The importance of the iPhone in Apple’s accounts, prestige and image It is difficult to quantify with precision, but what is indisputable is that, today, if those from Cupertino did not have the absolute success of their smartphone, the situation could be very different (and worse) for the company. I bet if Tim Cook was given a choice between losing an arm or Apple losing the iPhone, he would politely ask if he at least gets to choose which (arms, that is).
It is true that the company acts intelligently when tries to drive the interest of users and potential customers to other devices and serviceshaving all their eggs in the same basket has always been a very risky practice, they know it and, instead of giving in to complacency, they look for ways to grow their catalog (in a measured way, yes, I repeat that we are talking about Apple) to, in this way, reduce the impact of iPhone sales on their accounts.
Now, the fact that they intend to diversify does not mean, of course, that they put their smartphone aside, nor does it mean that they resist the good news that it usually provides them. So we can imagine that these days they must be having wine and roses in Cupertino, where they may even have stopped working for a few minutes. to toast some figures which show that the pull of the iPhone remains unchanged, when more than 15 years have already passed since the first generation of it arrived (in a very, very limited way) on the market.
If we talk about mobile operating systems there is little discussion about it, Android exceeds 70% of the global market share, while Apple remains around 27%. However, if we talk about the best-selling brand, a Counterpoint Research report tells us that in the fourth quarter of 2022 Apple has overtaken Samsung, becoming the first seller of smartphones. To be more exact, about 23% of smartphones sold during that period were iPhones. The previous two quarters, Apple’s market share in this market was around 16%, so we are talking about a notable increase.
The main reason for this increase can be found, of course, in the launch of the iPhone 14 last September, and for us to understand the importance of the “pull” that the launch of this new generation meant for the entire market, you should know that only two of the six brands referenced in the graph above increased their market share during the fourth quarter, AApple and Oppoalthough its growth was much lower than that of Cupertino.
Perhaps, after all, Tim Cook was right when he stated, in a meeting with shareholders, that the price is not a problem for the user of the iPhone, and that he would be willing to pay even more than what it currently costs, as long as you feel that the investment is justified, of course.
