Will Apple become the only remaining smartphone manufacturer in the coming years?

[zaza]

LG makes a profit of one cent on every phone they sell.
HTC makes a loss on every phone they sell (they're literally paying you to buy their phones)
Sammy doesn't want to do anymore phones, they just want to manufacture the chips for others.

Meanwhile Apple produces a phone with $200 and sells it for $1000.

 

[poofyhairguy]

No, no way. Even if the margin for making Android phones is small, some Chinese companies can survive on that and accessories like Gillette does with razor blades.

What we probably will see is that Apple is the only "premium" smartphone maker in a few years, and that the MSRP price gap between the best of Android and the iPhone will be hundreds of dollars.

As long as the Nexus program continues I am happy. Or maybe Google will fix Android so we can buy a cheap Chinese phone without fear that the software is stuck in time.

 

[openwheel]

some people seem to want that to happen.

 

[VashHT]

If that happened I would hang onto whatever phone I had at the time and buy a bunch of parts for it, no way am I going to support a monopoly of the phone market.

 

[Crono]

I bet even on the high end side large companies are going to start merging or buying other companies to try and compete with Apple's hardware. But I don't think anyone is going to take the premium market from them for a few years.

Android still has the low-end and mid-range globally. It's too bad a few manufacturers like HTC are struggling, but at least there are newer, smaller manufacturers making decent quality smartphones now, including a startup, NextBit, founded by former HTC and Apple employees.

 

[Deeko]

No.

 

[phexac]

It's certainly true that other companies suck at making money on their phones compared to Apple.

 

[Beer4Me]

I believe we're already seeing a paradigm shift in Enterprise market where iPhones have now replaced BB's as the mobile phone of choice. At least, that is what I've noticed in my career so far.

 

[sweenish]

Back to mobile after multiple vacations in PC gaming. Still at it, too.

 

[Artdeco]

Good phones are going to become insanely cheap, think $1000 32" TV's a few years ago, I bought one for 1/10th of the original I bought, $125 shipped versus $1300. Apple won't compete at that price point, so there's a lot of phones to be sold.

There are a metric ton of phone manufacturers now, the numbers may decrease a bit, but the world needs cell phones, and will for quite some time.

 

[glenn1]

I believe we're already seeing a paradigm shift in Enterprise market where iPhones have now replaced BB's as the mobile phone of choice. At least, that is what I've noticed in my career so far.

Blackberry reached a point of awfulness that even the normally oblivious and tech illiterate folks in the C-suite couldn't help but notice. It's one thing for your phones to be slightly behind in specs and quite another to resemble tech from a decade ago.

 

[Zaap]

My belief is, Apple never defeated the PC market because PC makers never completely took up the tactic of 'if you can't beat Apple, BECOME Apple'. A $500 PC with better specs/features/form factor is a better value to many people than a $1200 boutique computer, no matter what hype to the contrary. Enough so that you wont step into the average random household and find it all Apple vs. PCs. The PC business is s tough one ... but there's plenty of demand for non-Apple PCs made by companies that aren't even trying to use the same business model/profit level as Apple.

Hopefuly companies keep doing this with smartphones... don't try to make iPhone clones, make devices that do more, utilize Androids strenghts, and sell at price point Apple can't match. Of course, it relies on Google not pulling the rug out from under everyone by removing features and dumbing down the platform due to wanting to be Apple lite.

Apple will never be the only maker of smartphones, its just a question of who will remain viable to take them on and meet the huge demand. Currently, I have my doubts about Samsung. Maybe LG or others will continue to step up.

 

[cyclohexane]

Not until Xiaomi joins the US market.

 

[mikegg]

My belief is, Apple never defeated the PC market because PC makers never completely took up the tactic of 'if you can't beat Apple, BECOME Apple'. A $500 PC with better specs/features/form factor is a better value to many people than a $1200 boutique computer, no matter what hype to the contrary. Enough so that you wont step into the average random household and find it all Apple vs. PCs. The PC business is s tough one ... but there's plenty of demand for non-Apple PCs made by companies that aren't even trying to use the same business model/profit level as Apple.

Hopefuly companies keep doing this with smartphones... don't try to make iPhone clones, make devices that do more, utilize Androids strenghts, and sell at price point Apple can't match. Of course, it relies on Google not pulling the rug out from under everyone by removing features and dumbing down the platform due to wanting to be Apple lite.

Apple will never be the only maker of smartphones, its just a question of who will remain viable to take them on and meet the huge demand. Currently, I have my doubts about Samsung. Maybe LG or others will continue to step up.

