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

Posted by EditorDavid on from the iPhoning-it-in dept.

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

11 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. So? by p51d007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Apple sold 223 million phones. Android has zillions of manufacturers, which eclipses anything Apple did. 85% of the smartphone market, is Android.

    1. Re:So? by jeremyp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Android isn't an electronic device, it's an operating system that electronic devices use. When you are looking at which PC manufacturers sold the most computers, you don't lump all the ones that run Windows into one category and say Windows PCs win. Why would you do the same with Android?

      It's not even as if those 85% of phones run the same operating system. Sure it's some version of Android that's been hacked about by the manufacturer and they're only using it because they get it for next to nothing off Google.None of these manufacturers are subscribing to the ideals of Open Source, they use Android because only Google has the financial resources to maintain an operating system to compete with iOS.

      Also, you do not want Android to win. Android and iOS are only as good as they are because of the competition that the other provides. The day that Apple is forced out of the Smartphone market is the day that Android stops getting better.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    2. 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.

  3. Lies, Damn Lies, and Sales Figures... by Zocalo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe they're working on partial data from the vendors, but those entirely arbitrary groupings of specific products, closely related products, and entire product ranges make this pretty a meaningless apples to oranges comparison. The figure of 223m is for all models of iPhone, e.g. every model of phone Apple makes (albeit unclear if they mean just the three models released in 2017 or older models too), yet the figure for Samsung is for one pair of related models out of many other ranges, most of which are part of the Galaxy line which they then go on to state is more popular than the iPhone, and the other three products on the list are specific models, albeit with some different bundle and style options.

    You can't even say it's done that way to turn it into a pro-Apple fluff piece because there's no way that those 223m iPhones Apple shipped can't end up with them having the most popular individual product of 2017 (almost certainly the iPhone 8) when broken down to that level.

    --
    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    1. Re: Lies, Damn Lies, and Sales Figures... by Zocalo · · Score: 2

      When I started using Android years ago. I was literally the only one. Now, iPhone users are the exceptions.

      I've been firmly in the Android camp for years too (since Froyo), but I think that likely depends a great deal on your circle of acquaintances. I work in IT and civil engineering but spend a lot of my spare time doing photography, visiting galleries, and mixing with people more on the artistic/creative end of the spectrum. There's a fair bit of overlap between the two groups (quite a few in STEM fields are also into photography), but in general the former are almost exclusively Android users and the latter almost exclusively Apple, with those like myself that straddle the two groups being those more likely to be the exceptions in a given gathering. That division doesn't really surprise me; Apple marketing clearly puts style pretty high up their feature list, Android phone marketing tends to focus more the specs, so I guess they all know their target audience and are playing to it.

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    2. Re:Lies, Damn Lies, and Sales Figures... by tbq · · Score: 2

      They’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. Samsung started selling the Galaxy 8 and 8+ this past spring and the Note 8 in September. A fair comparison would be comparing the iPhone X to the Note 8 since both were released this past fall and have similar price points. I’d assume the X sold more units than the Note, but I haven’t seen the numbers for either.
      Either way Samsung sells around 50% more phones than Apple, and makes components for all of the iPhones and many other smart phones as well.

    3. Re: Lies, Damn Lies, and Sales Figures... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      I work in the security group in one of the top computer science departments in the world, and I think I'm the only one on the corridor that has an Android phone. It helps that one of my colleagues wrote a bunch of the code that they use for sandboxing, but we work with both the Apple and Android security teams and there's no way any of us would trust important data to an Android phone.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  4. To Make You by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    And also slowing down old phones to make you buy another.

    Which is cheaper: $29 battery replacement, or new iPhone.

    HMMMMM.

    Meanwhile on Android instead of slowing down the phones or offering cheap battery replacements, you just get to have a phone that has half the battery life after a few years. Sounds VASTLY MORE AWESOME.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  5. 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...

  6. Re:Even a price point of $1000 didn't stop them by maybe111 · · Score: 2

    kids nowadays don't buy cars, they buy "phones"