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> Android’s loss of market share boils down to heightened competition within the OS space Yeah, that duopoly is a lot of competition

edgyquant 5y ago
Monopoly as a word isn’t meant to describe any successful company that achieves decent market share. I’m really tired of people throwing that phrase around, iOS and Android are fiercely competing with each other for market share every year so yes there is fierce competition.
- cuteboy19 5y ago
  Android itself doesn't do anything. Samsung Xiaomi Google and others compete seperately and just so happen to use Android. Though this is becoming less and less true
- HomeGear 5y ago
  - Razengan 5y ago
  - xmprt 5y ago
    The initial comment was quite snarky too, implying that there cannot be any competition in a duopoly. If anything, duopolies have some of the strongest competition compared to a situation where there's only one winner or one where all the 5-10 companies just stop competing because there's no way to win.
MBCook 5y ago
Maybe a lot of people are just really tired of crappy android phones and want to try the other side of the fence. I’m not referring to the nicer phones like the pixel or some of the galaxy phones. But the cheaper phones that are often given away for free. I’m not saying that’s everything, just a guess. I’m kind of surprised the difference is as big as 8%.
- quitit 5y ago
  The Android vs iOS graphs don't tell us a lot since Android is the accumulation of many devices across various brands, while iOS is just Apple's iPhone. Dividing the share by brand or even by price point reveals the true competition in the market, Apple performs well in their category and regularly achieves the most sold smartphone. When figures were available these also revealed that Apple took home the majority of smartphone profits (90%+), that is unlikely to have changed significantly (Not because iPhone margins were particularly special, but because the market is saturated by competitors with razor thin margins.) The Android v iOS graph is heavily skewed by low-cost devices. Apple's focus on a meaningful midrange product, long OS support and a build quality that is well above the low-cost alternatives are likely the reason why Android's share has declined by this small amount. That said Apple won't achieve dominance in the bulk figures because these are buttressed by low cost devices, such as those used in less wealthy and developing countries. Can a large share of Android users even afford an iPhone? This is all good for google, as users = profit, but it's not particularly inviting for smart phone manufacturers who don't have enough margin to develop a meaningfully differentiated product.
  - MBCook 5y ago
    I don’t know how to find this but I would be interested to see a graph of iOS versus Android for high-end phones only. Say $429+ since that’s what a new SE starts at. Samsung obviously sells a lot of high-end phones, but so many Android makers have trouble competing in the high end I wonder if there’s much left to go around after Apple. Or maybe I’m just totally wrong. But the numbers we see are usually overall, including whether you paid $100 or $1500.
- adamomada 5y ago
  This is a pretty good point I don't think is seen very often: a lot of first-time iPhone users must be completely blown away by upgrading from the crappiest Android devices to something akin to a flagship on Android -- that they would never have considered upgrading to any other way other than switching.

edgyquant 5y ago

Monopoly as a word isn’t meant to describe any successful company that achieves decent market share. I’m really tired of people throwing that phrase around, iOS and Android are fiercely competing with each other for market share every year so yes there is fierce competition.

cuteboy19 5y ago
Android itself doesn't do anything. Samsung Xiaomi Google and others compete seperately and just so happen to use Android. Though this is becoming less and less true
HomeGear 5y ago
- Razengan 5y ago
- xmprt 5y ago
  The initial comment was quite snarky too, implying that there cannot be any competition in a duopoly. If anything, duopolies have some of the strongest competition compared to a situation where there's only one winner or one where all the 5-10 companies just stop competing because there's no way to win.

MBCook 5y ago

Maybe a lot of people are just really tired of crappy android phones and want to try the other side of the fence. I’m not referring to the nicer phones like the pixel or some of the galaxy phones. But the cheaper phones that are often given away for free. I’m not saying that’s everything, just a guess. I’m kind of surprised the difference is as big as 8%.

quitit 5y ago
The Android vs iOS graphs don't tell us a lot since Android is the accumulation of many devices across various brands, while iOS is just Apple's iPhone. Dividing the share by brand or even by price point reveals the true competition in the market, Apple performs well in their category and regularly achieves the most sold smartphone. When figures were available these also revealed that Apple took home the majority of smartphone profits (90%+), that is unlikely to have changed significantly (Not because iPhone margins were particularly special, but because the market is saturated by competitors with razor thin margins.) The Android v iOS graph is heavily skewed by low-cost devices. Apple's focus on a meaningful midrange product, long OS support and a build quality that is well above the low-cost alternatives are likely the reason why Android's share has declined by this small amount. That said Apple won't achieve dominance in the bulk figures because these are buttressed by low cost devices, such as those used in less wealthy and developing countries. Can a large share of Android users even afford an iPhone? This is all good for google, as users = profit, but it's not particularly inviting for smart phone manufacturers who don't have enough margin to develop a meaningfully differentiated product.
- MBCook 5y ago
  I don’t know how to find this but I would be interested to see a graph of iOS versus Android for high-end phones only. Say $429+ since that’s what a new SE starts at. Samsung obviously sells a lot of high-end phones, but so many Android makers have trouble competing in the high end I wonder if there’s much left to go around after Apple. Or maybe I’m just totally wrong. But the numbers we see are usually overall, including whether you paid $100 or $1500.
adamomada 5y ago
This is a pretty good point I don't think is seen very often: a lot of first-time iPhone users must be completely blown away by upgrading from the crappiest Android devices to something akin to a flagship on Android -- that they would never have considered upgrading to any other way other than switching.