4 ms·
Flagship Androids definitely have low margins (relative to iPhones). Largely because of a lack of vertical integration and the need to compete against other bra
by sigmar 9y ago
Flagship Androids definitely have low margins (relative to iPhones). Largely because of a lack of vertical integration and the need to compete against other brands in a heavily saturated market.
- janekm 9y agoOnly if you count the marketing budget. Samsung is highly vertically integrated, even more so than Apple. Paradoxically, the reason why flagship Android devices are as expensive as they are is to give the appearance that they are the same class of device as an iPhone. Price signalling is very important in the "flagship" segment. A "Note 8" likely costs Samsung less to produce than the Mix 2 does to Xiaomi (Xiaomi does not own factories or component suppliers unlike Samsung), and yet the Mix 2 sells for about 2/3rds what the Note 8 does. The rest is profit for Samsung. Though of course since Samsung is a conglomerate, the profit is distributed across multiple business units.