Android is struggling to keep its market share in the United States, as Apple continues to take over in the market. But, despite Android as a whole losing ground, Google Pixel phones are becoming a bigger slice of the US market.
Counterpoint Research reports that, in Q2 2023, US smartphone shipments dropped by 24% year-over-year. That includes both iPhones and Android phones, and virtually every brand saw a drop in shipments. Samsung saw US shipments drop by 37% while Motorola saw a 17% drop. TCL saw the biggest decline at just shy of 70% year-over-year, and even Apple saw a 6% drop.
Yuck why do people continue to buy Apple products?
Everyone wants to adopt the Apple model of hardware+software as one (because it’s the most profitable). Microsoft is trying with their Surface line, Google with the Pixel, Samsung with their fully custom Android-based OS.
If everyone is dropping in market shares, who’s gaining?
Is that the power of iMessage in the US? Peer pressure?
I personally can’t stand iPhones because their back navigation is so inconsistent across apps. In Android with gestures on, you can swipe from either side of the screen to go back nearly anywhere. On an iPhone sometimes there is a back button up top, sometimes you use the left swipe, but the right swipe still doesn’t work last I tried. I switched between the platform in the early days, but since the 5s I’ve not been back.
The only thing I’m definitely getting on my next phone is a flag ship chip. My OnePlus Nord is perfect for me except it’s not quite as quick as I want it to be (to render Gran Turismo 4 in native resolution at stable framerate).
However, in the first quarter, Apple was at 17% of market share in sales globally (still huge).
