't it?




    If they were branded Foxconn then perhaps. Foxconn only provides the workforce required to assemble the unit. Most parts in the iPhone, like the processor are built to Apple's specifications by a third party. Not to mention the OS which is 100% Apple.

  • Reply 29 of 73
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FlashFan207 View Post



    This really is quite amazing and it is wonderful to finally see the world responding by spending their hard-earned cash on a product that we Apple fans have long known to be of the highest quality. But I have a concern. Now that Apple is a big fish, with a large percentage of world smartphone usage, will this kickstart virus and malware producers to concentrate more of their efforts on Apple products? For the longest time it was never really worth their time, but now that such a huge chunk of the market is using these products, and are an undiscovered resource for lowlifes such as virus makers, should we be worried?



    The big difference is that iOS is part of the Walled Garden. iOS users cannot get software from any source other than the App Store (jailbreaking doesn’t count because it’s stupid). So malware would have to get through the testing and validation gauntlet of the App Store’s curators. I am unaware of any malware that has accomplished this. All the reports of malware for iOS so far indicate they only infect jailbroken iOS devices. The iOS jailbreakers are a tiny minority and deserve whatever they get. They deserve no sympathy and no consideration from Apple in terms of protecting them. They are anathema to Apple so let the bad guys attack them all they want.

  • Reply 30 of 73
    zabazaba Posts: 226member
    Samsung are the largest smart phone maker.
    By a few inches.
  • Reply 31 of 73
    Once again there is a focus on shipped units.

    1. By using multiple distribution chains, and a large number of models, there is going to be a significant amount of Samsung shipped units sitting in warehouses and on shelves in stores.
    2. Apples figures are sold units, I.e., end users buying them, not shipped to middle men.
    3. I would rather have 30% of a market in terms of shipments if my profit margin was 3 to 5 times my competitions.

    If the table showed total smartphone profits, Apple would be seen to dominate.
  • Reply 32 of 73
    Interesting statistic, but beyond a certain volume sold, a somewhat pointless one. A bit of bragging rights, that's all.

    The only thing that really matters -- again, with a certain minimum scale (which Apple has had for a while now) -- is the cash flow share. Everyone but Apple has the dregs part of the volume, and they're welcome to it.
  • Reply 33 of 73
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jameshca View Post

     

    I think Tim Cook is doing fine, if not better than Jobs as the CEO of Apple. It is like a great pragmatist vs. idealist. 




    My feeling is that Jobs was, obviously, an incredible leader, but a great manager manager, to put it in a mild way.

     

    Tim seems to be a great leader and a great manager.

     

    Jobs, like Disney, set the tone and culture for the company. I feel Apple is far better off with Cook at this point, with the corporation being as big as it is.

     

    It's not often that you find a person who is a great leader and a great manager. Leaders inspire and managers...manage. Managers are often not great leaders.

  • Reply 34 of 73
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member

    Technically, Apple only *designs* smartphones, doesn't it? I'm not aware that Apple owns the plants, so that would mean Foxconn is the largest smartphone *maker*, wouldn't it?

    you're moving the goalposts. Samsung hires Foxconn as well. and numerous, numerous retail and grocery items are made by contract manufacturers and packers, not to mention IT contractors for fortune 100 firms. but it's built to the brand's spec and plan, so they get the credit and the blame.
  • Reply 35 of 73
    [ Apple can probably double their numbers if they sold $150 iPhones off contract. But what would be the point?
    [/quote]
    Only double? I think Apple would have an even bigger %age of market share than android enjoys at the moment.
  • Reply 36 of 73
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by LighteningKid View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post

     



    Foxconn makes Samsung's phones too Einstein.  So what's your point?




    What you just said supports my point. The title of the piece is that Apple and Samsung are tied for largest smartphone maker, but neither makes the smartphones, Foxconn makes them for both companies, so Foxconn is the largest smartphone maker.

     

    I guess "maker" could be ambiguous here, but in the context it would seem to imply "builder" more strongly than "designer".




    That logic is so frickin ridiculous! When you get right down to it the phones are made of elements (I won't go all the way back to quantum particles since they have their own special ambiguities, or even electrons, protons, neutrons) combined in numerous components that are assembled by various suppliers that then pass them on to other suppliers, etc. till you have a iPhone. So if we reverse that and use your logic the universe is the biggest maker of smartphones... LMAO /s

  • Reply 37 of 73
    My work colleague has a Samsung Galaxy S3. When her contract expired she got a deal on a Samsung Galaxy Young that came with a free Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.0 because the contract was cheaper than her original contract. She didn't want the new phone so just took the sim card out and put it in her S3. The new phone sits in a cupboard doing nothing. This would be classed as two new activations for Samsung, one for the phone and one for the tablet. Is there any wonder that Android claims such a huge market share.
  • Reply 38 of 73
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,807member

    When the larger iPhone 6 was still a rumor this was already easy to guess. Anecdotal evidence is not always accurate but for several years nearly every Android owning friend told me their main reason for buying it was the display size. They thought the 4" display of the iPhone was simply too small. Nearly all of them have either switched or will switch once their update date arrives. 

     

    Once Apple increased the display size it broke down the only remaining barrier to millions of customers from buying an iPhone. These sales figures are not surprising in the least and very much expected. Apple offers superior quality in the hardware, software and also design. I am sure there will be some Android holdouts who hate Apple for some reason known only to them. But more of their friends that switched will simply laugh and ignore them. I know one such person with a Motorola phone that still lives in their glory days. When I told him it had been sold to the Chinese a while back the look on his face was priceless. 

  • Reply 39 of 73
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by darylayala View Post



    Apple is at a point where they dont have to worry about getting profits. The just have to continue making great products.

    You know, this is one of the most succinct, insightful and profound analysis I've read here in weeks. (Sincerely!) You are absolutely correct. 

     

    Pretty sure Tim Cook et. al. came to this conclusion some time ago. It's kind of thrilling.

  • Reply 40 of 73
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,056member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Chris_CA View Post

     

    except they haven’t gone away from the 4" screen.

    They simply added 4.7" & 5.5” screens.


    This is true and worth remembering. I think Apple's Big Strategy(tm) is still to make all their devices all work seamlessly together. This lets consumers pick what one they prefer and meets their personal needs and goals. I can see an update to the 4" models to give them the internals (and perhaps design form) of the new larger screen models. This is well established in the MBP/MBA line. Pick a size.

     

    I'm sort of wondering what the software could look like when it all converges. Will you be able to pull up a window on your OSX mac, and see your iOS device display? And interact with it from your mac directly? With drag/drop back onto OSX? And some form of vice/versa? (sorry for the threadjack...)

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