Shane Cole
Consumers continued to choose Apple's flagship iPhone 5s more than any other smartphone in March thanks in part to strong brand loyalty, and one analyst believes that Apple's sales could increase even further as buyers begin to upgrade their handsets more frequently.
The iPhone 5s was number one at each of the big four carriers while Samsung's Galaxy S4 maintained its runner-up position at AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile and HTC's new HTC One M8 took the number two slot at Verizon. The numbers were revealed in a Thursday morning note to investors, obtained by AppleInsider, from Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley.
Walkley believes that Apple's position may be in peril, as many Android buyers are thought to have been waiting for the release of the HTC One M8 and Samsung's new Galaxy S5 before upgrading. Those launches could knock Apple out of the top spot next month, he argues, though the company would likely win back its crown with the launch of the so-called iPhone 6.
"We believe Apple will win back meaningful high-end market share during H2/C2014 based on our belief new iPhones with larger screen sizes could create a strong upgrade cycle among Apple's loyal base," Walkley wrote.
Also working in Apple's favor is the increasing number of consumers who are choosing new service plans with early-upgrade options, rather than traditional two-year contracts with large handset subsidies, he argued. This could help to augment Apple's growth in mature markets where the majority of target customers already own recent-model iPhones.
"With our surveys indicating strong customer loyalty for the iPhone, we believe Apple could strongly benefit from a broader adoption of these early upgrade plans," the note reads. "Further, with these plans facilitating annual upgrades to new smartphones, we believe these plans in the coming years could in fact boost iPhone replacement sales and help Apple grow sales in the more saturated and mature developed countries that sell a greater mix of high-end smartphones."
Walkley maintained the bank's "buy" rating for Apple stock and kept its share price target locked on $600. Those estimates do not include, he noted, the potential for Apple to enter new product categories — such as wearables and mobile payment services — this year, moves which he predicts are likely to happen.
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55 Comments
This is an interesting counterpoint to the argument that "the US smart phone market is saturated."
1) It's amazing that the iPhone 5S can not only remain at the top for this long but also remain at the top of all the carrier for all months for this long. 2) Now that the iPhone 5C has placed in the top 3 at all this year and HTV and LG have recently take a number 2 and number 3 slot, respectively, I think it's fine to make arguments that the 5C sales are dropping. 3) Say what you want about Samsung but the S4 is clearly a popular device in the US. [quote name="512ke" url="/t/177259/apples-iphone-5s-remains-best-selling-smartphone-in-us-as-handset-market-softens-shifts#post_2509450"]This is an interesting counterpoint to the argument that "the US smart phone market is saturated."[/quote] I don't think it speaks against it unless we're talking comparative values, not just rankings. Even in a saturated market that has zero growth or even a drop there are still older smartphones being replaced by new smartphones which could result in a graph that looks just like this.
What happened to December? 5c?
Yup! That 5c is selling like hotcakes!
Marketshare does not reflect unit numbers and in no way indicates sales are dropping, it just means more people are buying other phones as they are released. Having said that, it is more than likely that sales have dropped somewhat simply because it's no longer "new". iPhone 5s sales have probably dropped as well - the likelihood they're selling as many now as they did when it was new, is slim.