iPhone not hit by Southeast Asia's collapsing smartphone market

Simple economics. People who can afford premium products like the iPhone are less likely to be affected by downturns in the economy. Since the bulk of Samsung’s sales are in the low-end sector they got creamed, something the ‘yeah-but’ crowds ignores. Yet another reason Apple has chosen to stay out of the low-end market, and with good reason. 

lkrupp said:

Simple economics. People who can afford premium products like the iPhone are less likely to be affected by downturns in the economy. Since the bulk of Samsung’s sales are in the low-end sector they got creamed, something the ‘yeah-but’ crowds ignores. Yet another reason Apple has chosen to stay out of the low-end market, and with good reason. 

Very well said.

I will also just add in economy like this , especially lock downs in China. When people are isolated, what comes next after food? A connection with outside with your smart phone.

and judging by the numbers, people are cutting in other areas but spending on their favorite mobile device, Apple

Madbum said:

lkrupp said:

Simple economics. People who can afford premium products like the iPhone are less likely to be affected by downturns in the economy. Since the bulk of Samsung’s sales are in the low-end sector they got creamed, something the ‘yeah-but’ crowds ignores. Yet another reason Apple has chosen to stay out of the low-end market, and with good reason. 

Very well said.

I will also just add in economy like this , especially lock downs in China. When people are isolated, what comes next after food? A connection with outside with your smart phone.

and judging by the numbers, people are cutting in other areas but spending on their favorite mobile device, Apple

In many area’s the smartphone and small iPad/Tablet are the computers of choice. No different than using a small motorize bike instead of a car. (third world everywhere, the Chinese/Japanese companies are cleaning up in that particular market).

In the near term, US preventing China from developing/using advanced chips will dampen the enthusiasm of Chinese toward smartphones. The remnant effect of this decrease of passion will reduce Chinese smartphone makers in developing new smartphones. Because they see there is no future to match Apple iPhones. Why bother? 

waveparticle said:

In the near term, US preventing China from developing/using advanced chips will dampen the enthusiasm of Chinese toward smartphones. The remnant effect of this decrease of passion will reduce Chinese smartphone makers in developing new smartphones. Because they see there is no future to match Apple iPhones. Why bother? 

That is definitely not the case as all Chinese manufacturers still have access to the most cutting edge chipsets. The only real developer of homegrown custom SoCs for phones was Huawei but they are also using Snapdragon chipsets at the high end now, and have stated that 2023 will be the year they move back to a two flagship models per year. 

They have been re-jigging their supply chain and obviously left a huge hole in the Chinese market while everything slowly comes back online.

Throw in Covid, an economic downturn, the chip shortage/surplus, the US-China tech war and the resulting longer upgrade periods and you have pretty much the perfect storm and I'm of the opinion that Apple hasn't escaped it. 

Prices in the EU for example are a mid-term deterrent for purchase and, availability aside, I expect demand to be weaker during the holiday period.

But the most important point is that the market is still dominated by Android phones.