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Apple sold a record number of MacBooks last quarter, says Strategy Analytics
Apple is getting some of its MacBook sales mojo back thanks to discounts on the MacBook Air, according to the research firm Strategy Analytics.
Worldwide smartphone sales showed 'biggest decline ever' in Q1 2020
Analysts estimated the Q1 drop in smartphone sales was between 11 and 17 percent -- the worst they've ever seen.
Smartphone shipments saw their largest drop ever in February
You likely knew that smartphone demand would fall during the COVID-19 pandemic when Apple and others were warning of shortages, but it's now clearer just how bad the damage was. Strategy Analytics has determined that smartphone shipments fell 38 percent year-over-year in February, from 99.2 million to 61.8 million -- the steepest drop in the recorded history of the market. Demand "collapsed" in Asia that month as people were unwilling or unable to visit stores, while some companies had to temporarily stop manufacturing devices after reports of infected workers.
Apple sold almost three times more smartwatches than its closest rival
Apple Watch remains the best-selling smartwatch worldwide, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics. The smartwatch industry is doing well as a whole, shipping 12 million units globally from April to June this year, up 44 percent from the same period in 2018. Steven Waltzer, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said smartwatch growth "continues to soar as consumers increasingly accessorize their smartphones with fitness-led wearables."
Huawei passes Microsoft as third-largest mobile phone maker
When Microsoft bought Nokia, it inherited a pretty large feature phone business. But that business has shrunk a lot since the purchase, according to Strategy Analytics, and Microsoft hasn't set the smartphone world on fire either. As a result, Huawei just displaced it as the world's third largest mobile phone vendor by shipping 30.6 million phones, nearly 50 percent more than last year. It now holds a 7 percent market share behind Apple (10 percent) and Samsung (20.5 percent). Microsoft sits in fourth place after selling 27.8 million phones, nearly half the 50.3 million devices it sold last year over the same period.
Apple's now shipping as many smartphones as Samsung
When people talk about Apple and Samsung, the lazy narrative is to say that Apple makes the most money, but Samsung makes the most devices. According to Strategy Analytics, however, that story may no longer actually be the case. In its latest look at the state of the industry, Apple and Samsung both shipped an estimated 74.5 million devices in the last three months of 2014, making them joint first in the shipments race. Of course, this was the first period where both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were made available, but even still, those are some hefty numbers.
Strategy Analytics: Android beats iOS in Q2 tablet shipments, Windows gains ground
All in all, global tablet shipments were up for Q2, according to new numbers released by analyst firm Strategy Analytics. Factoring in white-box units, the market saw 51.7 million tablets shipped in that time period -- that's up 43-percent compared to the same time last year. A lot of that good news can be chalked up to Android's success. The OS saw a healthy bump from 18.5- to 34.6 million units shipped, a number that has Google's mobile operating system holding 67-percent of the market. The news is a little less cheery on Apple's side of the OS wars, with shipments dipping from 17- to 14.6 million units, decreasing its marketshare to 28.3-percent, according to the firm. Microsoft, not surprisingly, saw a healthy increase in shipments from last year -- though it's still got a ways to go, calling around 4.5-percent of the market its own.
Strategy Analytics: Microsoft's share of tablet market quadrupled after Windows 8
Say what you like about Windows 8, but before it arrived Microsoft's presence in the tablet sphere was as small as it was stagnant. By the reckoning of number-crunchers at Strategy Analytics, just 400,000 Windows-running slates were shipped globally in Q3 of last year -- a figure that was largely unchanged from the year before and which represented just 1.6 percent of the global tablet market. Six months later, now that the Windows-powered Acers, Lenovos and Surfaces of this world have had a chance to get their game on, Microsoft's share has quadrupled to 7.5 percent, with a total of 3 million Windows 8 and RT tablets shipped in Q1 2013. That's still pretty niche, but 3 million units would have equated to a bigger share were it not for the fact that the overall tablet market also grew over this period, from 25 million to 41 million units -- and at least Microsoft can now claim to be a part of that boom. Look past the break for the numerical breakdown.
