Counterpoint Research recently came out with its list of the ten highest phones of 2023, and the first seven phones in the list were iPhones. This continues a trend that we have been seeing for a while – in 2022, eight of the ten bestselling phones in the world were iPhones, while seven of the ten bestsellers of 2021 came from the fruity company in Cupertino, and a similar list in 2020 had five iPhones in it. Apple even had six iPhones in the top ten bestseller list in 2019.
While this dominance is impressive, what is interesting are the names of the other phones on the list. Given the fact that the iPhones are such dominant players, you would expect other phones on the list to be their Android rivals. Think again. Think different.
Android flagships are selling but are no longer bestsellers!
In 2023, the Android phones in the top ten were the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, the Samsung Galaxy A04e, and the Samsung Galaxy A14 4G (yes, a 4G phone was one of the bestsellers of 2023). In 2022, Android was represented in the top ten by the Samsung Galaxy A13 and the Samsung Galaxy A03. In 2021, it was the turn of the Samsung Galaxy A12, the Xiaomi Redmi 9A, and the Xiaomi Redmi 9 to fly the Android flag, while in 2020, this task was handed to Samsung’s Galaxy A51, Galaxy A21s, Galaxy A01, Galaxy A11 and Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 9 Pro.
Note something? None of these phones are even remotely flagships by any measure. They are most budget and mid-segment devices. And before someone trots out the “but Android is fragmented and gets most of its volumes from lower priced devices” rationale, let us cast a look at the highest-selling phones of 2018:
- iPhone X
- iPhone 8
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPhone 7
- Xiaomi Redmi 5A
- Samsung Galaxy S9
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone XR
- Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
- Samsung Galaxy J6
There are two Samsung flagships in there, and Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge made it to the top five of 2016, in spite of the brand being rocked by the Galaxy Note 7 disaster. Yes, the iPhone was still the highest-selling device out there. But other Android flagships often were its close competitors in terms of sales.
It is this that has changed in recent years – it is like Android flagships have simply dropped off the bestselling radar. It is not as if Android flagships are not selling – data indicates that they are doing very well but as part of a group rather than the individual champions they once were. For all the growth numbers that Android flagships may serve up, the bitter truth is that a mid-segment or budget Android phone today has a better chance of getting close to the iPhone’s numbers than its premium flagship sibling, which is actually trying to rival the iPhone. It is a bit like a supporting actor of a big-budget film standing a better chance of winning an Oscar than its high-paid, high-profile superstar cast.
Let’s face it: the iPhone has pretty much-annihilated premium Android devices.
Apple expands the iPhone portfolio while staying premium
There are many reasons for this. Perhaps the biggest reason for the sudden Apple domination is simply the presence of many more iPhones in the market. In the beginning, Apple used to stick to releasing one phone model every year. This increased to two in 2013 with the iPhone 5s and 5c. In fact, until 2016, Apple stuck to the model of releasing two models at its main iPhone event.
Then, in 2016, its biggest rival, Samsung, faced the Note 7 disaster. Whether by coincidence or design, as Samsung temporarily wobbled, Apple increased the number of iPhone models released at its main iPhone event to three in 2017 (iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the iPhone X), and then from 2020 onwards, took this number to four at the event, sometimes adding a SE release a few months later. As a result, the number of iPhones available in the market shot up exponentially, and thanks to Apple’s superb update record (something Android brands are trying to match only now), even slightly older phones continued to perform well and stay in demand. Apple backed this up by expanding its marketing and distribution into new markets and regions, increasing investment in big markets like India.
What’s more, the Cupertino giant expanded its portfolio without in any way diminishing the premium-ness of the iPhone – yes, there were now (at least) four iPhones released every year, but there was no “cheap” iPhone, and there was still only one very high-profile iPhone event, with brilliantly designed presentations that highlighted just how special the new iPhone was. A person purchasing a new iPhone knows that it is likely to be the best in its category for at least a year. In contrast, a person purchasing a Pixel or a Galaxy S or a OnePlus flagship has no real assurance that the brand behind it will not come out with something that improves it (a T variant, for example, as OnePlus did) or is broadly similar but comes at a lower price (Samsung’s FE range) later on in the year.
Android struggles with flagship dropouts and the “premium mid-segment”
Interestingly, even as Apple was expanding its portfolio, LG, Sony, HTC, Huawei, and Motorola, whose flagships were traditionally iPhone rivals, either cut down their involvement or stepped out of the flagship race altogether. Huawei was banned from the US and took a step back from many of its global markets. Samsung stayed the course but killed its Note range, and many feel that the Korean giant’s decision to move into foldables might have cut into the share of its own flagships rather than that of its rivals. While in 2016, Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei, and Sony delivered radically different devices from each other, by 2021, the Android premium flagship zone suddenly had become a club with a very tiny membership comprising Samsung, Google, and the odd model from OnePlus, Vivo, and Oppo.
Another spanner in Android’s flagship works was the emergence of what is now called the premium mid-segment. OnePlus’ skillful marketing of its Nord range in 2020 suddenly gave users access to devices that had a lot of premium pros (design, smooth operation, good cameras, fast charging) without the premium price cons. The likes of Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo too got into the segment, and the result was that you could get a very good Android phone with excellent design, very good specs, and near-flagship performance at a price that was less than half of a high-end premium Android flagship. Even Google acknowledged the importance of this segment when it came out with much more affordable A series variants of its premium Pixels.
As a result of these developments, consumers looking for a really high-end premium phone found that they could choose between more than half a dozen iPhones (four new, two not-so-old, and at least two that were old but still flagship-level performers) on the one hand, or opt for Android flagships that were often priced in a similar range (many Android brands have chosen to bump up their premium device prices in line with the iPhone) but seemed like spec clones of each other with minor design changes. That’s not all. Many premium Android flagships faced competition from what can be called the flagship killer range, with devices from the likes of iQOO, OnePlus, and Xiaomi. For instance, a OnePlus 12 and an iQOO 12 offer the same chip as that on the Galaxy S23 range but at a much lower price, and unlike flagship killers of the past, they do not cut too many design or spec corners either.
All of this has resulted in Android flagships with premium price tags attracting a question their brands hate: “For that much money, or a little more, why should I not just go for an iPhone?”
Is the era of iPhone’s premium Android challengers over?
The answer to that question, unfortunately, has not been a convincing one. While the iPhone has retained its premium identity and performance, Android has wobbled badly in that regard. Most things that Android’s premium flagships deliver, its flagship killers and premium mid-segment, seem to bring at a lower price in next to no time at all.
Of course, it would be premature to say that the Android premium segment cannot get back on the same level as the iPhone. But it does face an uphill task. Apple has stayed very consistent with its iPhones and has constantly resisted attempts to dilute the device’s premium feels – even the SE variants released have come with premium price tags for their specs.
Could Apple have sold more units by coming out with multiple variants at lower price points? Definitely so, but only in the short run. For, sooner than later, its lower-priced variants would have diminished the perceived value of its premium ones, making it difficult to justify higher price tags. Android itself is not in trouble – the number of Android phones sold massively outnumber iPhones – but its premium segment no longer challenges the iPhone as it did in the past.
As the iPhone dominates the bestseller charts, Android’s premium flagship fleet is sinking, partly because of its own smaller battleships and mostly because of an opponent that has made consistency a complete and utter virtue, even to the point of boredom. For the sake of the consumer who always benefits from variety, we hope that we will someday see an Android flagship taking on the iPhone in the sales charts like the Galaxy S series once did. But we are not holding our breath until it does.
