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Signals to the end of an era, smartphones have matured and are becoming ubiquitous like laptops. Moreover, the most profitable smartphones belong to Apple which

Signals to the end of an era, smartphones have matured and are becoming ubiquitous like laptops. Moreover, the most profitable smartphones belong to Apple which held 86% of smartphone profits generated in the industry in 2018. Samsung was competing more in the mid to affordable segments so it was bound to start losing once others started catching up, especially since its Chinese competitors are basically giving up profits for growth in the affordable to medium segments. https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/apple-grabs-86-of-smartphone-profits-globally-iphone-x-alone-seizes-35 https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/17/apple-grabs-86-of...

zaphirplane 8y ago
> Samsung was competing more in the mid to affordable I assumed Samsung’s android phones were the top of the range. Who do you think is the high end android phone brand
- forkLding 8y ago
  Just comparing smartphones in general, not really Android vs IOS. Samsung was probably the top-range Android phones in terms of pricing.
  - zaphirplane 8y ago
    That the best android phone is at best a midrange smart phone. Is an interesting and very unlikely to be a broadly shared opinion
- zanny 8y ago
  They make high end phones, but their sales volume doesn't make up for the margins. In terms of manufactured phone volume, the Galaxy line makes up a tiny fraction of their total sales. I feel like the vast majority of the Android ecosystem foot gunned itself pushing its way out of reasonably priced device segments. There really are no modern equivalents to the Moto G or Nexus 5 or even early One Plus phones in the $150-$350 range. Its garbage up through $200, then a giant gap to $1000 phones. Especially in the tablet segment. I can get why Google didn't want to try to single-handedly prop up the form factor with first party devices, but the last good (and reasonably priced) Android tablets remain the second generation Nexus 7 and Nvidia Shield from half a decade ago.
  - rapsey 8y ago
    There is always a reasonably priced model. Right now it is xiaomi poco phones.
  - fulafel 8y ago
    Nokia does what you want. See eg https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/guidemaster-the-best-android-phones-from-budget-to-flagships/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/guidemaster-the-best...
    - eertami 8y ago
      I wish Nokia would release a cheap phone with an AMOLED screen, eg, like the Oneplus X 4 years ago... Until there's another sub 300$ phone with an AMOLED upgrading seems pointless.
  - oblio 8y ago
    Nokia, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei, in order of hardware + software combo. Nokia had slightly less interesting hardware but runs stock Android (= good update policy).
  - megablast 8y ago
    Yes, but their high end makes the majority of the profits. Which is what we are talking about here.
  - bwat49 8y ago
    The Moto G series are still good phones in the <$350 range
  - campercoder 8y ago
    Loving my Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite aka the Redmi 6 I think. In India this phone costs $100. It comes with Android One.. monthly updates directly from Google. I'm not sure why technical people still prefer iOS. Such a PITA when it comes to development and app store (register! password!) and transferring files.
- toomuchequate 8y ago
  Im curious if people find Samsung products top of the line. I thought they were a big advertiser similar to Apple, selling low to mid range products at heavy markups. My S5 was awful with multiple bugs, quickly dead samsung SSD, my grandfathers smart TV was slow despite being bought in 2018, and horror stories about Samsung appliances.
evancox100 8y ago
Convenient narrative, but it's likely that this has more to do with their component business (nand, DRAM, LCDs, etc.) than their smartphone business. Samsung overproduced a bunch of memory just as demand fell through the floor. [1] Also, your article on Apple's smartphone profit share is from April 2018, so more like 2017 than 2018. Not sure how relevant that is to 2019 earnings. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-hopes-strong-chip-sales-arent-just-a-memory-11554459899 https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-hopes-strong-chip-sales...
- ehsankia 8y ago
  What about the fact that the Chinese manufacturers are taking over the Asian and European market, over Samsung and Apple who are both losing market share? They might not be making as much money, as they run much tighter profit markets, but they are basically taking over the market by undercutting the competition.
  - sanxiyn 8y ago
    I think that narrative is roughly correct, but I think it doesn't affect profit of neither Samsung nor Apple in the short term. Who knows about long term.
  - evancox100 8y ago
    What about it? I'm sure that could also be affecting their earnings, we'll have to wait for the earnings report to find out the extent of it. But the current analysis and reporting right now points to major issues in the component side of the business. Also, remember that Samsung is still selling these components to Huawei, Oppo, etc., so it's not a total loss when they take market share.
    - sanxiyn 8y ago
      On the other hand, Samsung's smartphone market share is pretty important for its nascent non-memory component business, because Huawei won't use Exynos, neither AP nor 4G and 5G modem.
Kiro 8y ago
While your comment looks professional it's complete nonsense and has nothing to do with the topic in question. Typical Hacker News commentary in other words.
waivek 8y ago
Laptops aren't ubiquitous.
benj111 8y ago
"Apple which held 86% of smartphone profits" "Chinese competitors are basically giving up profits for growth" It interesting how Apple have managed to capture so much of the profit in the industry, and consumers are willing to go with them rather than one of their essentially subsidised rivals. I wonder how long this situation can continue for, some kind of reversion to the mean has to happen eventually.