iCloud, Dropbox, Amazon top US cloud services
According to a study recently published by Strategy Analytics, Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match are tops among US consumer cloud services. The study polled 2,300 Americans and found, among other things, that 27 percent of respondents have used iCloud and/or iTunes Match. Further, 17 percent have used Dropbox and 15 percent of participants have used Amazon Cloud Drive. Unsurprisingly, the data skewed young, as most of those who use cloud services were between 20 and 24 years old. Apple's was the only service with more female than male users. You can read additional detail in the press release below. To the cloud! Show full PR text THE CLOUD STORAGE WARS: APPLE LEADS WITH 27% MARKET SHARE Dropbox hits 17% of market share with no associated content ecosystem Over half of Americans online have never used cloud storage service Boston, MA – March 21, 2013: Apple is dominating the cloud storage wars, followed by Dropbox, Amazon and Google according to Strategy Analytics 'Cloud Media Services' survey. In a recent study of almost 2,300 connected Americans, Strategy Analytics found that 27% have used Apple's iCloud followed by 17% for Dropbox, 15% for Amazon Cloud Drive and 10% for Google Play (see chart). Usage of cloud storage is heavily skewed towards younger people, in particular 20-24 year olds, whilst Apple's service is the only one with more female than male users. Amongst the big four, Google's is the one most heavily skewed towards males. Cloud storage is overwhelmingly dominated by music; around 90% of Apple, Amazon and Google's cloud users store music. Even Dropbox – which has no associated content ecosystem – sees around 45% of its users storing music files. Dropbox's recent acquisition of Audiogalaxy will add a much needed native music player to the platform in the coming months. "Music is currently the key battleground in the war for cloud domination. Google is tempting users by giving away free storage for 20,000 songs which can be streamed to any Android device, a feature both Amazon and Apple charge annual subscriptions for," observes Ed Barton, Strategy Analytics' Director of Digital Media. "However, the growth of video streaming and the desire to access content via a growing range of devices will see services such as the Hollywood-backed digital movie initiative Ultraviolet – currently used by 4% of Americans – increase market share." Barton continues, "The cloud's role in the race to win over consumers' digital media libraries has evolved from a value added service for digital content purchases to a feature-rich and increasingly device agnostic digital locker for music and movies. Dropbox being used by 1 in 6 Americans shows that an integrated content storefront isn't essential to build a large user base, however we expect competition to intensify sharply over the coming years." Strategy Analytics found that, the big four cloud storage services aside, recognition of other brands was uniformly low. Furthermore 55% of connected Americans have never used a cloud storage service – although, amongst consumers who have used one, one third (33%) had done so in the last week. "There needs to be considerable investment in evangelizing these services to a potentially willing yet largely oblivious audience," suggests Barton. "Given the size of bet Hollywood is making with Ultraviolet, this will be essential to their success given a crowded market and widespread apathy. However, more fundamental questions remain - is the use of more than one cloud service going to be too much for consumers to handle and will consolidation in such a fragmented market become inevitable?" Barton concludes, "Although cloud storage is fast becoming a key pillar of digital platform strategies for the world's leading device manufacturers and digital content distributors, there's still a lot of work to do in educating consumers – particularly those over 45. With over half of consumers yet to use any consumer cloud based service, 2013 predictions for the 'year of the cloud' seem unrealistic. However given the market influence of the leading players pushing the concept, in particular Apple, Amazon, Google and Ultraviolet, I won't be surprised to see mainstream adoption and usage spike within the next two to three years in the key US market."
iPhone 5, 4S top selling smartphones worldwide
What with Forbes speculating that Apple leaked "iWatch" plans out of desperation and the recent counterintuitive drop in share price after the company's last stellar earnings report, one would think that Apple's on the verge of going out of business. Strategy Analytics has new data out countering that notion, showing that the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S are the top-selling smartphones worldwide. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple shipped 27.4 million iPhone 5 handsets and 17.4 million units of the iPhone 4S worldwide. The next most popular single model of smartphone? Samsung's Galaxy S3, with 15.4 million units sold in the fourth quarter. That's right -- the 2011 iPhone 4S alone sold two million units more than the the Galaxy S3, and had an 8 percent share of the smartphone market. Add sales of the iPhone 5, and Apple's two most recent models accounted for 21 percent of all smartphone sales worldwide. That doesn't even count the iPhone 4, which Apple is offering for free with new service contracts. It's expected that Samsung will fire back with the rumored Galaxy S4 in the next couple of months to try to counteract the Apple juggernaut. By that point, it's almost certain that we'll start hearing about the iPhone 5S or 6...
