Huawei Passes Apple in Smartphone Share for the First Time

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

That is certainly an interesting perspective to take. I personally don't equate making something a commodity as making it "great."  

What's great about phones is their use as mobile communications devices. If you wanted to use Whatsapp or whatever with a poorer friend circa 2009 you were SOL but today smartphones are so cheap that almost everyone has one

[Guest]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

And that is the problem. If Huawei can only appeal to small markets with very little profit, they might ship a lot of units, but they won't be making a lot of money while doing it. 

Huawei is marketed a lot in China, the same market that showed a lot of growth in iPhone sales. It's a really big market now. 

[Blademaster91]

14 minutes ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Removing essential features and upping the price of your products while not improving them compared to the competition?

It doesn't really matter when Apple has such good marketing they convince their users removing basic or essential features is a good thing.

Building a userbase that wants a cheaper phone with better or more features is better from a consumer standpoint,IMO anyway. I'd rather not brag about how much more a brand is emptying my wallet with insane profit margins.

 

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, RorzNZ said:

Huawei is marketed a lot in China, the same market that showed a lot of growth in iPhone sales. It's a really big market now. 

China is their home market, they should be doing well there. I do not realistically see them competing in the high end in markets like America and Europe. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

And that is the problem. If Huawei can only appeal to small markets with very little profit to be had in them, then they might ship a lot of units, but they won't be making a lot of money while doing it. 

No matter how much profit they make now some of those economies are developing rapidly and in 10 years they'll be able to afford mid range or high end phones and Huawei will have brand loyalty there giving them a big boost out of the gate, plus if they're focused on supporting non-English/Chinese language support it'll give them a big boost in other regions

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

2 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

It doesn't really matter when Apple has such good marketing they convince their users removing basic or essential features is a good thing.

Building a userbase that wants a cheaper phone with better features a is better from a consumer standpoint,IMO anyway. I'd rather not brag about how much more a brand is emptying my wallet with insane profit margins.

 

As I said, they've all but founded a religion

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I do not realistically see them competing in the high end in markets like America and Europe. 

The P20 got a lot of happy users and as I said emerging markets in Latin America will allow them to sell midrange or high end phones in that market soon-ish

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

No matter how much profit they make now some of those economies are developing rapidly and in 10 years they'll be able to afford mid range or high end phones and Huawei will have brand loyalty there giving them a big boost out of the gate, plus if they're focused on supporting non-English/Chinese language support it'll give them a big boost in other regions

That is a possible business strategy, though that is an extremely long term plan and in the meantime everyone else is going to be fighting in those markets. 

 

They might be able to pull it off, but that is a very fragile strategy. 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

China is their home market, they should be doing well there. I do not realistically see them competing in the high end in markets like America and Europe. 

Maybe not Europe, but America has slightly cheaper taste. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

4 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

That is a possible business strategy, though that is an extremely long term plan and in the meantime everyone else is going to be fighting in those markets. 

 

They might be able to pull it off, but that is a very fragile strategy. 

There are 425 million people in South America and the combined GDP is almost 7 trillion dollars at purchasing-power parity, not to mention Mexico and Central America (200 million people and $1.3tr. nominal GDP) Brazil is a massive market already, and still lacking a homegrown manufacturer and the rest of South America is rapidly developing to the point that the average Peruvian or Chilean will soon be able to afford luxuries like expensive phones

[captain_to_fire]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

China is their home market, they should be doing well there. I do not realistically see them competing in the high end in markets like America and Europe. 

Well due to concerns of national security I don’t see Huawei or any Chinese OEM surpassing Apple or even Samsung (since South Korea is a US ally/trading partner). However, Huawei and other Chinese OEMs are quite big in Asia. Considering that Asia alone has way more people than North America and Europe combined, it doesn’t surprise me that they managed to dethrone Apple. 

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

There are 425 million people in South America and the combined GDP is almost 7 trillion dollars at purchasing-power parity. Brazil is a massive market already, and still lacking a homegrown manufacturer and the rest of South America is rapidly developing to the point that the average Peruvian or Chilean will soon be able to afford luxuries like expensive phones

What an awesome oversimplification of a market. 

 

Saying a country has 7 trillion in GDP means nothing. To make good money you need to good margins and people to buy products. Huawei seems to be able to get the sales aspect down, but they need to figure out how to increase margins if they want to do better as a company.  

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

1 minute ago, DrMacintosh said:

What an awesome oversimplification of a market. 

 

Saying a country has 7 trillion in GDP means nothing. To make good money you need to good margins and people to buy products. Huawei seems to be able to get the sales aspect down, but they need to figure out how to increase margins if they want to do better as a company.  

How Apple increases its margins is by being the focus of a religious cult so I don't think that's practical for them although massive gross sales will mean they'll make a lot of money either way

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, captain_to_fire said:

Well due to concerns of national security I don’t see Huawei or any Chinese OEM surpassing Apple or even Samsung (since South Korea is a US ally/trading partner).

I really didn't to open that can of worms for fear that I would be crucified as some xenophobe or was searching for any reason to downplay Huawei and their achievements....but since you said it....

 

I agree 100%. The government has already started to try and get people to move away form using Chinese software, I can imagine them taking that further and extending it to other Chinese tech products. 

[xAcid9]

Is Huawei ban in US still going or they can sell their phone now?

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

How Apple increases its margins is by being the focus of a religious cult

Ad Hominems are great aren't they? 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

2 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I really didn't to open that can of worms for fear that I would be crucified as some xenophobe or was searching for any reason to downplay Huawei and their achievements....but since you said it....

 

I agree 100%. The government has already started to try and get people to move away form using Chinese software, I can imagine them taking that further and extending it to other Chinese tech products. 

The government trying to get people to not use something very rarely works especially when the thing you're trying to get them to not use is really useful/great value

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, xAcid9 said:

Is Huawei ban in US still going or they can sell their phone now?

I’m not aware of any US network carrying Huawei in their shelves but if a user wants to, they can buy it unlocked online at it will work on most US networks. 

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

The government trying to get people to not use something very rarely works especially when the thing you're trying to get them to not use is really useful/great value

It can be very effective since, you know, we can straight up ban anything from anyone with a simple vote. 

[SimplyChunk]

It's all just a big machine

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

It can be very effective since, you know, we can straight up ban anything from anyone with a simple vote. 

Reasons the court system exists #9912336

[Shreyas1]

I literally had no idea that Huawei was that big lol

[IAnthonyFX]

5 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

Is Huawei ban in US still going or they can sell their phone now?

ZTE is what you are remembering, Huawei is fine

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Reasons the court system exists #9912336

Courts don't deal with trade all that often.....

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, Shreyas1 said:

I literally had no idea that Huawei was that big lol

Again, they're not terribly present in the developed world (North America, Europe, Australasia) but they're a major force in their home market of China