Report: Apple saw 30% decline in shipments in Q1 YoY, Huawei up 50%

01 May 2019
Four out of the six top brands in number of shipments for Q1 are Chinese brands and the industry is seeing a steady decline, overall.

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JonTargus, 03 May 2019Still wrong son, Apple in international marketplace still b... moreI think tou misunderstood artivle little bit, it is global sales and yes Huawei has bigger international market than Apple. Huawei is second and it surpassed Apple, as much as I hate both brands, Huawei is really pushing everyone and might surpass Samsung, next year.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • IW@
    • 06 May 2019

    At least you now acknowledge that profiling is essential for a vastly better, intuitive, and more intelligent user experience. Just to clarify your statements:
    1. Walled garden - Apple's lame excuse for practically zero customizability and tight controls in iOS has actually more to do with Apple's greed and snobbery than protecting users from malware. Malware infection has more to do with the user's ignorance of phishing scams and the user's risky online behavior than the operating system used. What's even worse is an Apple customer falsely believing iPhones and iPads are immune to malware so you can browse malware riddled sites with confidence. As for customization, it has more to do with Apple wanting people to instantly recognize the iPhone from among a sea of phones by restricting customizations. It's not about giving a consistent user experience. Why, can't iOS have a default layout and launcher while at the same time allow its users to customize the interface to their liking?
    2 Security and user behavior - you said so yourself. It has more to do with user behavior than the choice of an operating system. iOS is not immune to malware despite the fact it's so locked up and suffocating. Proof of this are the many antivirus apps available for iOS (and the Mac).
    3. Privacy - you really do believe Google keeps a backup of user profiles after they are deleted by you and that Apple never does profiling of its customers? Well you couldn't be more wrong. The EU would fine Google to death if that were the case (having an undisclosed hidden backup somewhere after you decided to delete your entire data profile). And here, read this if you use Siri and mistakenly believe Apple doesn't do any form of profiling: https://ios.gadgethacks.com/how-to/21-safari-privacy-settings-you-need-check-your-iphone-0184594/
    4. Ads tailored to the user - you got it. And yes, all companies do it, Apple included. And no, you can't take Apple's word for it. That's essentially why these tech companies need to be regulated. They are first and foremost, profit oriented. Protecting the user's security and privacy is secondary to profit no matter how much you'd like to believe otherwise. If you want 100% security and privacy, don't use any internet or stick with an internet service provider. How else do you think law enforcement can trace and run after online criminals if that were the case?

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • m%5
      • 05 May 2019

      You seem like the person who has had a glimpse of what google, facebook, amazon are doing. However, it looks like it was just a glimpse.
      I'm going to use numbered points to make the discussion easier to follow and understand:

      1. "Walled garden"

      If by this you mean the inability to load unsigned apps from different sources, avoiding the app store -- this is a very good approach to ensure security and avoid malware, spyware, hacks, cheats, and other unofficial apps being easily installed on devices and compromising their security.

      If you are referring to the fact that users are not allowed to transfer media (movies, music, etc.) directly onto a device without going through an app that validates everything -- this is all a very good approach to avoiding piracy and unlawfully copied content.

      If you were talking about "customizability" -- allowing 3rd party launchers, icons, and so forth, would create an inconsistent experience across Apple devices. You and I both know that 3rd party launchers always come with bugs, different usability ideas, icon packs never include icons for all the millions of apps out there, and getting everything right, perfectly usable, pixel-perfect, all screens, menus, submenus, system pages, and visual items to look right and offer a consistent experience, is all but a pipe-dream in android. Instead, iOS offers the most consistent and polished mobile OS design, which is intuitive and looks exactly the way it was meant to look on every device. Thus, when you see an iPhone/iPad, you always know what to expect and you won't see messy screens, buggy experiences, or visual glitches. All in all, everything looks neat and organised, if you want it or not.

      2. Security and user behaviour

      You are right, it's not just the OS. However, without a secure OS you can't get a secure experience online. Users who know how to protect themselves online, ultimately can't protect their data and info if the OS they use can't offer that. (android)
      A secure OS is the first step towards data security, but there are others that need to be taken as well, such as: not falling for phishing scams, not visiting shady websites, not using fingerprints or face ID to unlock devices, making sure they don't use the same password on more than one account, making sure they use strong "unguessable" passwords, not allowing extensions and other services to access their accounts, and so on and on and on.

