Apple grabs smartphone crown as iPhone 13 wakes up the fanbois, leaves Chinese rivals eating dust

More than one in five phones shipped in Q4 carried a certain fruit brand as Apple leapt to the top of a barely growing global smartphone market. Preliminary estimates from tech analyst Canalys are obviously subject to change and only provide part of the picture, but as headlines go, Apple CEO Tim Cook will be pleased the …

[ShadowSystems]

I'm voting with my wallet.

Until the chip "shortage" goes away & prices come back down to reasonable levels, I'll keep my wallet sealed, my money tucked under my mattress, & my cyniscism about the nature of such a prolonged (artificial) shortage cranked up to eleven... =-/

[imanidiot]

Re: I'm voting with my wallet.

The shortage isn't artificial. The sudden and unexpected shift (and growth) in required chip fab capacity and fab type (lots more demand for "old" node capacity) has really thrown a spanner in the works of every major chip manufacturer out there and they're all struggling to find a new balance to serve as much of the demand as possible.

[ShadowSystems]

Re: I'm voting with my wallet.

I will merely point to the other story from today's Vulture about how the profits from all this supposed shortages have resulted in *Half A Trillion* lining the vaults of those manufacturers.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, & has a corkscrew shaped naughty bit, it's probably about to latch on to your face & try to impregnate you up the nose... =-/

[imanidiot]

Re: I'm voting with my wallet.

And they're also throwing billions into building new fabs at a pace they wouldn't have ever before.

Chip fabs are profiting right now, true, but that's not proof they're the cause.

[elsergiovolador]

Made in China

As far as I know iPhone 13 is made in China, so the title should be that China beats Samsung off the top spot?

[doublelayer]

Re: Made in China

It's not about manufacturing location, as Samsung's phones are made in a bunch of places and everybody's phones contain parts from at least a few countries. It's about the location of the creating company. The companies based in China had slight decreases in market share.

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Made in China

Since this happened: Apple CEO Tim Cook 'secretly' signed $275B deal with China in 2016 I wouldn't be so sure. Most advanced R&D happens in China now anyway because it's cheaper and workers can always be sent to camps if they are slacking.

[sanmigueelbeer]

And in the meantime, Ericsson sues Apple again over 5G patent licensing.

[Oh Matron!]

any 5G patent is likely to fall under FRAND terms, so when I see "US$2.50 to US$5 for every 5G handset", I don't see that fair at all...

[big_D]

Ericsson wants more money this time round, for the FRAND licensing of its patents, but in the time since the last deal was signed, Ericsson has had a decrease in the number of patents it has, and with the purchase of Intel's telecoms unit, Apple has had a 500% increase in the 5G and telecoms patents it owns.

Apple is arguing that it is now on a stronger footing and should pay less per unit, not more.

Given the above, I actually feel that Apple has a valid point, this time round...

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Handed it to Apple

The worst thing that Google and cellphone makers did was copy Apple style. Apple is always going to win in that competition. In the meantime, everyone that hates iPhones can find little that's worth buying. Your average premium Android phone is like an iPhone that doesn't work correctly.

Google has really gone out of their way to break Android in the past few releases. Amazon, Samsung, and Chinese phone makers could release their own variants that outsell Google's certified Android in 5 years.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Handed it to Apple

Android is broken. Always has been.When you have companies giving devices just 18 months of updates before it's "retired", and yet my 7 year old iPad Pro still getting updates, it just highlights the problem

If Samsung, Huawei, OnePlus, Ziomi et al can figure out the "develop once sell on any platform" problem (the reason why Android / Google Play has been so successful, Android is doomed.

But, be careful what you wish for.... If you think the lack of commitment for security updates is broken now.....

[ICL1900-G3]

Re: Handed it to Apple

Blimey, and there's me been using Android happily since Microsoft stopped supporting my Nokia and I never noticed it wasn't working. Silly old me.

[werdsmith]

Re: Handed it to Apple

This is the problem. I'm not particularly partial to Apple stuff, but I cannot stand the alternative offering from google, so I am left with no choice but to maintain a 2017 iPhone 8. Which is very old but still getting updates as I just went to 15.2.1

I also have a Planet Gemini, from 2018, it is running exclusively Sailfish OS and still getting frequent updates. This is a niche product, shows just how dreadful google OS phones are.

[Blackjack]

Despite the fact it lacks noise canceling?

https://www.macworld.com/article/605566/iphone-13-noise-cancellation-accessiblility-missing.html

Is gone and not comming back because Apple allegedly wants to sell you noise canceling headphones.

https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/