But Samsung did not sell 305 million 'smartphones" in 2016. Samsung sells into the world market and although all of their phones are for the most part Android OS phones, not all are fully smartphones. Samsung did indeed sell 305 million PHONES in 2016, composed of a market mix of approximately 30% miniature computer smartphones, 40% limited feature phones which do not have the full functionality of a computerized smartphone with apps available only from the carriers, and then 30% basic candy bar and flip phones that are far more limited to basic phone functions plus a camera, basic email, and texting. That is per their own statistics. This also coincides with all other makers of Android phones, many of whom do not even compete in the "smartphone" market against the big 10 Android makers, concentrating mostly in the low-end feature phone and low end third world market with their white box no-name offerings that compose the largest segment of the Android phone market.
Ergo, only approximately 100 million of Samsung's phone production in 2016 were directly competitive smartphones to the iPhone smartphone. The numbers of the top end smartphone models that Samsung ships total to that number. . . and the reported sales seem to coincide.
On the other hand, the 216 million phones Apple sold in 2016 were 100% smartphones. There are no Apple feature phones or candy bar or flip phones to dilute those sales.
Apple iPhones get resold for continued use at high prices after their initial user upgrades. Not so much with Android smartphones. The resale value of Android smartphones is simply not there. Part of the reason for this is the iPhones can be and are continually upgraded to the latest iOS for at least five years, not generally so with Android. So the secondary and even tertiary market of Apple iPhones means that Apple iPhones will be useful far longer than their Android competition.
thanx
There’s no profit in selling Android phones. There’s even less profit in supporting Android phones. The carriers are better off when they sell you a new phone. The Sales Kiddie working in your carrier’s store is likely getting SPIFs by selling a you a new Android device.
All of this nonsense jacks up Android sales numbers.
Meanwhile, the poor iPhone users soldier along with their overpriced devices.
In today’s smartphone markets, there is very little to distinguish smartphones from feature phones. In fact, a lot of what are called feature phones nowadays are just as capable as smartphones of a few years ago.
And, you are trying to compare Samsung against Apple when it comes to smartphones, but the Android smartphone market and sales is many times as big as the iPhone sales and iPhone market.
Samsung suffered huge sales losses because of that Note7 debacle last year, and now, they’re having sales numbers with their current crop and much better than Apple with their iPhones. BTW, I don’t care for the Android market, just as much as I don’t care about the iPhone market. I’m just talking sales and markets, with no preference, other than going with the less expensive option, that being Android.
Then, you talk about how older iPhones still sell for good and decent prices, which I consider to be stupid decision-making on the part of consumers. It’s stupid when one can get a brand new Android smartphone, with the latest-and-greatest hardware technology, at the same price as a 2-3 year old iPhone which might be priced at between $300-$500. That’s insane and dumb. I’ll take the brand new full-featured latest-tech smartphone at the same price as an outdated iPhone.