      The strongest and safest password-protected safe in the universe is as strong as the password used to lock it.

      In this regard, Apple offers you the means to secure your data and information and it's then up to the user to actually use these tools right. Google on the other hand, asks you for your data and personal info, and promises to keep it safe for you.

      That's why if you go through an airport and the TSA asks to check the contents of your phone, if you have an android phone they will just take it and be able to check everything on it with little to no effort. But if you have a PIN-protected iPhone (no faceID, no fingerprint unlock), they won't be able to unlock it. And your phone data stays yours.
      Same if the police want to check your phone - if you have an android, they will just check its contents. If you have an iPhone, all they'll be able to do is check the time on your lock screen.

      If users think they are immune to everything just because they use iOS, then that's their own problem to sort out. Apple never states that by using their devices you can disregard all general security practices that you should use by default in your online and offline behaviour.

      3. Privacy

      You are right, google (and others) have given users the ability to see what data is being collected about them. However, they are not shown what google does with their data and how it is being interpreted, and they cannot opt-out of it. Google collects user location, web activity, voice inputs, likes and dislikes, habits, purchases, conversations, video, music, and news activity, and so on.

      "Deleting" your google profile history only makes it unavailable for you, but google never actually deletes it. It's still being used and analysed, you just don't see it in your history anymore.

      4. Ads tailored to the user

      This is a double-edged sword.
      Google (and others) collect as much data about their users and create digital personas of them, which are then used to predict what they might want, what they might buy next, what they might need next. However, as they have so much data about users' interests, opinions, like, dislikes, etc. these personas are also profiles of their political and religious views, temperamental and conversational reactions, personal positive/negative triggers, personal health, predispositions to certain conditions, predispositions to certain views and actions when presented with certain stimuli and information, and so much more.

      On one hand, yes, it does provide the best search results for services, businesses, events, products, and people.

      On the other hand, when it comes to personal research, learning, investigating, getting to know about world events and matters, national happenings and other more sensitive and polar subjects, all the "custom-tailored" results are biased and never ever show users the truth. Search results for these matters can and are being used to manipulate people, en masse.

      A few examples of what this means:

      - if someone has an opinion about something and they search for information related to that something, the first three or more search result pages will show information which is presented through that perspective, and results of opposing information shown as already debunked information, just to get the user to click
      - if a user who has certain preferences and beliefs about current world events and happenings searches for something, they will be presented with pages and pages of search results which are tailored to their preferences and beliefs, and will most likely never show the other side of the matter
      - if someone of [political view X, who views Y as the best candidate-for-something] is presented with Z(n) search results, they are most likely to click and read about certain information. The algorithm will present the user with content which is closest to their views, content which is a trigger and most likely to generate a click.

      To sum it up, google offers the best search results about products and services that users can purchase, and pushes their users to buy more and think they need more of everything.
      And at the same time it keeps their users blind to what's happening around them, it pushes them to support or disregard people, movements, parties, protests, promotes companies with shady policies and questionable products and so on.

      Basically, it keeps users interested in buying and consuming, while depriving them of the rest of the real and unbiased information about the world around them.

      Using google's products and services is like installing video cameras and microphones in your house in order to automatically get milk delivered to your door just before you run out of. Yeah, it's convenient, but with this "convenience" comes the rest of the monitoring and profiling which you are not being told about.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • IW@
        • 05 May 2019

        Anonymous, 04 May 2019Yeah, not to mention that making iOS available to other man... moreActually, if there's anything 'mediocre', it's the iPhone's archaic iOS system and Apple's walled garden (which is more like a 'prison' actually) and not Google or Android. No wonder many iPhone users would rather have their iPhones jailbroken because the default experience is just suffocating. These users aren't overly concerned at all about security issues because they do know it's not simply the operating system. It has more to do with the users and their awareness of the online threats and risks involved with their online behavior. No amount of locking down an operating system and 'not profiling' a user will prevent malware from infecting the iPhone of a user and gaining access to sensitive personal information for those who are oblivious of online threats and who practice risky online behavior (frequenting malicious sites and providing personal information in phishing emails and sites). The user's utter lack of knowledge and the false belief that iOS and Apple's walled garden is a 'secure' system so they can be dumb, risky and all actually does more harm than good. Apple's 'promise' of 'not collecting personal data, not profiling its users, and not building a virtual persona of its users actually encourages more risky online behavior of many naive iphone users. More iphone/ipad users (using Safari) actually frequent a popular adult site than android users presumably because of Apple's 'promise' of 'not collecting' personal data. While the website mentioned is not malicious, the same thing can't be said of other similar adult sites (which, will also have likely more Safari than
        Chrome users).