zaphirplane 8y ago

> Samsung was competing more in the mid to affordable I assumed Samsung’s android phones were the top of the range. Who do you think is the high end android phone brand

forkLding 8y ago
Just comparing smartphones in general, not really Android vs IOS. Samsung was probably the top-range Android phones in terms of pricing.
- zaphirplane 8y ago
  That the best android phone is at best a midrange smart phone. Is an interesting and very unlikely to be a broadly shared opinion
zanny 8y ago
They make high end phones, but their sales volume doesn't make up for the margins. In terms of manufactured phone volume, the Galaxy line makes up a tiny fraction of their total sales. I feel like the vast majority of the Android ecosystem foot gunned itself pushing its way out of reasonably priced device segments. There really are no modern equivalents to the Moto G or Nexus 5 or even early One Plus phones in the $150-$350 range. Its garbage up through $200, then a giant gap to $1000 phones. Especially in the tablet segment. I can get why Google didn't want to try to single-handedly prop up the form factor with first party devices, but the last good (and reasonably priced) Android tablets remain the second generation Nexus 7 and Nvidia Shield from half a decade ago.
- rapsey 8y ago
  There is always a reasonably priced model. Right now it is xiaomi poco phones.
- fulafel 8y ago
  Nokia does what you want. See eg https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/guidemaster-the-best-android-phones-from-budget-to-flagships/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/guidemaster-the-best...
  - eertami 8y ago
    I wish Nokia would release a cheap phone with an AMOLED screen, eg, like the Oneplus X 4 years ago... Until there's another sub 300$ phone with an AMOLED upgrading seems pointless.
- oblio 8y ago
  Nokia, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Huawei, in order of hardware + software combo. Nokia had slightly less interesting hardware but runs stock Android (= good update policy).
- megablast 8y ago
  Yes, but their high end makes the majority of the profits. Which is what we are talking about here.
- bwat49 8y ago
  The Moto G series are still good phones in the <$350 range
- campercoder 8y ago
  Loving my Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite aka the Redmi 6 I think. In India this phone costs $100. It comes with Android One.. monthly updates directly from Google. I'm not sure why technical people still prefer iOS. Such a PITA when it comes to development and app store (register! password!) and transferring files.
toomuchequate 8y ago
Im curious if people find Samsung products top of the line. I thought they were a big advertiser similar to Apple, selling low to mid range products at heavy markups. My S5 was awful with multiple bugs, quickly dead samsung SSD, my grandfathers smart TV was slow despite being bought in 2018, and horror stories about Samsung appliances.

evancox100 8y ago

Convenient narrative, but it's likely that this has more to do with their component business (nand, DRAM, LCDs, etc.) than their smartphone business. Samsung overproduced a bunch of memory just as demand fell through the floor. [1] Also, your article on Apple's smartphone profit share is from April 2018, so more like 2017 than 2018. Not sure how relevant that is to 2019 earnings. [1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-hopes-strong-chip-sales-arent-just-a-memory-11554459899 https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-hopes-strong-chip-sales...

ehsankia 8y ago
What about the fact that the Chinese manufacturers are taking over the Asian and European market, over Samsung and Apple who are both losing market share? They might not be making as much money, as they run much tighter profit markets, but they are basically taking over the market by undercutting the competition.
- sanxiyn 8y ago
  I think that narrative is roughly correct, but I think it doesn't affect profit of neither Samsung nor Apple in the short term. Who knows about long term.
- evancox100 8y ago
  What about it? I'm sure that could also be affecting their earnings, we'll have to wait for the earnings report to find out the extent of it. But the current analysis and reporting right now points to major issues in the component side of the business. Also, remember that Samsung is still selling these components to Huawei, Oppo, etc., so it's not a total loss when they take market share.
  - sanxiyn 8y ago
    On the other hand, Samsung's smartphone market share is pretty important for its nascent non-memory component business, because Huawei won't use Exynos, neither AP nor 4G and 5G modem.

Kiro 8y ago

While your comment looks professional it's complete nonsense and has nothing to do with the topic in question. Typical Hacker News commentary in other words.

waivek 8y ago

Laptops aren't ubiquitous.

benj111 8y ago

"Apple which held 86% of smartphone profits" "Chinese competitors are basically giving up profits for growth" It interesting how Apple have managed to capture so much of the profit in the industry, and consumers are willing to go with them rather than one of their essentially subsidised rivals. I wonder how long this situation can continue for, some kind of reversion to the mean has to happen eventually.