No matter what the stock market or rumors say, one thing is for sure, Apple Inc. is no longer the leader in the smartphone market. The title has been taken by Samsung that stole the limelight with more than half the market share in 2014’s first quarter; if things continue to go like this then Apple is at a risk to lose at least fifty percent of its potential iPhone 6 buyers – something Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) cannot afford after its 5c iPhone fiasco.
These facts give birth to one question; to salvage the situation is the leading trendsetter Apple being forced to become a trend follower by offering bigger screen for iPhone 6?
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has taken over the lead as the largest creators of smartphone software; Samsung is the best smartphone label in the market at the moment with large screens and affordable prices; its Note series are a bestseller. What does Apple have?
Telsyte’s – an Australian Smartphone Market study – has revealed that two out of five customers will not buy iPhone 6 if it does not offer the bigger screen; which currently stands at four inches. For business needs, people want larger phones to see more and multitask better. Foad Fadaghi – Telsyte’s managing director – has claimed that at least forty percent of Apple’s market base is at risk. Fadaghi believes that Apple really has to pull up its socks and bring out the ‘phablet’ [phone + tablet].
One of major reasons for Google Androids’ success is the screen size. Some apps and software are just more fun with larger screens. Canvas by Micromax adopted the same thing to increase their sales – bigger just seems better now.
Why do people prefer bigger screen these days?
Even though a tablet is easy to carry, but it cannot be managed with one hand. This problem gets solved by a phone with a bigger screen. After experiencing the benefits of a bigger screen, most of the users refuse to go back to small display sized phones.
According to a recent Canalys studies smartphones that have five-inch screens or more saw an increase by 369% in this year’s first 3 months; they made up 1/3rd of the total shipments of smartphones. 43% of these shipments sent to Asia Pacific alone and 39% went to China. This forced Apple to increase their screen size to 4 inches from a 3.5 with their iPhone 5 launched in September 2012. Now Smartphones with a 6 inch screen size is considered ‘normal’ in the market. Any number below this is called small.
Rumor has it that iPhone 6, which will be launched in September will have a 4.7 inch display screen and a 5.5 inch model will come in October.
It is highly likely that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 6 will have some degree of success even without a bigger screen, but it might not be enough to take over the market once again. It is possible that initial sales might soar followed by a decline later on. But the good news for Apple is that its customers are not only brand conscious but brand loyal too. They made history with the first ever smartphone with a 3.5 inch display screen; however competition has increased tremendously since then. The question remains, are there enough loyal fans to win the crown back for Apple?
Right now Samsung is leading the way with display screens larger than 5 inches that go up to 6.4 inches. In the first quarter of this year Samsung claimed 53% of the market share.
