Android Tops 81 Percent of the Smartphone Market

[mrmez]

And Apple tops 81% of smartphone profits.
Hahaha.

 

[ethanolson]

I'm a bit of the hacker type so even though I've used several different platforms, I spent a while with Android (through Ice Cream Sandwich) and now I'm on WP8. I miss Pixlr Express and Pudding Monsters. That's it.

 

[GeeLouie]

Apple deserves at most a 5% market-share.

 

[w8gaming]

All of you who like iPhone is because you are not one of those people who like this: (1) Bigger screen on many Android phones (2) Support of pen (3) Presence of microSD slot for swappable storage (4) Removable battery on some Android phone (5) Lots of free, ad-supported apps. It is ok you like iPhone the way it is now. But think about how Apple might have stolen some of this market share away if they can do the above as well. Not matching competitor features means you are going to lose market share due to some customers value these features more than what Apple can currently offer.

 

[randomizer]

Bah humbug. Keep your smartphones.

 

[minilabs2020]

Quite alot of self re-assuring fandroid's out early today. So I guess no one is gonna point out that Apple profits much more than Android per device. Don't get me wrong I'm not a fan of buying the same idevice at premium markup year after year but this fact alone keeps both companies on the same scale.

You either sell 15% of the global market devices that are 3times their worth OR You simply sell software to 85% of the OEM's lol either way both companies are beasts.

 

[jasonpwns]

There's a reason why google is worth a lot more minilabs.

 

[Philippe Leblanc]

I just got my first smartphone 2 weeks ago. Decided on the iphone 5C. I gotta say I'm perfectly happy with it so far. The new ios 7 looks really nice, runs smoothly and is very functional. I bought mine online so I didn't know how the phone felt, but it's surprisingly well built despite it being made of plastic.

I looked at android phones, but they seemed really widgety. iOS seemed more basic and functional. It may not have all the features of android, but it does absolutely everything I need it to do. I don't really know what people do with their phones nowadays to warrant ditching apple and claim it's awful. It seems to me it can do facebook, twitter, browsing, texting and emails just as well as android since some of the apps are the same.

 

[bluekoala]

Vendor Lock-ins make me feel very claustrophobic; which is why I stay away from Apple and can't wait for Valve to come up with a stable STEAM OS so I can start drifting away from Windows ASAP.

 

[house70]

Because everyone I know is simply waiting for Apple to make a bigger iPhone before dumping their Android crap.

Now you're trolling yourself; you just said that any phone bigger than an iPhone is way too big for normal hands. I guess it's OK, as long as the giant screen has a fruit on the back, heh?
Oh, and please try not to choke on the fact that Samsung as a single manufacturer still beat Apple in sales numbers (the other Android-based handset manufacturers are just the toping on the cake). LOLOLOL

 

[robochump]

M$ is making a killing from its Android Royalties....lol.

 

[robochump]

TH is riddled Android fanboys but they got to go somewhere. Anyways Android was influenced by iOS and if you doubt it do the research on how Sergey Brin was on Apple's Board because Steve Jobs put him under his wing when the original iPhone was in development and how Sergey decided to buy Android and tweak it to emulate iOS.

Apple got burned again and infuriated Jobs; Sergey knew this would be the next best thing! Thus Apple set out to dump all of Google's apps and they broke ties. Android's market share dominance is mainly due to being easy for companies to adopt. Just like Windows for PC. Apple is the only company that has its own market share.

 

[wildkitten]

All of you who like iPhone is because you are not one of those people who like this: (1) Bigger screen on many Android phones (2) Support of pen (3) Presence of microSD slot for swappable storage (4) Removable battery on some Android phone (5) Lots of free, ad-supported apps. It is ok you like iPhone the way it is now. But think about how Apple might have stolen some of this market share away if they can do the above as well. Not matching competitor features means you are going to lose market share due to some customers value these features more than what Apple can currently offer.

Two of your points though really are not applicable.

Google does not want Android phones to have SD slots. With the S4 GPE they even broke SD support in it with one of the updates to the phone. Few OEMs put SD slots in the phones because Google and others are all about pushing their cloud services, many of which cost money, as well as carriers who get the extra money for data overages.

Also, almost all of the Android OEMs have gone the sealed battery route like Apple. There is only one reason to have a sealed battery in a smartphone and that is to ensure the customer needs to buy a new one every couple of years, just as the battery starts to noticeably decline in holding a charge.

Samsung is the only OEM to continue to have both of these with their phones and my personal opinion, much of it based on personal experience as well as those I know, is that inclusion of these options are a huge factor in their success. People like options and choices as well as control over their devices.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

85 percent at the end of this year.

