image Tom's Guide
Posted on 04/18/2018 11:54:17 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Apple remained the most profitable smartphone brand through the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a new market research report.
The Cupertino tech giant managed to capture 86 percent of the total smartphone market profits Q4 2017, even though the premium handset segment didn’t grow as expected, according to a new report by Counterpoint Research (via CNBC).
Additionally, the iPhone X accounted for 21 percent of total revenue and 35 percent total of the profits made by the entire industry in the fourth quarter — allowing Apple to grow about 1 percent, year-over-year. That’s despite the fact that the premium flagship was only available for two months of the quarter, Counterpoint noted.
For context, the iPhone X generated about five times as much profit as more than 600 Android manufacturers in the same time period combined. And the device isn’t done doing well for Apple.
“The share of the iPhone X is likely to grow as it advances further into its life-cycle,” Counterpoint Analyst Karn Chauhan said. “Additionally, the longer shelf life of all iPhones ensured that Apple still has eight out of top 10 smartphones, including its three-year-old-models.”
The analyst added that these devices generate much more profits than those made by competing OEMs. Some of those competitors include Chinese manufacturers like Huawei, ZTE and Oppo, who are all stepping up their brand by including more devices aimed at the premium sector (which, as a result, are selling for a higher average price). Still, Apple and Samsung lead the industry in terms of total profits.
Apple CEO Tim Cook previously stated in an earnings call that the iPhone X was the company’s biggest seller through every week of the critical holiday shopping season. He added that the popularity of the device continued into February and wasn’t restricted to the holiday period.
Of course, Apple does not break down iPhone sales on a per-device basis. But in February, the company announced that it sold 77.3 million iPhones, about a 1 percent decline from the previous year. On the other hand, the higher price of this year’s lineup did manage to drive higher profits and revenue.
Counterpoint’s research seems to run contrary to the handful of reports that suggest Apple has seen mediocre sales and low demand for its flagship iPhone X.
While not all of those reports are of verifiable accuracy, they still line up with an overall industry-wide trend of declining smartphone sales. As CNBC points out, the global market has likely already peaked due to longer replacement cycles. Due to that, Apple’s Services business is slated to dethrone the iPhone and become the firm’s largest driver of revenue growth.
While Apple’s smartphone sales may be slowly declining overall, it seems that its flagship product isn’t quite done making money for the firm.
I see the usual crowd showed up to kick sand in our faces. Why do they feel the need? Defensiveness about their own technological choices?
I use the TOR Browser and my search engine isn't Google.
You’re kidding yourself. You’re being tracked big time. *You* are the product being sold.
Surely you don’t believe that Google *gives away the Android system* to be kind??
Not to mention 3 out of 4 Android apps track you to profit from your information...
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/over-75-of-android-apps-are-secretly-tracking-users/
But the important thing is you paid less for your phone and you like it.
I support choice and competition. It benefits us all.
Your belief that Androids are cheaper than iPhones because Apple isn't tracking you is cute, and wrong. Androids are cheaper because Apple is skinning you alive, and you've brainwashed yourself into liking it.
Wow, in other words, Apple is doooooooooooooomed! ;’)
Just because you’re on an older version of Android does not mean that you’ve not received security updates. What is labeled as “malware” also matters, often just apps that have requested permissions that the user GRANTED. So what you’re calling exploits is skewed.
Things like SE-Linux and dm-verity go a long way. I’ve never had a problem in many years of use, you just have to understand what you’re installing and what it is asking for. I’m on security mailing lists for multiple OS’s and the bottom line is, don’t be lured into a false sense of security with any one of them. iOS is not special.
You’re lying. I’ve supported over 300,000 PC/MAC’s for nearly 20 years at a Fortune 100 company. I’m talking about actual facts, you’re talking about something you’ve heard. Try facts next time.
“Your belief that Androids are cheaper than iPhones because Apple isn’t tracking you is cute, and wrong.
I don’t claim it is the only reason. But it has s entirely valid.
I buy iPhones because they work, are a joy to use, are not rife with viruses or tracking apps, and because I’m not sold to others as a product. Those factors are a fair value for money to me and a billion others.
I don’t see the FBI whining to Google to unlock android phones.
Other people would prefer an iPhone knockoff at a discount. Their choice. Lots of people like shopping at Walmart or The Dollar Store. I do not. I’m happy for people to choose Walmart, or other places like it, though.
If price has to be your primary consideration, I understand. Nothing dishonorable in that.
I don’t really care what phone anyone else uses. Competition from the knockoffs keeps Apple on its toes.
Price isn’t the primary consideration in refusing to stupidly prop up Apple profiteering. VALUE is.
