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Apple's iPhones Were the Best-Selling Tech Product of 2017 (usatoday.com)

An anonymous reader quotes USA Today: Once again, the iPhone was the best-selling tech product of 2017, selling more units than the No. 2 through No. 5 products combined. According to Daniel Ives, an analyst with GBH Insights, who compiled the chart for USA TODAY, Apple will sell 223 million iPhones in 2017, up from 211 million phones the previous year... Apple took a risk in introducing three new iPhones for 2017...but all in all, Apple sold more iPhones total, although fewer than the peak year of 2015, when it moved 230 million units. (That was the year of the iPhone 6...)

The global market share for smartphones is dominated by Google's Android system, which owns 85%, compared to 15% for Apple's iOS, according to researcher IDC. But the iPhone is the most popular smartphone brand, having opened a huge gap compared to No. 2 Samsung's Galaxy phones at 33 million. However Samsung, which has a broader portfolio of phones, sells more overall. Indeed, in 2016, Samsung shipped over 320 million phones, most lower-priced phones sold outside the United States, like the J3, On8 and A9 lines.

Apple's strong performance through September earned CEO Tim Cook a $9.3 million bonus on top of his $3.06 million salary -- plus vesting of $89.2 million more in Apple stock. Here's the complete list of the five best-selling tech products of 2017:
  • Apple iPhones: 223 million
  • Samsung Galaxy S8 and Note 8 smartphones: 33 million
  • Amazon Echo Dot connected speakers: 24 million
  • Apple Watch: 20 million
  • Nintendo Switch video game console: 15 million

3 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Even a price point of $1000 didn't stop them by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Informative

    Where are people getting the money to buy these every year?

    They aren't. They're buying them on financing (which is being offered at 0% APR, iirc) and then paying them off over the next two years -- just like when they used to buy them with a contract extension, only without the carrier subsidy for the device cost.

  2. Count all Samsung phones,Numbers are just wrong by bongey · · Score: 4, Informative

    This site shows ALL Samsung phones shipments, which easily is 240 million. https://www.statista.com/stati...

  3. Re:So? by tlhIngan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Apple is it's own carefully constructed PR=B$ market, not that it is awful but they have their market niche that they have crafted and are keeping alive.

    Here's a tip - people are smarter than you think.

    If Apple products were all flash and no substance, they wouldn't sell. People would buy it once, sees it sucks, and refuse to buy another. This happens extremely often, and these days, many people don't even buy one if something sucks. (See movies - after the first showing, you get the general idea of how a movie ranks. Rotten Tomatoes and other sites do nothing but aggregate both reviewers and audiences, and sometimes there can be poorly reviewed movies that resonate with audiences, and movies with great reviews but poor audience reviews).

    So if Apple really sold garbage, they wouldn't be where they are today - there's only so much RDF and fanboyism out there.

    Theyâ(TM)re comparing the annual sales of 10 models of iPhone to 3 models of Galaxy? In 2017 Apple sold the iPhone 5C, 5S, 6 (Plus), 6S (Plus), SE, 7 (Plus), 8 (Plus), & X.

    No, Apple did not sell the 5C or the 5S this year - the iPhone SE replaced both in 2016. Some carriers might have offered them for sale as free with plan, but that's a carrier getting rid of recycled units. Same with the 6 and 6S and associated Plus mdoels - they were replaced with the 7 introduced last year and Apple stopped selling them. Again, carriers might sell them as free with plan to clear existing stock. Though in general, sales of the current model (like the 7) drop off sharply after the new year as people get to the middle of the cycle and prefer to wait for the new unit. But even at a carrier store, sales of the "old models" generally fall flat - people want the latest and greatest, and carriers have to push the old models for free just to get any movement on them.