 

[belardo]

Apple still makes a quality phone that sells millions every month. Are they crap? No. Are they perfect? NO.

Samsung still makes a quality phone that sells millions every month. Are they crap? No. Are they perfect? NO.

Motorola, HTC, SONY and LG makes a quality phone that sells millions every month. Are they crap? No. Are they perfect? NO. They don't sell as well as Samsung, but they are no worse. They all have their differences.

MS-Nokia makes a quality phone that sells thousands every month. Are they crap? No. Are they perfect? NO. They have little apps and not a popular OS design. When they "double their market-share" from last year, its a joke... going from 2% to 4% or so isn't squat and those are mostly bottom-end sales or a burst of NEW top end models... after a month or so, nobody is buying them.

I was in rather large at&t store last week making an adjustment. Samsung, Apple and Moto-X are in the front... way way in the back corner - close to the few "dumb" phones were the 3 choices of MS-Nokias and a blackberry. They are all fine looking phones, well made... but they look so sad, all alone.

I saw people buying/holding iPhones, Samsung, LGs then MotoX (in that order)

 

[JD88]

TH is riddled Android fanboys but they got to go somewhere. Anyways Android was influenced by iOS and if you doubt it do the research on how Sergey Brin was on Apple's Board because Steve Jobs put him under his wing when the original iPhone was in development and how Sergey decided to buy Android and tweak it to emulate iOS.

Apple got burned again and infuriated Jobs; Sergey knew this would be the next best thing! Thus Apple set out to dump all of Google's apps and they broke ties. Android's market share dominance is mainly due to being easy for companies to adopt. Just like Windows for PC. Apple is the only company that has its own market share.

You have no idea what you're talking about. Sergey Brin was never associated with Apple in any way. Eric Schmidt was on the Apple board. In addition to being wrong about that, the rest of what you are saying is complete nonsense. Schmidt wasn't added to the Apple board until 2006. Google bought Android in 2005. Get your facts right before you post misinformation.

 

[belardo]

I just got my first smartphone 2 weeks ago. Decided on the iphone 5C. I gotta say I'm perfectly happy with it so far. The new ios 7 looks really nice, runs smoothly and is very functional. I bought mine online so I didn't know how the phone felt, but it's surprisingly well built despite it being made of plastic.

I looked at android phones, but they seemed really widgety. iOS seemed more basic and functional. It may not have all the features of android, but it does absolutely everything I need it to do.~

I am honestly perplexed by your post. If this is your "first" smartphone, then "the new iOS7" is no newer to you than iOS6 or Android. When people buy stuff online, they usually know what the item is like in real life. There are stores all over the USA/world with iphones and Androids to see how they feel. In truth, iPhone is no more well built than most other phones in which their covers can't be removed.

You know what "widgety" is? On Android you can add or remove the widgets. All they are, is a live icon/tile/thingy that tells/shows you something without having to open it. Like on my Motorola with circles, it shows a big clock, a weather circle and my battery status. They flip over to show other things, click to my alarms, data-usage, etc. It sucks up 8 icon spaces. Fine by me. Another widget sucks up 4 slots, its my Calender that always shows my next 2-3 appointments. No clicking (in case I forget to check) - its always there when I use my phone, a constant reminder of things to do - rather than a sudden warning 30~60m in advance.

My other icons on my main home screen: Phone / Contact list / Apps / Messaging / Camera (on every page actually). Then I have GPS / Browser / photo gallery and a folder with my main handful of contacts. The 2nd page is Flashlight / email accounts / calculator and weight loss app. Rest of the page is blank. Clean, no clutter.

With an iphone, everything is an app on the screen... and so what... whatever works for you, for me and for others. Widgets are something people like. And if you actually played with various Android phones, then you may find some you liked.

All these phones do the same thing: Phone / web / text / GPS / contacts / camera / video-camera.

One big area I think iPhone has over Android... phone-cam mode (face time?). With iPhone, its built-in, with Android... ugh, its an app you need to download and setup called Skype (I can't think of anything else)... so its another thing that has your email address, and its microsoft.

 

[JD88]

I just got my first smartphone 2 weeks ago. Decided on the iphone 5C. I gotta say I'm perfectly happy with it so far. The new ios 7 looks really nice, runs smoothly and is very functional. I bought mine online so I didn't know how the phone felt, but it's surprisingly well built despite it being made of plastic.

I looked at android phones, but they seemed really widgety. iOS seemed more basic and functional. It may not have all the features of android, but it does absolutely everything I need it to do.~

I am honestly perplexed by your post. If this is your "first" smartphone, then "the new iOS7" is no newer to you than iOS6 or Android. When people buy stuff online, they usually know what the item is like in real life. There are stores all over the USA/world with iphones and Androids to see how they feel. In truth, iPhone is no more well built than most other phones in which their covers can't be removed.

