The latest data shared by Google shows that the number of Android 13 system devices currently accounts for less than 15%. Although it has increased from 12.1% in April to 14.7% today, it is still unsatisfactory compared to the iOS system. Strangely, the aging Android 8.0 has become the only system version that has grown in the past 3 months, increasing from 6.7% to 8.3%.
In addition to the tail of Android, another crisis is the flight of users. According to the CIRP report, in the year from March 2022 to March 2023, as many as 15% of iPhone buyers in the US market previously used Android phones. In other words, does this mean that a large number of Android users are fleeing to change iPhones, and what are the reasons behind it?
First, the phenomenon: Android 13 has less than 15%, but it has little to do with Android or iPhone
We need to know that although Android 13 has less than 15%, it has little to do with everyone using Android or iPhone. In fact, this is a fragmented thing in Android. Let's look at a set of data:
In April 2023, Android 13 was still 12.1%. But by June, Android 13 was 14.7%.
In other words, Android's system upgrade is too fragmented, so it basically relies on manufacturer drivers and replacement drivers. How to understand? Basically:
- 1, each mobile phone manufacturer has done their own customized development, so whether to upgrade, depending on the manufacturer, different manufacturers have different strategies, maintenance of the old version of the update obviously costs resources (development, testing, etc.), so a large number of mobile phones are not upgraded to the new version of Android, considering the replacement cycle, everyone's system support update cycle is not too long.
- 2, the previous OnePlus 11 provides 4 major version upgrades is already the longest in the Andorid industry, according to Android a large version a year, it is 4 years, and OnePlus Ace 2/Ace 2V 3 years is also very long.
It can be seen from this that everyone's support for old models is not long, so Android is quite serious. This has always been the case, not recently.
- If everyone changes their phones quickly, the new version of Android will become more popular. This has little to do with people fleeing Andorid, because it always will. On the other hand, the iPhone relies on the old phone system update time is long enough, such as iOS 16 compatible with the iPhone 8 5 years ago.
And iPhone upgrades are much simpler than Android, so the penetration rate of new iOS systems is quite high. For example, in February 2023, the iOS 16 penetration rate was 72%, and the iOS device penetration rate in the past 4 years was 81%, which is indeed much higher than Android 13.
Second, analysis: If you are purely discussing products, the advantages of the iPhone are indeed not small
According to my observations, the primary reason for Android users to switch to using the iPhone is experience, which I agree with, after all, every time I open an Android phone, the first thing that greets me is often a pop-up screen ad, which is still mandatory!
- In other words, when the market is ripe, it is a law: the strong will always be strong! 28 differentiation is the best proof, in fact, everyone knows this result, but some companies refuse to admit it.
The CIRP report found that from March 2022 to March 2023, as many as 15% of iPhone users in the US market used Android phones, which is not surprising, and my friends around me also bought the iPhone 14 Pr with 618 Apple price reduction. After all, with 5 years, you can still hang most Android flagships at present, but in the long run, it is still recommended to go on 512G, after all, you don't know how terrible the future APP update is.
And Apple occupies 75% of the high-end smartphone market in 2022, further expanding its share compared to 2021, if it were not for the supply disruption of iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max during the 2022 holiday season, Apple's growth may be more obvious.
According to a report by market research agency Counterpoint, global smartphone sales in 2022 fell by 12% year-on-year, but the sales of the global high-end mobile phone market (priced at more than $600) increased by 1%, contributing more than 55% to the global mobile phone market revenue, and consumers know that Apple mobile phones have always been high-end products, Apple's sales in the high-end market increased by 6% year-on-year, expanding its share and accounting for three-quarters of the total sales in the field.
- At this time, I suddenly thought of a typical argument, isn't Apple mobile phone iOS a little better? Yes, you're right. iPhone 14 does not have 120W fast charging, no 120Hz refresh rate, no 120 times periscope, no 100 million pixel camera, no large battery, but in the third-party e-commerce platform, you can easily win 2 million + sales. And this is only the tip of the iceberg for the overall sales of the iPhone 14, why?
At Apple's fall conference last year, there was a paragraph that impressed me very deeply, that is, when introducing the A16 chip, Apple did not directly compare the A15 or A14, but mentioned the A13, and said unceremoniously: competitors are still struggling to catch up with the performance of the A13 chip.
What is the concept? That's Apple's chip for the iPhone 11 in 2019, and no matter what you say it squeezes toothpaste, the A16 is undoubtedly far ahead of the competition. With the current trend, Apple's long-term leading advantage, competitors are almost impossible to catch up.
- So, purely discussing the product, the advantages of the iPhone are indeed not small. Even with the help of the closed-loop ecology that has been built over the years, a strong moat has been formed.
Third, the essence: There are indeed more Android to iPhone around the world, but not a large number of escapes
To be precise, this should be the increase in the proportion of Android users switching to iPhone users in the past 5 years, and the 15% mentioned at the beginning of the article is the following, which is the source of iPhone users in the United States.
83% of the data in 2023 is old user replacement, 15% is Android, compared to the past 4 years, it is indeed more from Android. However, note that this is the US market, and the Chinese market does not have 2023. But we can refer to QuestMobile's semi-annual report for 2022, and only 50.9% of Apple's users choose Apple.
- And the data of 2021, in contrast, Apple did grow in 2022. However, nearly half of Apple users did not continue to choose Apple phones when they switched phones. Therefore, at least in China, it can also be said that a large number of users fled Apple for Android or Hongmeng.
Why? Because the domestic Android mobile phone market is too rolled, there are indeed many good mobile phones coming out. And the United States, in addition to Apple, is mainly Samsung. Some domestic manufacturers do very good mobile phones, in fact, in the United States is not sold, the choice is mainly concentrated in Samsung and Apple, and Samsung's progress speed and Apple half a pound eight taels, so more choices of iPhone can also be understood.
In addition, as long as we compare the proportion of Android for iPhone in 2015 and 2016, in fact, it is not a large number of escapes, of course, it does seem that the growth of the iPhone is good.
Finally, let's look at the data of the domestic market in the first quarter of this year: the mobile phone market in the first quarter is still in the trough of decline, the market share of domestic Android manufacturers in addition to OPPO has declined to varying degrees, and Apple's market share has risen by 0.9%, which I personally believe is far from reaching the point where a large number of Android users flee for Apple.
- In the first quarter of this year, Huawei returned to the top 10 of the global mobile phone market share, in the case of a year-on-year decline in Android brands, Huawei sprang up and achieved a good result of substantial market share growth, compared with Apple's growth range, Huawei's new market share will be significantly larger.
So, at least in China, is it a large number of Android users who flee for iPhone or throw themselves into the arms of Huawei Hongmeng?
Final words: For consumers, who can meet your needs, you choose
In short, the domestic mobile phone brands that occupy most of the market share in the Android market began to deviate from the cost-effective route, and began to constantly raise the price, and the price was directly killed under Apple's nose, but we will still find that in the high-end field is still Apple's main battlefield, and the proportion of iPhone buyers from Android is indeed increasing, but a large number of escapes seem to be exaggerated.
- That said, Android fragmentation is a constant occurrence, not the reason why Android users are fleeing. What's more, domestic iPhone users are actually fleeing to Andorid in large numbers, and if 15% of the United States is a large number of flees, 50% should be even more so. Of course, whether it is an Android mobile phone or an iPhone, it has its own merits, if you like to use Android, you will use Android, if you like to use Apple, for us consumers, who can meet my needs, I will choose.
#5月财经新势力 #