        With strict regulations on data privacy, Google (and many other tech companies) have actually given the user freedom to access usage history of their services, make them see/review what they did, where they've been and even selectively or wholly delete their entire profile history. If you don't know, profiling is an essential part of providing the user an intuitive, and vastly better user experience, tailored fit to the user's needs and preferences. It's not the 100% evil that you are projecting it to be. It's actually the reason why Google users see ads tailored fit to their needs and interests, and why Google's search app tends to more often than not, predict more accurately, what news articles the user will likely be interested in, and what sites, movies, music, books they will likely prefer, and why Chrome
        search results are 100% better and more accurate than Safari can ever provide. If one doesn't want that convenience in the name of privacy, they can always delete their entire profile history. Off course, that would mean a dumber and clunkier experience like what you get with the iPhone and Apple's apps.

        There is really no way around it, mind you. If you want a better, intuitive, and more 'intelligent' user experience, a better fit to what you like, you have to somehow reveal something about yourself: what you are interested in, what are your likes and dislikes, based on your search and profile history, how long you spend on a website or an article. You can reveal everything, a little, or nothing. Google's android operating system, apps and services give you just enough controls to make you do that.

        If you want, you can always delete your entire profile history, never log in to any Google
        apps, always browse incognito, or even use a VPN. But then again, it will make the experience vastly less intuitive and search results, lacking in precision and accuracy. So there, that's the whole truth and not the skewed perception you are peddling that unlike Apple and iOS, Google and Android make the user the 'commodity'. I have never seen such as distorted a perception as that.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • m%5
          • 05 May 2019

          Anonymous, 05 May 2019Apple does not collect personal data, does not profile its ... moreThats why Apple products are more expensive than others which provide +free+ software and free services.
          At Apple you pay with money and you buy products.
          With google and android, you pay with yourself and you are the product.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • m%5
            • 05 May 2019

            Anonymous, 05 May 2019Google and Apple and Microsoft all are collecting your pers... moreApple does not collect personal data, does not profile its users, and does not build virtual personas of its users.

            Learn the facts first, speak later.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • m%5
              • 05 May 2019

              Zuzu, 05 May 2019You live in the ,,wonder world"! All the cloud provided by ... moreYour icloud data is encrypted, not even apple can access it.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • 6wN
                • 05 May 2019

                Anonymous, 03 May 2019Nobody would trade their personal data, file security, and ... moreGoogle and Apple and Microsoft all are collecting your personal information. Blind fanboy open your eyes wider.

                  • V
                  • Vvvky
                  • 7k7
                  • 05 May 2019

                  Great news. Hope it continues this year next year and every year. Apple has brought some worst trends in the industry like no Micro SD slot, then the ugly notches and removing of the standard headphone jacks.

                    • Z
                    • Zuzu
                    • nD%
                    • 05 May 2019

                    Anonymous, 03 May 2019Nobody would trade their personal data, file security, and ... moreYou live in the ,,wonder world"! All the cloud provided by Apple is the servers owned by Amazon, to wich Apple pay rent every year. Now, to think that your data is safe with Apple, your need to grow up.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • IbG
                      • 04 May 2019

                      Anonymous, 03 May 2019So this is why the US is trying to take down Huawei. Got to... moreAgree

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                        • Anonymous
                        • m%5
                        • 04 May 2019

                        Anonymous, 03 May 2019The collapse of the MP3 player market didn't drive Apple to... moreYeah, not to mention that making iOS available to other manufacturers would mean that they could install bloatware, spyware, and all kinds of nasties that android devices are riddled with. And that would defeat the whole purpose of iOS, which is user privacy, data security, and no nonsense stuff.

                        Oh, and revealing the source code to them would mean that malicious individuals could identify and use exploits and malware on all iOS devices out there.

