Apple's iPhones have overtaken Android devices to account for more than half of all smartphones used in the United States, according to data from Counterpoint Research (via Financial Times).
The active installed base of iPhones passed the 50% landmark in the quarter ending in June, while around 150 other mobile brands using Google's Android operating system, led by Samsung and Lenovo, accounted for the rest.
"Operating systems are like religions — never significant changes. But over the past four years the flow has consistently been Android to iOS," said Counterpoint's research director, Jeff Fieldhack. "This is a big milestone that we could see replicated in other affluent countries across the globe."
Compared to annual sales, the active installed base is an even more significant competitive marker representing Apple's slow burn in the smartphone market, as it takes into account users brought into the Apple ecosystem through the used phone market as well as those who use iPhones that were purchased years ago.
Android phones appeared on the market in 2008, a year after the iPhone debuted, and overtook the iOS-installed base in 2010, according to NPD group. In the three years previous, phone sales were dominated by the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Windows, and Blackberry.
The iPhone has made Apple the largest company in the world, with a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion. In 2020, the installed global base for iPhones surpassed 1 billion devices. CEO Tim Cook recently said that Apple had "set a June quarter record for switchers," or consumers leaving Android for iOS.
Apple will unveil the next-generation iPhone 14 series at its "Far Out" media event on Wednesday, September 7, where it is also expected to debut the Apple Watch Series 8. We are expecting a 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.7-inch iPhone Max, a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max. There will be no 5.4-inch iPhone "mini" this year, with Apple instead opting for larger devices.
Top Rated Comments
The Android OS is fantastic from a UI/UX perspective. But the hardware it runs on is always not quite as good. Not as reliable. And long term support is always kinda crap. By year 3 with my Pixel 3XL the experience was not good (UI crashes when running intensive stuff like Google maps). And always in the back of my mind I had to worry about the phone just not turning on one day as happened to many others. AND Google dropped OS support for my phone at the 3 year mark even though I bought it directly from them.
I was just done. I’m hoping Google eventually figures out their new tensor chips but I refuse to keep waiting in hopes that the next pixel will finally be THE ONE. They’ll have to prove that they can produce hardware of the same caliber as this fantastic iPhone 13 Pro Max first before I come back.
Android has some nice UI features but is super inconsistent across brands. Also its scary what developers can do an Android which is blocked on iOS for user protection (Android got better in that respect over the years, but still lacks and there are still too many old Android versions out there.
Another issue is how long it often takes to get the latest Android OS for some devices - if you can get it at all. If you don‘t upgrade the hardware every few years, you are stuck on old Android OS missing out on many new features (and new privacy protection that is slowly added)
And yes, Android hardware is in general not good - shocked that Google has such s*** hardware, they should be the once showing everyone else how to do it right.
So I get why people switch to iOS
Ads … as long as they don‘t spy on my, track me and sell my data for other purposes, I‘m ok for it
And google does not lack any marketing … they just have a bad history that people finally take notice of