US smartphone shipments declined 24% YoY in Q2 2023, according to Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor data. This was the third consecutive quarter of YoY declines. Android brands like Samsung, Motorola and TCL-Alcatel saw the steepest declines in shipments, while Apple’s shipments were more resilient. As a result, Apple’s share of shipments increased YoY.
Not surprising, and many Android enthusiasts called this a few years ago. Other than folding devices (some of which costs enough to buy an Iphone Pro Max + iPad), how is Android differentiating themselves from Apple on the hardware front? The few things they could have done to separate themselves, like SD cards, headphone jacks, etc. are now gone with some niche exceptions. And now that Apple is finally adding some customization on iOS, plus being dragged kicking and screaming by the EU to conform to universal standards, the feature set differences continue to diminish.
Copying Apple only benefits Apple, and we’re seeing this occur quarter by quarter. Pixels may be the exception simply because they cost two-thirds (half, during their generous sales) as much as Samsung’s. But if they continue their trend of raising prices, I think their sales will eventually stagnate too.
Even Android phones that have retained SD card and headphone jack(Sony Xperia 5 IV) are not doing any better. People in Android communities talk about retaining these features and they would only buy phones with these features. Yet when you check smartphone shipment data it is showing otherwise, phones that have removed these features are selling more.
How can the data show that these phones are selling less when no phones are selling them at all? With the exception of Sony’s Xperia line, who made a profit for the first time last year, what other mainstream phone sold in North America (a direct Android to Apple sales comparison where Apple has grown 10% YoY) has both of these features?
What is your source for Sony Xperia line made profit? Are you basing it off from reading other tech blogs?
Well there is no exact way to know exact profit and loss for Smartphone division as they merged it with TV, Audio and Camera division. Only info they give for Smartphone division is their revenue and it is lower than TV, Audio and Camera division. In FY2020 results they mentioned they had a small profit for first time after FY2017, this is attributed to cutting expenses in Smartphone division(Source check FY2020 Financial Briefing). In FY2022 the revenue declined when compared to 2021 (https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/22q4_sony.pdf page16). If you stitch together Smartphone division revenue from past 10 years it’s been on steady decline. Based on their earning call and analyst estimate Sony ships between 2-3 million units a year. Meanwhile Samsung shipped 260.9 million and Apple 226.4 million units last year. How can Sony Smartphone division be profitable when they are selling such low number of units, it’s hardly enough to amortize the development cost.
You’re talking about the sales of a phone line that has virtually $0 in advertising in the US Market as a sign of flagging sales of feature-complete phones compared to Apple and Samsung’s marketing team?
But let’s say you’re 100% right. Lets say 95% of people don’t care about headphones jacks, SD Cards, etc. You’re STILL losing to Apple 10% YoY, and they haven’t even released the iPhone with USB-C or forced to open their OS to yet. It’s 6-4 iPhone majority today. Are you really going to continue the same strategy that got you to this point? How are you, if you’re Samsung, Google, Motorola, going to entice customers? Suddenly, that 5% of power users look pretty important for your shareholders.
There is a good reason why Sony stopped advertising their phones in US and stopped all carrier partnership it is due to low sales and huge loss from continuing their previous strategy. That cut was the reason why they were able to make some profit in 2020. You can read about it here.
You are saying stopping to cater the enthusiast market is the reason why Android is losing to iPhone for market share and they will lose more when iPhone comes with USB-C. If these enthusiasts where the key to marketshare why would they move to iPhone which is more restrictive? If USB-C is all it needs to sway enthusiasts, what is even the point with Android phones that support SD card and headphone jack? If you look at Samsung Smartphone divisions earnings and profit(from April 2023), it is actually up YoY even when global smartphone shipments have declined. Clearly it looks like they know what they are doing, they are making more profit even with less units being shipped.
We obviously disagree, so I’ll just conclude with these last few points. With a 6-4 deficit (and getting worse), can you afford to lose ANY features that might drive your customers to your competitions? What is Samsung going to do if Apple decides to suddenly introduce an SD card in their phones (far-fetch, but they did do it with their MacBook Pro)? Bring it back and hope the people who left will come back? That’s a gamble on its own. Enthusiasts are also more likely to shill for your feature-complete phone (I know I talked/recommended several friends into the Note series back in the day). And honestly, other than a folding screen, has enthusiasts have anything to be excited about? Even their folding screens are losing their luster with the lukewarm introduction to the 5 series, and with new competition from Google and Motorola.
At the end of the day, I’m just a consumer. I’m not a shareholder or in Samsung’s C-Suite, so I can only give my opinion as a frustrated user, so I don’t really care about their revenue earnings. I just don’t want to keep losing features for the sake of quarterly earning calls, and I don’t understand people who defend their practices without a financial stake in their company.
Do any of these features actually exist on flagship models? Because those are the ones carried and pushed by mobile providers. People aren’t buying phones in a vacuum; most people have limited options when getting a new phone because it’s often not worth the hassle to switch providers just to get the exact model phone you want.
Sony phones used to be sold via carrier, it was making huge losses that is what stopped Sony from selling via carrier. Sony phones are still sold via carriers in Japan and even in their home market they are behind Apple, Google and Sharp for total shipment.
If price isn’t good then people aren’t going to go out of their way to pay for specific features. And then they only seem to support their phones for two years.
https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-update-policies-1658633/
So if price and update support fall short it’s not something even enthusiasts will be drawn to just because of one hardware feature they want.
Because the people who say this are a very small minority. Just like the very vocal group who likes small phones.
You called? Team small phones for life!