You know what "widgety" is? On Android you can add or remove the widgets. All they are, is a live icon/tile/thingy that tells/shows you something without having to open it. Like on my Motorola with circles, it shows a big clock, a weather circle and my battery status. They flip over to show other things, click to my alarms, data-usage, etc. It sucks up 8 icon spaces. Fine by me. Another widget sucks up 4 slots, its my Calender that always shows my next 2-3 appointments. No clicking (in case I forget to check) - its always there when I use my phone, a constant reminder of things to do - rather than a sudden warning 30~60m in advance.

My other icons on my main home screen: Phone / Contact list / Apps / Messaging / Camera (on every page actually). Then I have GPS / Browser / photo gallery and a folder with my main handful of contacts. The 2nd page is Flashlight / email accounts / calculator and weight loss app. Rest of the page is blank. Clean, no clutter.

With an iphone, everything is an app on the screen... and so what... whatever works for you, for me and for others. Widgets are something people like. And if you actually played with various Android phones, then you may find some you liked.

All these phones do the same thing: Phone / web / text / GPS / contacts / camera / video-camera.

One big area I think iPhone has over Android... phone-cam mode (face time?). With iPhone, its built-in, with Android... ugh, its an app you need to download and setup called Skype (I can't think of anything else)... so its another thing that has your email address, and its microsoft.

Google and Android have Hangouts which is better than Skype and Face Time. It comes preloaded on every Android phone that I'm aware of. They also just integrated SMS with Hangouts like iMessage.

 

[w8gaming]

All of you who like iPhone is because you are not one of those people who like this: (1) Bigger screen on many Android phones (2) Support of pen (3) Presence of microSD slot for swappable storage (4) Removable battery on some Android phone (5) Lots of free, ad-supported apps. It is ok you like iPhone the way it is now. But think about how Apple might have stolen some of this market share away if they can do the above as well. Not matching competitor features means you are going to lose market share due to some customers value these features more than what Apple can currently offer.

Two of your points though really are not applicable.

Google does not want Android phones to have SD slots. With the S4 GPE they even broke SD support in it with one of the updates to the phone. Few OEMs put SD slots in the phones because Google and others are all about pushing their cloud services, many of which cost money, as well as carriers who get the extra money for data overages.

Also, almost all of the Android OEMs have gone the sealed battery route like Apple. There is only one reason to have a sealed battery in a smartphone and that is to ensure the customer needs to buy a new one every couple of years, just as the battery starts to noticeably decline in holding a charge.

Samsung is the only OEM to continue to have both of these with their phones and my personal opinion, much of it based on personal experience as well as those I know, is that inclusion of these options are a huge factor in their success. People like options and choices as well as control over their devices.

The reason why Google does not offer SD support on their cheap Nexus devices is because Google is smart enough to allow their hardware partners to have a place in the market. How would Samsung be able to sell $600+ device if Google is offering almost similar device for $200+? Of course Google is NOT going to come out and stating this plainly to the public, it is simple business sense.

The issue with removable battery is not that most Android vendors do not offer such option, it is that there is vendor who offer such option while Apple does not. There are people out there who prefer a swappable battery above all others and Apple is not offering such flexibility. Hence such people will not even consider Apple as a viable purchase.

Every feature that exists in the competition out there that Apple fails to match will cost Apple market share. Apple is enjoying their premium profit and does not consider such competition is worthy for attention. The hidden risk for this is that history in the past has shown us similar situation when Apple had 20% market share in personal computing while PC had the other 80%. Eventually developers focused more on the 80% market the ecology advantages switched over to PC.

 

[somebodyspecial]

Just switched over my entire family from four iPhones to three Moto X and one Galxy S4 Active (My aunt does a lot of kayaking and liked that it's waterproof).

They were all apprehensive at first, but now are glad they made the change. They can't stop talking about how Google Now knows everything and about "those wonderful big screens." Not one misses anything about their iPhone. Every app they used was available for Android, and despite the AT&T guy trying to say the iPhone was much easier to use, no one had any problems the transition to Android. All I had to do was explain the back button and app drawer and they were fine.

Next up is dumping the Windows and Mac PCs for Chromebooks.

Chromebooks?....HAHAHAHAHAHA!

This is already happening to some degree. I don't expect the big change to come via chrome, but some form of chrome/android mixed or something with A57's (or the gen after V8 A57's?) clocked at 3.5ghz-4ghz in pc's is coming. Getting games off directx is the foundation for this. A PC with no Windows or X86...Meaning no wintel Heck I'm sure some at some point will just run linux or steamos with enhanced features maybe for more desktop like stuff/networking etc built in or dual boots of steamOS/Android? Whatever, you get the point, any combo that will fill most of a WINTEL PC's jobs in a cheaper box running ARM 64bit chips at 3.5-4ghz.

