It’s tempting to look at the smartphone wars in terms of Apple vs. Android, but that’s really not telling anywhere close to the true story. The real competition is between the companies who actually build the smartphones — and those stats show that Apple is very clearly crushing it!
In a recent report from researchers at Counterpoint, the individual handset model sales are broken down for the month of October 2017, just before the iPhone X arrived. Even before Apple’s most anticipated smartphone of the year was released, they highlight just how far ahead of its rivals Apple is.
That month, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus obliterated individual handsets made by rivals, with almost double the sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8. Considering that the majority of early adopters were likely holding out for the iPhone X (which is why queues for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus were relatively sparse), that’s pretty darn impressive.
Even Apple’s older iPhone 6 handset — from way back in 2014 — was as popular as Samsung’s newest Galaxy S8 handset, showcasing the staying power of Apple’s smartphones.
Photo: Counterpoint
Apple is no. 1 premium brand
Counterpoint notes that Apple continues to dominate the premium $400+ part of the market, while the mid-tier is dominated by Vivo and Oppo. Particularly encouraging for Apple is the fact that premium model smartphones are starting to eat market share from mid-tier models.
There’s no explanation as to why that’s the case, but it would make sense that it is a combination of a more mature smartphone market and the growing middle class in places like China, who will spend more on their handsets.
In addition to all of this good news for Apple, the company likely makes significantly more money on its handsets than its rivals, thanks to the kind of margins Apple is able to command.
We’re fascinated to see what the November and December reports from Counterpoint look like — complete with the iPhone X’s greater-than-expected levels of availability.
Source: Counterpoint