                        Open source is fine for the average, mediocre user. However top-end users and powerusers need this layer of security and protection, so they would never use something open-source like android.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 81X
                          • 03 May 2019

                          Adul Al Salami Kebab, 03 May 2019They may have no choice if their market-share falls below 1... moreThe collapse of the MP3 player market didn't drive Apple to open up an iPod licensing model nor slash prices, and they continue to shuffle along there. They were also quite content with returning to a small marketshare high price/profit computer maker after the iMac fad subsided. They still have a massive war chest as they increase their presence in services, and continue to work towards a next 'big thing'. I just don't see them licensing iOS to 3rd party manufacturers.

                            Sach, 01 May 2019I think the term for that is Market inflation or market...h... moreI mean I work in a phone shop and Huawei phones are usually the most sold, we sell all variations, and everyone had their own idea of what they want out of the phone, security is apple, screen quality is Samsung and camera is usually Huawei, and for everyone who compares ram please look up why apple doesn't use as much.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • sxs
                              • 03 May 2019

                              We're witnessing the iPhone's end game. The start of Apple's decline in smartphone dominance, prestige, and influence. Certainly, the iphone will not become extinct, but soon, it will become a niche brand with cult following, no longer a trendsetting brand worth looking up to and worth copying. The tables have turned. Apple will become a follower of flagship android phone trends rather than a trendsetter. The face ID / iphone notch has failed as do the force touch. Sure it was widely copied but it has since become stale. Apple will certainly play catch up with flagship android phones in terms of more immersive punch hole all screen designs, in-display fingerprint scanners, retractable selfie cameras, and periscope zooms. The iPhone has a lot of catching up to do in terms of low light photographic capability, longer telephoto cameras, ultrawide cameras, 5G capability and ever bigger battery capacities in android flagships (4000mAh ++), not to mention dual SIM capability, storage expansion and extensive customizability which are basic features in most Android flagships nowadays.

                              I see Huawei ruling the smartphone industry in a few years with its continued photographic dominance. Soon, even the dedicated camera titans (Canon, Nikon) will have to evolve or risk losing not only their entire point and shoot lineup but even their advanced compact camera lineups. And yes, even their interchangeable lens camera line up will see sales declines albeit, not as alarming as those from their compact camera line. They better adapt and innovate fast or they risk losing mass appeal even to serious photography enthusiasts.

                                • A
                                • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                                • nrX
                                • 03 May 2019

                                7h3N319hb0r, 03 May 2019Why in the world would Apple suddenly open their OS to othe... moreThey may have no choice if their market-share falls below 10% worldwide & app developers abandon them, that or make Androids with iOS skin... Not likely to happen but if it does they may end up like the Blackberry or Windows phone! O3O

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • sfG
                                  • 03 May 2019

                                  So this is why the US is trying to take down Huawei. Got to protect their big tech companies.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • MwH
                                    • 03 May 2019

                                    Firefox, 02 May 2019I was planning to buy a iphone before my Europe tour, but t... moreNobody would trade their personal data, file security, and allow to be monitored 24/7 by google, only to get a wide-angle camera on their phones.

                                    However, if you use google services then the only reason why one would get an iPhone is for the better apps in the store, the high quality hardware, the minimalistic design, and for the awesome integration with all other devices. (Macs, iPads, HomePod, HomeKit, etc.)

                                    But the main feature of iPhones is that you can use them without being tied to and monitored by google, plus you have the guarantee that airport security, the police, or anyone else can't get access to your files and info you store on your phone. (when you use a PIN to unlock your device) No android device can offer that level of security, as android, by its definition, is open-source and riddled with tons of security holes.

                                      Bekko, 02 May 2019Apple used to be far ahead of the competition in regards to... moreWhy in the world would Apple suddenly open their OS to other manufacturers?

                                        JonTargus, 03 May 2019Still wrong son, Apple in international marketplace still b... morethe word "better" is subjective. it depends on each users preferences and experience. so please stop with this statements. we are not omnipotent enough to know the subjective perception of each ppl on how they view which device is "better". and what is the standard of a better device anyway? right, it still depends on each users. you may view apple as the better device in the international market, but it is not a fact, merely an opinion since other ppl surely have something else in mind.

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