Apple overtakes Samsung as top US mobile phone vendor
Strategy Analytics' latest mobile phone report is out, and Apple's iPhone is the winner here in the US, taking the top spot for the first time in its history. Apple displaced Samsung, which has held the title as America's most popular mobile phone brand since 2008. According to Strategy Analytics, Apple shipped 17.7 million iPhones in the quarter and grabbed a 34 percent market share. Estimates for Samsung suggest the carrier shipped 16.8 million phones for a 32.3 percent market share. LG came in third with 4.7 million units that account for 9 percent of the mobile phone market here in the US. These numbers include both smartphones and feature phones, which makes Apple's chart-topping performance that much more impressive. [Via Apple Insider]
Samsung Galaxy S III bests iPhone 4S in Q3 2012 smartphone sales
The battle for smartphone superiority continues, and Samsung won out in the last quarter as the Galaxy S III beat the iPhone 4S in terms of global sales. Strategy Analytics notes that Samsung sold 18 million units of the highly touted Galaxy S III, compared to "just" 16.2 million units of Apple's iPhone 4S. As you'll recall, though, the iPhone 5 hit shelves at the end of Q3 2012. That likely caused some cannibalization of iPhone 4S sales, as potential buyers may have delayed purchases until the release of the iPhone 5. Don't worry about Apple -- Strategy Analytics believes that the iPhone 5 will handily trounce the Galaxy S III in Q4 2012. As the firm notes, Apple has already sold 6 million of the smartphones with almost two months remaining in the last quarter of the year.
Strategy Analytics claims Android reached 41 percent of tablets in Q3, iPad may have felt the heat
Three months can make all the difference, at least if you're drafting estimates at Strategy Analytics. Now that we know 14 million iPads shipped in the third quarter, the analyst group believes that Apple's tablet market share dropped from 68.3 percent in the spring to 56.7 percent in the summer. All of the shift is attributed to Android -- researchers think that shipments of Google-based tablets surged from 7.3 million to 10.2 million, handing the platform 41 percent of an increasingly crowded space. It's the "collective weight" of so many Android-reliant companies leaping into the market rather than any one of them pulling ahead, Strategy Analytics says. We wouldn't be shocked if a few Kindle Fire HD sales played a part. More than a few wildcards still surround the figures and their long-term impact. First is that these are estimates, not concrete results: companies like Amazon steadfastly refuse to provide shipment numbers and leave most of the final tally beyond Apple to educated guesswork. It's also an understatement to say that the market will change dramatically before 2012 is over. Between Windows 8's launch, possible Nexus 7 upgrades and two new iPads, there are a lot of pieces moving on the chessboard.
Research: Over 1 billion smartphones in use
Sometimes it appears that everyone in the world uses a smartphone, and now research by Strategy Analytics covered by Bloomberg shows that in reality, there are over 1 billion smartphones in use around the world. The total of 1.038 billion smartphones in use came at the end of the third quarter, meaning that one in every seven individuals on the planet has a smartphone in hand. Strategy Analytics believes that the next billion users will come from emerging markets, and that it will take less than three years to reach the 2 billion user mark. While Nokia introduced the first modern smartphone in 1996, sales accelerated after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Now Apple is seeing explosive growth in sales, as evidenced by the company selling more than 5 million iPhone 5s in the first weekend on the market. The total smartphone market was worth an estimated $219 billion last year, explaining why the market is so critical to the fortunes of market leader Samsung (with a number of smartphone models) and Apple's iPhone.
Strategy Analytics: Android lost US market share in Q2, isn't losing sleep just yet
Android is most definitely on the upward march when it comes to the world stage. But you might be surprised at how it's faring in the US: it's down, according to Strategy Analytics' estimates. As of the second quarter, Google's market share dropped from 60.6 percent a year earlier to 56.3 percent. No one would call it a moment of crisis for Android, but it implies that Apple was drawing in more of the customers jumping ship from other platforms -- the iPhone climbed to 33.2 percent while RIM and others lost ground. The real tests of where the market is going, we imagine, will come in the second half of the year. Apple will have to survive an American summer full of Galaxy S III variants, while Samsung and the rest of the Android camp may have to cope with a bigger than usual iPhone update as 2012 heads into the sunset.
