Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report for 2016 became available this evening, and as usual it serves as a great tool to analyze the ongoing battle between Android and iOS. Apple saw its first ever decline in revenue last quarter and Meeker’s report definitely takes that into account. One slide from the report shows the marketshare and average selling point difference. As usual, Android has a commanding lead in marketshare and shipments, while Apple dominates in ASP. There are a few differences this year, however.
For one, Meeker expects Apple’s smartphone shipments to decline 11 percent this year. For Android, however, Meeker expects a 7 percent increase in device shipments. Meeker also expects Apple’s average selling price to decrease for the first time since 2013. Meeker expects Apple’s average selling price to fall from $717 to $651 for a 9 percent decrease. That’s the largest average selling price decrease that Apple has seen.
Obviously one of the biggest reasons for a decline in average selling price for Apple is the introduction of the iPhone SE and Apple’s continued efforts to push lower-cost devices in countries like India. While Wall Street seems to worry a lot about average selling price, Apple has typically been more focused on getting as many iOS devices in users’ hands as possible and pushing its services sector.
One thing this suggests is that the Android vs iOS battle is heading towards a similar path as the Mac vs PC battle. While recently Apple has been gaining in that battle, it historically has been dominated by PC manufacturers in terms of units shipped and average selling price by Apple.
You can view all of Mary Meeker’s 2016 report here.
