[HN Gopher] Apple loses top phonemaker spot to Samsung
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Apple loses top phonemaker spot to Samsung
Author : ilikecinnamon
Score : 37 points
Date : 2024-04-15 12:28 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
| gumby wrote:
| Given market dynamics it was rather surprising that Apple ever
| reached #1 at all. Perhaps it will happen again in 9 months if
| there is some spike after the 2024 phones are released.
|
| Regardless of volume, Apple takes the lion's share of profits,
| with Samsung a distant second (and I believe nobody in third
| place). ISTR that Apple + Samsung constituted something like 106%
| of the total industry profit, making it a lot like the airlines.
| paxys wrote:
| Based on what? "Budget" phone manufacturers (Xiaomi, Oppo,
| Vivo, Transsion and many others in the long tail) make tens of
| billions of dollars in revenue every year and are very
| profitable.
| gumby wrote:
| Revenue, yes, but minimal or no profit hence the churn. You
| can look up the data if you have a statista subscription.
| paxys wrote:
| I'd think the financial reports of these companies are a
| much more reliable source than statista.
|
| * Xiaomi made $2.4B in profit last year
| (https://qz.com/xiaomi-profits-earnings-apple-iphone-sales-
| ch...)
|
| * Transsion $760M
| (https://simplywall.st/stocks/cn/tech/shse-688036/shenzhen-
| tr...)
|
| * ZTE $1.3B (https://www.wsj.com/business/earnings/ztes-
| profit-rises-as-m...)
|
| Plenty of others are private and don't publish financials
| but also don't operate in an environment where they can
| burn through hundreds of millions or billions of dollars
| without any expectation of profit.
| Tagbert wrote:
| Compare that to $97B profit for Apple in 2023.
| paxys wrote:
| Why do you need to compare anything? Read what we are
| discussing.
| gumby wrote:
| I agree with that part.
|
| But like Apple, ZTE and Xiaomi have other revenue streams
| beyond handsets (don't know about Transson, but that
| seems like a pretty narrow margin). I took a whip through
| the Xiaomi financials and they talk about profit mix in
| percentages but I didn't see a break out by line.
|
| In any case the analysts are pretty clear that Apple and
| Samsung are most of the profit in the handset sector and
| the churn at the bottom is all non-viable white label
| businesses. Whether a few inbetween like Xiaomi can
| sustainably make much profit remains to be seen.
|
| I am interested to see if Apple's phone business (and I
| suppose smartphones in general) has seen its best days. I
| am going to replace my iphone in the fall, but merely due
| to age; I don't even know what model number apple is up
| to these days. The phones seem pretty much the same.
| blackoil wrote:
| > Perhaps it will happen again in 9 months
|
| If China sales continue to plummet, it may be even lower.
| ChrisArchitect wrote:
| [dupe]
|
| Some more discussion:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40035739
| altairprime wrote:
| [delayed]
| silisili wrote:
| One thing Samsung does to reel you in is to make ridiculous
| offers to existing customers. I'm not sure if Apple does the same
| or not.
|
| For example, they'll often list a phone for say $1000. Then offer
| you $800 trade in on last years model, and maybe $500 on a two
| year old model, both objectively much more than the phone is
| worth. Pair that with EPP discounts that almost everyone
| qualifies for, RetailMeNot sitewide codes, credit card rewards,
| and random Samsung offers - you can often upgrade every year if
| you want for very little money.
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Samsung also has much better lower end. The iPhone SE starts at
| 430$, compared to 200$ for a Samsung A14.
|
| Often Samsung phones are even cheaper with a prepaid.
|
| For 90% of people that A14 is going to give you the same
| utility. However Apple probably has a much better margin here.
|
| They get to own the whole stack, if I buy an an Android phone
| I'm getting my apps from Google, my cloud storage from Google.
|
| If I buy an iPhone I'm buying apps from Apple, paying for
| iCloud and Apple TV.
| karmakaze wrote:
| That A14 is surprising. It has a huge screen, decent battery,
| dual-sim, headphone jack, and can take a 1TB MicroSD. The one
| I saw didn't even have much bloat installed on it.
| Arrath wrote:
| > both objectively much more than the phone is worth
|
| Very attractive to someone like me who wrings the last vestiges
| of life from their phone, I was very surprised to get half off
| of the S22 when I traded in my ancient S7.
| GoToRO wrote:
| Either the company is making money or I'm keeping the money.
| For some reason people like it when the company makes money. I
| like it when I get to keep them.
| gentleman11 wrote:
| But then they take you over the data harvesting coals
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