iPhone controlled 40% of US smartphone market in 2015, data shows
Apple secured 40 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in 2015, though close competitor Samsung managed to gain ground, according to a research report published on Wednesday.
Samsung achieved a 31 percent share, Parks Associates noted. That further cemented the company's position as the second-most popular phone vendor in the U.S., easily surpassing third-place LG, which managed just 10 percent. Motorola and HTC ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Parks' data also suggested that a third of iPhone owners are still using a model over two years old, slightly higher than the 30 percent of Samsung owners. 45 percent of all American broadband households are said to wait two years to upgrade a smartphone.
Apple's home country has always been the most important iPhone market. Countries like China and Japan have also become stalwarts however, and indeed China is eventually expected to eclipse the U.S. in terms of Apple revenues.
Apple's position may have benefited from Samsung stumbling early in the year. The Samsung Galaxy S6 did not sell as well as initially expected, owing partly to the company overproducing too many standard S6 models and not enough Edge variants. It eventually managed to correct the issue, and revived some interest later in the year by releasing the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+.
Samsung achieved a 31 percent share, Parks Associates noted. That further cemented the company's position as the second-most popular phone vendor in the U.S., easily surpassing third-place LG, which managed just 10 percent. Motorola and HTC ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Parks' data also suggested that a third of iPhone owners are still using a model over two years old, slightly higher than the 30 percent of Samsung owners. 45 percent of all American broadband households are said to wait two years to upgrade a smartphone.
Apple's home country has always been the most important iPhone market. Countries like China and Japan have also become stalwarts however, and indeed China is eventually expected to eclipse the U.S. in terms of Apple revenues.
Apple's position may have benefited from Samsung stumbling early in the year. The Samsung Galaxy S6 did not sell as well as initially expected, owing partly to the company overproducing too many standard S6 models and not enough Edge variants. It eventually managed to correct the issue, and revived some interest later in the year by releasing the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge+.
Comments
We tried so hard to raise them right.
From the report: "In advance of Mobile World Congress this month, Parks Associates released new mobile research today showing 86% of U.S. broadband households now own a smartphone. "
http://www.parksassociates.com/blog/article/pr-02102016-mwc
If the absolute number of iPhones would drop too much, the eco system is hurt. I own a software company developing iOS and Android app for companies in Belgium and the Netherlands. The iPhone market share in the Netherlands is much lower than in Belgium. In the Netherlands I get customer requests for Android apps only ("later we may want a port to iOS"). In Belgium I always have to supply both versions simultaneously.
Bear in mind that some Android manufacturers are using the printer model. They sell the printer/smartphone at cost and make the profits on the ink/accessoires. LG is in that mode. Samsung to a lesser extend as well. For them the profit on the phone is less important, the absolute selling numbers are driving other profitable business. Google is successfully doing the same with Android and its ads business
I'm betting a lot of people who join the program will end up renewing every year. It is very tempting especially if in the past you get a new phone one the contract expires. That will shift the frequency of upgrades to a shorter time frame and increase Apple's unit sales significantly.