Apple has overtaken Android devices to account for more than half of smartphones used in the US, giving the iPhone maker an edge over the competition as it pushes into areas including finance and care. health.
The 50% mark – the iPhone’s highest market share since its launch in 2007 – was first passed in the June quarter, according to data from Counterpoint Research. About 150 devices use Google’s Android operating system, led by Samsung and Lenovo, making up the rest.
“Operating systems are like religions – they never change dramatically. But over the past four years, the flow has been constant from Android to iOS,” said Counterpoint Research Director Jeff Fieldhack. “This is an important milestone that we can see being replicated in other wealthy nations around the globe.”
The numbers are based on the smartphones in use, known as the “operating installed base,” what Apple’s chief financial officer Luca Maestri called “the engine for our company” in an earnings call in July.
This is a broader and more meaningful category than new phone shipments, which fluctuate from quarter to quarter and have demonstrated Apple’s nascent strength.
The active installed base counts the millions of people brought into Apple’s ecosystem through the used phone market, as well as those using iPhones purchased years ago.
“It’s not that we’re seeing a big year when Apple increases its market share by 10 or 15 percent, but there’s this slow decline where they’re quiet,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight. probably gain more market share every year.”
Smartphones running Android first went on sale in 2008, a year after the iPhone launched and overtook the iOS install platform in 2010, according to the NPD Group. In the previous three years, Apple never had a market share near 50%, as sales were dominated by Nokia, Motorola, Windows, and BlackBerry.
As Apple chief executive Tim Cook prepares to launch the iPhone 14 on Wednesday, the milestone shows that the company has never been in a more competitive position despite persistent criticism that it has lose its creative edge.
The group’s key fall events in recent years have focused more on the development of existing devices than on the company founder Steve Jobs’ famous “one more thing” product launch.
Apple is expected to announce the new iPhones at its first in-person event since Covid-19 began, in Cupertino, California. Analysts expect better cameras and a smaller “notch” in the display that houses the sensors, plus a more rugged version of the Apple Watch.
Under Cook, the iPhone, a disruptive product that created an entire industry, made Apple the largest company in the world, with a market capitalization of $2.5 billion.
“Cook took what Jobs gave him and built an empire out of it,” Wood said. “Because anyone who buys an iPhone — whether it’s a second-hand, third, or fourth iPhone — is probably giving Apple some money to buy apps, pay for iCloud, use Apple Music, or transact on Apple Pay. . And it’s a model that no one else, really, can replicate. “
With iPhone penetration reaching saturation, Cook has pushed hard into movies and TV, advertising and payments, fitness and health, taking advantage of the installed global base for iPhones that have passed. 1 billion by 2020.
As a result, diversified “services” revenue consistently grew at double-digit rates and delivered margins north of 70% – twice the profit of the hardware business.
Payers for the service hit 860 million in the June quarter – nearly double Netflix and Disney-Plus subscribers combined.
Analysts see plenty of room for Apple to increase its market share as the rest of the world still dominates Android, largely due to its diversity and lower costs. Cook recently said the team has “set a sixth-quarter record for switchers” – consumers who leave Android for iOS.