To be honest, I used to think like you. Then I started using Apple products and understood the quality behind them. I mean - the Macbook Air and Pro and great values for what you get. And when you want a new computer, your Apple computer/phone actually has resale value.

For example, I sold my iPhone 5S for $350 when the 6S came out. I can still sell my 2013 Macbook Air for $500. I got it for $800.

I think if you do the math and appreciate quality, Apple products come out ahead in value in my opinion.

 

[dawheat]

In a couple years, I doubt even iOS can support current prices when $350 Android phones running Android O will have top of the line displays (probably 4K with perfect accuracy), cameras, equivalent builds, and SOCs so overpowered for phones it's somewhat pointless.

Think Nexus 6P in hardware/software 2 years from now - how many people will really need anything near as powerful. Its display, camera, build are already as good as the iPhone 6S Plus and software continues to converge as there just isn't much more people are doing with their phones.

 

[glenn1]

In a couple years, I doubt even iOS can support current prices when $350 Android phones running Android O will have top of the line displays (probably 4K with perfect accuracy), cameras, equivalent builds, and SOCs so overpowered for phones it's somewhat pointless.

Think Nexus 6P in hardware/software 2 years from now - how many people will really need anything near as powerful. Its display, camera, build are already as good as the iPhone 6S Plus and software continues to converge as there just isn't much more people are doing with their phones.

People will continue to argue for Apple based on some perceived differentiating factor. In the days of old when desktops ruled the world their angle was how the PowerPC chips in Apple made them sooooooooooooooooo much faster for applications like doing Photoshop filters and thus worth the price premium. I have no doubt that will continue in future years with someone arguing how iOS and iPhones are soooooooooooo much faster than Android phones at running Clash of Clans or something. And that's fine if those customers think they're getting a premium product for their money it's no harm to me or anyone else.

 

[mikegg]

People will continue to argue for Apple based on some perceived differentiating factor. In the days of old when desktops ruled the world their angle was how the PowerPC chips in Apple made them sooooooooooooooooo much faster for applications like doing Photoshop filters and thus worth the price premium. I have no doubt that will continue in future years with someone arguing how iOS and iPhones are soooooooooooo much faster than Android phones at running Clash of Clans or something. And that's fine if those customers think they're getting a premium product for their money it's no harm to me or anyone else.

No one is arguing for them. You can look at the benchmarks yourself on Anandtech.

 

[Strk]

Samsung Electronics (the part the makes the phones) and the fabrication facilities are, for all intents and purposes, different companies (they might as well be anyways). Even though they're all Samsung, they act very independently from one another.

However, I'm thinking either Xiaomi or Huawei will take over a good chunk of it. They seem to be trying a lot more than the other Chinese companies to be somewhere other than China.

 

[kyrax12]

How come HTC make a loss for every phone they sold?

 

[senseamp]

No. It will be same as PC space. A bunch of very low margin commodity Android players competing and surviving on subsistence margins, and Apple. Samsung will be one of the players, even if they don't get $700 for their flagship phones, but get $300-400. You have to remember they do reasonably well in commodity products like televisions and appliances.

 

[core2slow]

When there's phone like this in the market for sub-$500 unlocked with US LTE support, it's really no wonder the major players are struggling:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PNIPPJWDIKQ

6in screen
Aluminum construction
Kirin 950
Android 6.0
8mm thin
3gb/4gb ram
32/64gb/128gb storage
MicroSD slot
16mp OIS rear / 8mp front
FM radio
Fingerprint scanner
4000mah battery


For starter, Samsung's recently announced "A9" mid ranger is nowhere as close to this spec-wise and will carry a similar price tag. So for someone like Samsung with their level of economy of scales who can't even compete with a Chinese manufacturer, I doubt the rest would be able to survive before the end of the decade.

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

No one is arguing for them. You can look at the benchmarks yourself on Anandtech.

That still does not help it though with stuttering and skipping frames, same as on Android.

 

[sbpromania]

I don't see how Apple will remain the only one, the Chinese manufacturers keep improving, they only need to sell their devices on more markets.

 

[linkgoron]

I have to agree with dawheat. Two family members of mine bought a z3 compact (~350$) and a OPO (~300$?) instead of their previous iPhones - because the Androids were good enough for their usage (texting/whataspp/phone/baby pics/emails) while costing 1/2 or 1/3 of a new iPhone.

 

[Chocu1a]

Once people have to pay full price for phones, they will stop buying iPhones. Subsidies for most have carriers have gone away. One can "lease" a phone still, but why spend $800 when I can spend $200-300 & be done. That is why Android sells so well in other parts of the World.