Cell Phones Market Comparison, Essay Example

Technology has now become an integral part of our daily lives and cell phones are no different. The high growth rate potential has led to an intensely competitive cell phone market structure where various cell phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Apple, Samsung, and Motorola are each trying to maximize their own market share at the expense of the competition. The consumer market still seems to prefer feature phones over smartphones as 57% opt for feature phones while 43% choose smartphones.

Even though smart phones are capable of performing numerous, feature phones are more on defining the utilization of the gadget based on what is most likely wanted and demanded by the public. For instance, being able to connect to social networks instantly makes feature phones more useful for a larger population of the society. On the other end, function phones such as smart phones cater to the needs of very specific market divisions (most likely those that are directly related to professional work positions).

Among smartphone users, nearly half or 43% choose Android operating system, 28% go for Apple iOS system, 18% use Blackberry’s RIM operating system, 7% choose Windows Mobile operating system, and the remaining 4% use other systems. Thus, Android operating system holds an obvious appeal to most feature phones today. This is the reason why even low-priced, low-end phones can already be programmed like that of other high end gadgets. The marking label on the hardware remains to be the element that classifies the good brand against that of the ones that are presented in the same platform but in different terms of gadget definition.

Nevertheless, it is understood that amidst the modern turn of events in the market of cell phones which is currently making a great distinction on how Android phones are making a name in the market) that it is still Samsung and Nokia that remain at the top of competition based on international sales. But the future landscape may be different based on the brand loyalty levels enjoyed by different brands. Apple currently enjoys the highest brand loyalty among all brands at 70.7% while the closest competitor is Nokia at 48.1%. Samsung and Motorola are quite behind at only 25.2% and 19.9%, respectively. Nokia and Motorola also have more reasons to be worried because 36.2% of Motorola’s customers and 31.4% Nokia’s customers said their next purchase will be Apple. Apple’s was also the top choice among customers of all brands for next purchase while Nokia was second overall. As far as feature phones are concerned, Samsung and Nokia are almost neck-to-neck though Samsung is slightly ahead at 26% in comparison to Nokia’s 23% market share. This may be due to the fact that Samsung offers more options on the feature phones.

Samsung also remains the market leader in smartphones market for Windows 8 operating system, currently holding 51% market share while Nokia comes second at 35%. Apple is absent from this market since it only uses its proprietary operating system in the company’s products. HTC is the third biggest player with 7% market share though it is a distant competitor to Samsung and Nokia. Thus, a key strategy for Samsung is to offer as many models and options as possible to cover almost about every customer segment. This is why the company doesn’t only offer different models but also different operating systems such as Android and Windows 8. As opposed to Apple, Samsung’s strategy is volume and its focus is more on market share than profit margins.

It is clear that Samsung remains at the top point of the competition, nevertheless, it could be noted that Nokia reserves a higher share in brand loyalty among those they are able to serve in the market. Notably, this means that even though Nokia comes in second range in becoming a competitor in the market, it remains to keep a strong control on the market that they are taking care of with proper service which basically keeps their line alive and competitively defined. Apple is very popular and has a great potential but the company’s growth potential is quite limited as compared to the competition. This is because Apple focuses on both hardware and software and doesn’t let anyone use its operating system either. In addition, Apple is also mostly focused on smart phones which are less popular than feature phones at the moment and Apple’s prices also tend to be higher than the competition. Despite several disadvantages, Apple has been doing quite well and it is clear the company has high perceptions for quality among cell phone users. If the company also adopts similar policies to the competition, its market share would be much higher but instead of volume, variety or lower prices, the company’s competitive strategy is quality which results in higher profit margins but limits growth potential and sales volume.

Works Cited

Hill, Simon. Samsung, Nokia, and Apple dominate phone sales in spring 2012. http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-nokia-apple-phone-sales-q2-2012/. (Retrieved on April 7, 2013)

Samsung VS Nokia Windows phone 8 battle in US. http://codenametech.com/?p=8290. (Retrieved on April 7, 2013)