“Price isn’t the primary consideration in refusing to stupidly prop up Apple profiteering. VALUE is.”
Now you’re just being silly FRiend.
Value is decided by each consumer.
You believe becoming the product I order to pay a cheaper price for an iPhone knockoff is a fair trade of value.
Great! I wish you every enjoyment of your choice...
... but I do not define value as you do.
I will happily and willingly pay more for value as I define it up-thread. I am so happy with this trade that I’ve made it on multiple occasions and will again.
Capitalism leaves us both happy!
ROTFLMAO!
Oh BS, Tex. You have not provided a single FACT, just your ex cathedra claims. . . and anecdotes you've heard.
I've presented nothing but checkable facts, Tex, providing current factual charts from known sources such as Tom's Hardware, Computerworld, and Consumers Reports, and checkable statements from the people who are actually running IT for large Apple hardware installs, such as IBM's VP in charge of their IT department. Last I checked IBM is #32 on the Fortune 500 list and they are going 100% Apple because Apple computers are MORE RELIABLE and SAVE them large amounts in IBM's IT costs, and they are willing to say so, publicly and have said so, multiple times. Do you doubt those facts?
Are you asserting those are NOT reliable sources for FACTS, Tex?
Here's another one on the IBM deployment of Apple Macs (emphasis used is mine):
IBM cuts down IT support staff w/ Mac deployment, says 5% of Mac users call help desk vs 40% for PCsDeploying Macs to employees has helped IBM significantly reduce its IT staff and cut down on time and costs, the company’s VP of Workplace-as-a-Service Fletcher Previn explained at a recent talk during the JAMF Nation User Conference (JNUC). Previn offered some insight into how offering Macs has improved efficiency for the company’s internal IT staff since IBM for the first time started offering its employees Macs as an official alternative to PCs back in May.
Previn noted that “Every Mac that we buy is making and saving IBM money,” and that “A Mac still has value three or four years down the road.” An example of the added value of using Macs versus PCs is the amount of support required. IBM has just 24 help desk staff that are supporting around 130,000 Mac and iOS devices deployed throughout the company. That’s just one support member for 5,375 employees, but Previn boasts that’s because only approximately 5% of Mac users request support compared to around 40% of its PC using employees.
Previn said that Gartner believes the optimal number of IT to employees should be 1:70. Previn noted that the average is 1:242. And IBM is currently hovering around 1:5,400. Wow!IBM originally planned to deploy around 50,000 new Macs to the company by the end of the year when it first announced the initiative back in May. At the JAMF conference it said it’s currently deploying around 1,900 Macs per week with 130,000 Apple devices already in use at the company.
A couple months back Apple and IBM announced an expanded partnership that will see it distribute and support enterprise Macs for other companies in addition to its work together to deploy and support iOS devices and software.
IBM is using JAMF’s Casper suite to deploy software to the Macs.
And here's the latest report from Rescue.com on the repair records of various computer brands' reliability:
Yet you say I am the one lying? You still want to say that Apple hardware breaks down more than all other hardware COMBINED? LOL! I accuse you of bald face lying.
I have been posting proof of my assertion, with SOURCES, which is not some unknown internet poster, like you, making uncheckable anecdotal claims about "20 years in a Fortune 100 company claiming 300,000 PC/MAC's" (You don't even know the correct name of Apple's computer is not an acronym). There is no way you supported any such thing as a large number of Macs among those claimed 300,000 PCs. If you even worked at one of the Fortune 100's various locations, you personally supported only a few of their PCs, and perhaps heard second hand anecdotes about supporting the Macs.
I lived and worked within 10 minutes of the World's largest Apple installed network of Macs during Apple's first twenty years and it was nowhere near 300,000. There were 2200 Macs in a mixed PC/Mac network—majority Mac—at San Joaquin Delta College during the late 1980s to early 1990s and their experience with failures was no where near what you claim. I bought several pallets of perfectly workable retired Macs, monitors, and accessories at auction from the college's surplus auctions for a non-profit charity I founded and they ran perfectly for several years post purchase. That, Tex, is an anecdote, because I am not going to take the time to research for the proof of that statement. However, I knew the head of the IT department at that college, he lived down the block from me and helped me set up a WAN to allow the charity's ten satellite locations to connect securely to the main location's Network and server data base over the phone.
I owned a business for more than 40 years which did cross platform support for both PCs and Macs for businesses and organizations, both public and private, including City, County, and State governments, (I had clients from Sacramento to Modesto to Concord). . . and I will tell you which platform had far more problems per installation. . . and it wasn't the Apple Mac. That's another anecdote. . . but it's based on actual experience.
