When the iPhone was released, it gained recognition as a unique device and its several iterations have stuck to a similar fundamental idea, especially in terms of the overall design and the size. While the iPhone remained uniformly thick and maintained the same screen size, other manufacturers have come up with designs that are sleeker and have larger displays. And now, it appears that the iPhone is beginning to look chubby and is losing a lot of the appeal that it once had, especially when compared to phones from Samsung.
For example, the recently released Samsung Galaxy SIII is superior to the iPhone on several fronts; it is slimmer, has a larger screen and can run on the best networks in the world while at the same time serves a double purpose as a wallet. While a lot of analysts claim that the reduced sales of the iPhone in the second quarter of 2012 is because of the possible release of the new version, which people are waiting to purchase, others are of the opinion that perhaps the phone is losing its sheen. In fact, only one in six smartphones that were sold in Q2 were iPhones.
Considering the number, the demand for smartphones is still high but a lot of users are looking at alternates to the iPhone. Moreover, in the past, sales of the iPhone have remained strong 9 months after the release of a new version but that time period has been reduced to just 6 months this time around. The iPhone has driven Apple to become the world’s most valuable company as it rakes in half of the company’s revenues but perhaps it has reached a saturation level among customers.
When one looks at the numbers, the iPhone’s sales have increased 28% quarter on quarter. While a lot of smartphone manufacturers would love to have those numbers, it is pretty bad news for the iPhone which usually sees sales increase as much as 112% every year. However, there is one manufacturer that is doing very well with the figures; Korean giant Samsung. It has sold over 50 million smartphones and is the largest seller now. Its devices do not directly compete with the iPhone as they are aimed at cheaper markets but its flagship devices are now rivals to the iPhone.
