[HN Gopher] Apple hits "all-time high" smartphone market share, ...
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       Apple hits "all-time high" smartphone market share, takes #1 spot
       for 2023
        
       Author : MBCook
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2024-01-16 18:39 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | Tarsul wrote:
       | so maybe there actually _is_ a market for sub 6 " smartphones? I
       | found it to be insane that there did not even exist an android
       | one (except for outdoor ones) when I looked, when 6 years ago
       | there still were options for sub 5" ones. That's quite insane and
       | I can only imagine it has something to do with the cost of
       | manufacturing (or margins, see SUVs as well?). Anyone want to
       | chip in on this?
        
         | ratg13 wrote:
         | I think it's lots of reasons.
         | 
         | I recently switched to iPhone because I couldn't find an
         | android I liked.
         | 
         | Galaxy has uninstallable Facebook apps (dealbreaker), Pixel
         | camera was underwhelming.. and couldn't find anything else I
         | liked.
        
           | TwentyPosts wrote:
           | >Pixel camera was underwhelming
           | 
           | Are we looking at the same phone? Everyone I know loved the
           | camera and I could've sworn it came out on top in that one
           | phone camera elo ranking
        
             | jasonjamerson wrote:
             | They certainly hyped them, but I hate mine. The post
             | processing is way over the top, for one thing. And the raw
             | images are just terrible.
        
           | yesco wrote:
           | Yeah the market for Android phones seems to have devolved
           | into nothing but cheap iPhone copies these days, with little
           | if any, actual innovation in years (with maybe a few
           | exceptions from Samsung). Pretty much the only specs they
           | even try to compete on is camera quality.
           | 
           | I still stick with Pixel/Android since I prefer to have full
           | ownership of my device from a development/hacker standpoint,
           | but even that quality has been diminishing with each new
           | version of Android. It's like every new release just makes
           | the OS worse instead of better, so it's not something I look
           | forward too anymore.
           | 
           | It really raises the question why am I even buying Android
           | stuff in the first place? From a consumer perspective they
           | are basically just inferior iPhones at this point and while I
           | can technically do some advanced stuff with android, most of
           | these abilities are locked behind adb now or simply outright
           | disabled. I can't even freely change ROMs now since I'd lose
           | the ability to remotely deposit checks.
           | 
           | From my perspective, it seems Android has nothing but a dark
           | future ahead of it.
        
             | willsmith72 wrote:
             | I see it the opposite way round
             | 
             | Apple would have to make the iPhone really awesome to
             | convince me to pay more money for it. These days I don't
             | see what that is.
             | 
             | For me, Samsung and pixel cameras, battery life,
             | performance-feel, are plenty good enough. What's there to
             | spend more on?
             | 
             | I don't even use Apple's messaging, photos, calendar, music
             | etc. because I like having freedom to change between
             | platforms and use them easily with anyone, regardless of
             | their own platform.
        
         | wmf wrote:
         | Keep in mind that a 6" phone today is very similar in size to a
         | 4.7" phone from the past because the bezels have been removed.
        
           | arp242 wrote:
           | The screen is too large to comfortably use. Bezel size is
           | unimportant.
        
         | a_vanderbilt wrote:
         | I held out on my SE1 and SE2 until the 12 came out specifically
         | to avoid a larger phone. While it seems there is a market for
         | the size, it isn't big enough to care about (by Apple's own
         | statistics).
        
       | jdxcode wrote:
       | Personally, I know a lot of people that were waiting specifically
       | for USB-C. Not sure if that's the reason here but I wouldn't be
       | surprised.
        
       | spicybbq wrote:
       | I find it interesting that the top sellers are the most expensive
       | models for Apple. Seems like this was not always the case.
       | 
       | Another point is looking at their source for the top sellers [1],
       | the top four are: 14 pro max, 14 pro, 14, and 13. Next are 5
       | Samsung models, then the iphone 11 in tenth place. Notably, the
       | iphone 14 Plus is not even in the top 10.
       | 
       | 1: https://omdia.tech.informa.com/pr/2023/aug/omdia-
       | iphone-14-p...
        
         | truculent wrote:
         | I suspect that the enthusiast buyers ate both buying more
         | frequently and more expensive models. Meanwhile, the median
         | customer is buying a base level model and holding until it
         | becomes obsolete.
        
       | silveira wrote:
       | USB-C.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-16 23:02 UTC)