I have provided FACTUAL data which you reject because YOU are the one living in your own reality distortion field and simply refuse to see it. There is not a single lie in what I have posted here. You just don't want it to be true.
So much for your Lying assertions that". . . Apple devices fail far more often than all other devices put together. They require more user support and are a cost burden." You made that completely untenable assertion and the facts blow you out of the water. . . and you've provided nothing factual but your unsupported anecdote to make the claim or to rebut my evidence.
Actually, it pretty much does. That model relies on the Android user updating the security updates on a regular basis, taking an active responsibility for their own security. The percentage of users who do that is very small. Anything that relies on the alacrity and reliability of users to take care of updating their own devices in a toxic environment is a dangerous model. It assumes every user is a perfect device manager with nothing but time on their hands and interest in taking the time to seek out what's necessary to properly manage their Android devices.
In addition, many Android users rely on their carriers for updates. . . and the carriers aren't very good at doing updates and even some manufacturers aren't:
Android phone makers skip Google security updates without telling users – study
The Guardian, by Samuel Gibbs, April 13, 2018.Users told smartphone’s software has been updated with monthly patches when it hasn’t, new research claims
We found several vendors that didn’t install a single patch but changed the patch date forward by several months. That’s deliberate deception, and it’s not very common,’ says Security Research Labs founder Karsten Nohl. (Photograph: Not Shown due to being a Getty Image)
Some Android smartphone manufacturers are skipping security patches without notifying users, instead claiming their smartphone’s software is up to date with Google’s monthly security releases, researchers say.
Researchers from Germany’s Security Research Labs (SRL) conducted a two-year study into the state of Android security focused around the monthly updates that Google issues and urges smartphone manufacturers to install.
These monthly updates are crucial for keeping smartphones secure, fixing collections of known bugs and holes each month to keep hackers at bay. But the researchers found there is often a hidden “patch gap” between what the manufacturers tell the users and what they actually do to the software – some simply tell people they have updated the phones without actually patching anything.
This is an excerpt, more information at the link. . .
Older versions of Android are in even a more precarious situation. Nice try.
iOS is not special.
Interesting you'd say that. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating.
There are now over one BILLION active iOS devices in the wild, fuzzy. Exactly where are the matching levels of malware commensurate with that number of active devices? You claim is that it is equivalently vulnerable to the other platform which has millions of different malware in the wild targeting that platform. You certainly cannot claim security by obscurity due to low numbers of distribution for iOS with over a billion active devices. Your Linux devices can certainly be counted there, but not iOS or even Macs. So, I again ask you, Fuzzy, where is all the malware for the iOS platform?
What is labeled as “malware” also matters, often just apps that have requested permissions that the user GRANTED.
Also nice try trying to obfuscate the meaning of "Malware." It doesn't wash.
No, you aren't. You still have not provided one iota of objective factual data, not one link, historical or other wise, to prove your assertion. You claim to know more than anyone else, including all of the statistics and the people and major corporations who actually REALLY do work with Apple hardware. . . and publicly put their business reputations on the line, which you denigrate as "conjecture by some iSheep." That is just more lying by you because you have no evidence any of them are "ISheep." You are just a delusional, lying troll blowing smoke, trying to destroy the thread.
From the beginning of this thread, you demonstrated your lack of facts by resorting to the use of ad hominem attacks, by using such terms as "iSheep" to insult any Apple users in the thread.
You’re distorting a lot of information and the landscape is constantly changing. Malware is considered to be a wide ranging set of threats, including spyware. Hackers will always target the most deployed systems, which is Android and Windows, period.
As iOS has become more widespread it’s getting more attention and the rates of change (in successful exploits) are increasingly worse for iOS.
For your own well being, I’m just recommending that you don’t have too much faith in iOS, ...goes for everyone.
So here goes one more time: Is it, or is it NOT true, that Android devices are not updated regularly, if not to the next OS, at least security patches? I ask this because, after following your conversation with Swordmaker, it does not seem you refuted him when he presented evidence of this. This last reply of yours, with all due respect, does not refute this claim. And again, I want it to be refuted believe me! (read the hyperlinked post of my disgusting experience with Apple). I'm no "iSheep"! I hate Apple Inc., but can't feel even now that I can trust my data to any other manufacturer.
Others pinged from the thread because I'd like as many opinions as possible on the question above thank you. And please, if possible, prove your assertions (like it appears, at least to me, Swordmaker has). My refusal to go to another type of smartphone has nothing to do with some blind fanboi love of Apple, believe me. It's simply because I've never seen anyone prove that the assertion "Android devices are not updated regularly", is false. The minute someone does that, to my satisfaction, is when I leave Apple Inc. in the rear-view mirror forever. Believe me!