Someone on the ARM side just needs to announce 1Billion over the next 5yrs in AAA games. At 5mil per AAA game that would be 40 games per year for 5yrs that won't run on DirectX. I really wish NV/Google would announce it together, but NV has the cash to do this alone (2.7B in cash). They won't lose money on these, and can easily recover the cost of game dev (once stopping initial exclusivity and allowing to run everywhere say 6-12 months after release or something). Valve will do this for linux anyway, but so far haven't made a big announcement of games. Then google just needs a download package of their office stuff for home users and you don't need MS/Intel for 95% of us. No MS/Intel knocks $200 off any box today easily and a lot of people would buy that even with partially reduced functionality. No pro apps for a while, how many use adobe, 3Dsmax etc, 1-5% of us? How many of us NEED office from MS if we don't use it at work?

But they need to start building games now that will take advantage of the cream of the crop of next gen socs (Kepler mobile/Denver, T5/T6 and their ilk) so there will be a bunch of great games ready to launch on a full size PC box with ARM, with monster heatsinks/fans like a normal PC box and perhaps versions with NV video cards. Is there anything legally stopping PCIE from running on a linux (or whatever OS) ARM box? They already have it in server type stuff.
http://www.coreboot.org/ARM
And apparently for tablets too now. Start working on the games now that will need an ARM A57 with NV 780 etc cards to push 2560x1600 etc with unreal 4 engine etc (you can drop the quality etc in games to get them on SOC hardware, then amp up for vid cards in full boxes, you can easily scale Unreal3/4 to do this).

Current tablets, chromebooks already attack the very low end notebooks (as shown by sales of both, chromebooks growing, notebooks slowing) so the next step is running with vid cards/heatsinks/fans etc to assault the rest of WINTEL's boxes. Pro apps will follow you to the vid cards eventually (and even higher end ARM 64bit models over the next few years). Game devs are already following the massive numbers to mobile. Apps will do the same to ARM if they are selling billions of units vs 385mil PC's yearly.

I'm thinking some variant of linux wins the OS on these boxes at some point since Valve is pushing a version now and has the #1 distribution point. It depends on how close SteamOS can be made into a full OS (or is it already close?), and not just something aimed at mobile or your TV.

Anyone who can't see what is coming and being prepped here, just isn't paying attention. All ARM players, android, chrome, Linux (including Valve SteamOS), google, amazon, samsung etc are all coming for Wintel. Server's first it seems (easy to go there, no games or office/apps needed just serious low power servers), but the desktop/notebooks are on the horizon.

 

[belardo]

Not on my phone... I dont know what Hangouts is... I did look at it briefly.
I'd say, its not a well marketed feature of Android phones.

 

[belardo]

I think on Samsung and LG makes phones with removable batteries.

I still have my old SGS1 phone with original battery... My motorola doesn't bother me that I can't pop out the battery... its not that much of an issue. Phones get damaged with 2~3 years of use. There are some advantages to this.

 

[house70]

Not on my phone... I dont know what Hangouts is... I did look at it briefly.
I'd say, its not a well marketed feature of Android phones.

You probably already have a Google account, if you log in from any PC you'll see the hangout option on Gmail, G+, etc. It's basically a way to quickly initiate a messaging thread or a video call (voice call will be added) with anyone who has a Google account.

 

[knowom]

It's not a hard choice to make you can pay out the *** to Apple to be trendy and stick with MAC or IOS or you can give them the middle finger and use PC or Android.

The only reason IOS was popular in the first place was because it was new and trendy and there weren't as many other alternative options available at the time. Apple even went about with lawsuits against Samsung in order to try to stifle the competition like the greedy corporate cancer scum they are.

 

[Guest]

Just switched over my entire family from four iPhones to three Moto X and one Galxy S4 Active (My aunt does a lot of kayaking and liked that it's waterproof).

They were all apprehensive at first, but now are glad they made the change. They can't stop talking about how Google Now knows everything and about "those wonderful big screens." Not one misses anything about their iPhone. Every app they used was available for Android, and despite the AT&T guy trying to say the iPhone was much easier to use, no one had any problems the transition to Android. All I had to do was explain the back button and app drawer and they were fine.

Next up is dumping the Windows and Mac PCs for Chromebooks.

I have a chromebook, I love it, I don't like how I can't play games on it, but it is fast, secure, and I love being able to edit documents anywhere. I'm not sure if copy paste works too well though. I also like more features in powerpoint such as animations. If you can get over that, chromebooks are awesome