Apple has surpassed Android devices to account for more than half of all smartphones used in the United States, giving the iPhone maker an advantage over its competitors in areas such as finance and healthcare.
The 50 percent milestone – the iPhone’s highest share since its launch in 2007 – was broken for the first time in the quarter ended June, according to Counterpoint Research. About 150 devices using Google’s Android operating system, led by Samsung and Lenovo, accounted for the rest.
“Operating systems are like religions – there’s never been a major change. But for the last four years, Android has been the direction of flow for iOS,” said Jeff Fieldhack, research director at Counterpoint. “This is an important milestone, and we can see it replicated in other affluent countries around the world.”
The numbers are based on smartphones in use, the so-called “active installed base,” which Apple CFO Luca Maestri called “the engine of our company” during the July earnings call.
It’s a broader, more meaningful category than new phone shipments, which fluctuate from quarter to quarter and have demonstrated Apple’s newfound strength.
The active install base takes into account the millions of people who have entered the Apple ecosystem through the used phone market, as well as those using iPhones purchased years ago.
CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood said, “It’s not so much that we’re seeing a bumper year of 10 or 15 percent growth in Apple’s market share, but this slow growth where they’re quietly grabbing more share every year.”
According to the NPD Group, Android-based smartphones first went on sale in 2008, a year after the iPhone was launched, and surpassed the installed base of iOS in 2010. In the past three years, Apple’s market share has never approached 50 percent as Nokia, Motorola, Windows and BlackBerry have dominated sales.
As Apple CEO Tim Cook prepares to unveil the iPhone 14 on Wednesday, the milestone suggests the company has never been in a more competitive position, despite persistent criticism that it has lost its innovative edge.
The group’s fall-themed events in recent years have been more about the development of existing gadgets than the “one more thing” product launches made famous by company founder Steve Jobs.
For the first time since the Covid-19 explosion, Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone at a live event in Cupertino, California. analysts expect a better camera and smaller “notch” for the sensor display, as well as a more rugged version of the Apple Watch.
Under Cook’s leadership, disruptive products like the iPhone have spawned an entire industry, making Apple the world’s largest company with a market capitalization of $2.5 trillion.
“Cook took what Steve Jobs gave him and built an empire out of it,” Wood said. “Because anyone who buys an iPhone – whether it’s used, third-hand or fourth-hand – is likely to give Apple some money to buy apps, pay for iCloud, use Apple Music, or make a transaction on Apple Pay. It’s a model that no one else can replicate.”
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As iPhone penetration reaches saturation, Cook has moved into movies and TV, advertising and payments, and fitness and health, capitalizing on a global installed base of more than 1 billion iPhones by 2020.
The result is continued double-digit revenue growth from diversified “services” with margins of more than 70 percent – twice the profitability of its hardware business.
In the June quarter, the number of people paying for this range of services reached 860 million – roughly double the total number of Netflix and Disney-Plus subscribers.
Given that the rest of the world is still dominated by Android, largely because of its diversity and lower cost, analysts believe Apple has plenty of room to increase its market share. Cook recently said that the group “set a record for switchers in the June quarter” – a shift in consumers from Android to iOS.