That’s because my main issue is that his position is overstated on both OS’s, but I didn’t state *wrong*. Any system is only as secure as the behavior of the user. I make sure I only download from the Android store, I check the security permissions of the application I’m about to install, I don’t side-load apps. An awful lot of threats involve actions by the user. NO SYSTEM IS *****EVER***** 100% secure, it’s just about what kind of REAL delta that we’re talking about.
It has been a very long time since I had any problems on either an Android phone (I’ve owned them for a long time) or a Windows machine, things are far from where they used to be and are greatly improved. I refuse to pay the ridiculous Apple prices. Good behavior goes a long way. Since Android Lollipop the use of SE-Linux, which defaults resource access to “denied” unless explicitly allowed, along with filesystem tamper detection mechanisms like “dm-verity” made the environment *much* better. The major Android phone makers (e.g. Samsung) do provide security updates. Apple has pushed out updates that did things people didn’t want or like. I like to be in control. New Android phones are far removed from where things used to be, while there’s an acceleration of attempts to hack iOS devices, which will find new exploits. As Android devices can be made cheaply, by crappy device makers, expect cheap support. I don’t buy those. Lumping all Android devices together is a mistake.
I’m a highly qualified software architect, I understand what not to do better than most - which also biases me toward the less expensive, with Apple you *always* pay a premium.
So the main point is, yes, Apple has a better track record but the gap has narrowed greatly and the rising bad statistics are on the iOS side. How much more do you want to pay for the one being *perceived* as better moving forward? ...because as of right now, a lot of it is perception, especially against quality Android devices. If you’re conscious of what you do, and what not to do, I wouldn’t worry (I don’t). Are you sure the Spectre and Meltdown fixes from Apple *truely* fix all the problems? I’ve seen these “fixes” go round and round, people are still unsure.
No, they don't. They target VULNERABLE targets, fuzzy. If you think that, why did someone write a self-propagating virus/worm to infect all 18,000 Black Ice Firewalls that had not been updated. These vulnerable computers were spread all over the world yet within 35 minutes of the worm being released onto the internet all 18,000 vulnerable computers were infected.
There are over 150 MILLION Apple Macs in the wild, with 99% of them operating without any kind of third-party anti-malware at all. Countless studies have shown that Apple Mac users are wealthier and have more disposable income than PC users. So, Fuzzy, here are approximately 148.5 million unprotected, bare naked wealthy Mac users sitting there dumb and stupid targets, just waiting to be fleeced of their money, while over there are armored to the teeth Windows PCs people, covered and protected with their anti-Virus wares. Why then have there been ZERO viable viruses/worms and only about 140 known Trojans for OSX/macOS Macs in the over 20 years that they have been in the wild?
As iOS has become more widespread it’s getting more attention and the rates of change (in successful exploits) are increasingly worse for iOS.
The number of viable EXPLOITS in the wild that could invade a fully up-to-date iOS device can still be counted on the fingers of ONE HAND, Fuzzy. Name any you think are "Increasingly worse for iOS." Name ANY that have had a major impact. Almost every one of them you may have heard about were for JAILBROKEN iPhones, i.e. iPhones that had their protections REMOVED.
https://www.skycure.com/pr/report-finds-rate-ios-malware-increasing-faster-android-malware-iphone-ten-year-anniversary/
Do you have any inkling of what "Disclosed iOS Vulnerabilities" are, and WHO disclosed the vast majority of them? Apple disclosed them, Fuzzy, AFTER they patched them. Among the "Oh, so dangerous vulnerabilities" were a host of vulnerabilities they listed from China where they listed all the problems with JAILBROKEN iPhones. . . and the XcodeGhost, none of which ever made it to the USA. There were a TOTAL of 3,830 infected apps on THIRD-PARTY App stores, something that the Chinese do, because a lot of them JAILBREAK their devices. In other words, they take out the built-in protections and then download apps from really sketchy sources made by people who upload un-curated apps.
After TEN YEARS of experience with iOS, and TWENTY years of experience with OSX/macOS, we have a lot more experience to base our reliance on these operating systems and their security. We've been told what you are saying for those same ten and twenty years. You sound like Chicken Little... and have just as much credibility. You have ZERO credible evidence for all your running around. crying the "Sky is falling" and claiming we need to use the SAME steel umbrella protections you guys with your Swiss cheese OSes have to use if we are ever going to be secure. Our years' long experience, while listening and watching you continually patch your umbrellas, is we really don't.
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