Strategy Analytics: iPad keeps riding high in Q2 tablet market share, Android doesn't budge
The Apple iPad may as well be called the Teflon Tablet for now, since challengers can't quite stick. Thanks to those 17 million iPads shipped in the second quarter, Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple held on to the 68 percent of tablet market share that IDC credited to the company in the previous season. That may not sound like a change in the status quo, but it's a significant jump from the 62 percent Apple had a year ago -- and not very good news for anyone else. Android is still holding on at 29.3 percent, although that's slightly underwhelming given the surge of extra devices in that time frame. The real hurt was dished out to Windows 7 tablets and "others" like RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, both of whom were cut down to just 1.2 points of share each in the spring. We'll see if the newer crowd moves the needle for Android in the summer, although the well-received Nexus 7's current scarcity won't help its chances -- and both Microsoft as well as RIM are in holding patterns for the next several months.
iPhone estimated to have generated $150 billion in revenue globally
Apple's iPhone launched five years ago this week and to say it has been successful is an understatement. Based on a Strategy Analytics report cited by AppleInsider, Apple has shipped 250 million iPhones cumulatively worldwide and has generated US$150 billion in revenue from these shipments. "The iPhone portfolio has become a huge generator of cash and profit for Apple," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. He adds, "A quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide in the first five years since launch and Apple reaches its fifth birthday at the top of its game." Apple now is one of the top smartphone manufacturers and among the top three mobile phone makers worldwide. Last quarter alone, the company shipped 35 million iPhones and this number may increase as Apple expands its business in Asia and other emerging markets.
Nokia is the largest Windows Phone maker in the world, after one quarter
While we can't really say that we're surprised, Nokia has snagged the top spot for Windows Phone devices. Strategy Analytics reports that the Finnish smartphone maker now sits atop the global charts for the Microsoft mobile OS after being in the game for just one quarter. Nokia overtook HTC and Samsung to claim a 33% market share with 0.9 million out of the 2.7 million units shipped in Q4. Aided by the Lumia family's expansion to several new territories and the 36% growth of the platform overall for the quarter, the company has taken "an encouraging baby step forward." If you're itching for more details, hit up the source link below.
Strategy Analytics: Nokia tops global handset shipments, Apple sees quarterly surge
Fresh off the publication of its latest tablet report, Strategy Analytics has come out with a new batch of statistics on the global mobile market. In a report published yesterday, the research firm crowned Apple as the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume, on the strength of the 37 million iPhones it shipped during Q4 2011 -- good for 23.9 percent of the market. Samsung wasn't too far behind, though, with 36.5 million smartphones shipped during the quarter, comprising 23.5 percent of the market. Nokia finished in third place, with 19.6 million smartphones and a 12.6 percent market share, though it fared notably better among handset makers on a global (i.e., smartphone and feature phone) level. According to Strategy Analytics, the Finnish manufacturer shipped 417.1 million handsets for the full year, 113.5 million of which were shipped during the fourth quarter of last year. For the year, Nokia accounted for 26.9 percent of the market, followed by Samsung, which shipped 327.4 million units shipped during 2011 and finished with a 23.1 percent market share. As for Apple, it accounted for 8.3 percent of the market in Q4 (its best showing, according to Strategy's metrics), with 37 million quarterly shipments. You can find more details in the pair of press releases after the break, or at the source link below.
Strategy Analytics: Apple still owns tablet market, but Android narrows the gap
Strategy Analytics has come out with another report on the state of today's tablet market, which, not surprisingly, remains dominated by Apple. Cupertino's iOS comprised about 58 percent of the global slate market during Q4 2011 -- well ahead of Android's record high 39 percent share, but down from the 68 percent it commanded during the final quarter of 2010. Android, in fact, has seen quite a jump over the past year, with total shipments reaching 10.5 million units during the last quarter, up from just 3.1 million last year (Apple, by comparison, shipped 15.4 million iPads during Q4, versus the 7.3 million it shipped last year). On a global level, the tablet market continues to blossom, with total shipments reaching an all-time high of 26.8 million units last quarter, representing a whopping 150 percent increase over last year. Read the full report at the source link below, or head past the break for a more succinct press release.
