On September 23, 2013. Apple announced that they sold 9 million units of a combination of the new iPhone 5s and 5c during the first 3 days after it is released. Until today, there are over 200 million users in the world today that are currently using the iOS 7 operating systems, which was newly introduced by Apple long side with their new devices. The new iPhone 5s comes in 3 colours and the retail prices for the models are (in US dollars) $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB and 399 for the 64GB. On July 13th, it was declared that the market share of Apple in the phone industry was at a staggering 40.4% in the No.1 position followed by Samsung in No.2 with 24.1% of the overall market share. Together the two smart phone power houses are accountable for more than half of the total market share for smart phones. If Samsung disappears from the smart phone market, Apple would be a monopoly leaving the other phone companies such as HTC, Motorola and LG way behind its tracks.

The Samsung S4, which was released in late April this year sold approximately 20 million units around the world within 60 days after the device was released. Apple has already established a firm start by already selling 9 million units in the first 3 days after the iPhone 5S  and 5C was released. It raises the question of whether the Samsung Galaxy smart phones will be able to maintain the current position in the smart phone industry before giving in to the No.1 seller Apple. If Samsung loses their market share to Apple in the upcoming years, it means that Apple will be dominating the smart phone market. If Apple becomes a monopoly in the smart phone industry, it could have both positive and negative impacts for consumers. Some positive impact would be that people around the world would be using the same phone, allowing more compatibility and convenience as iPhones are unable to connect to Samsung phones to transfer photos and files. A negative impact of iPhones becoming a monopoly would be that consumer choices will be limited and if Apple will be able to raise the prices of iPhones and exploit the consumers as the consumers will have no other options.

It will be exciting to see whether Samsung can continue to keep up with Apple’s innovation in the next few years.

Citations:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/apples-iphone-5s-edges-out-samsungs-galaxy-s4-in-september.html/2/

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/09/23First-Weekend-iPhone-Sales-Top-Nine-Million-Sets-New-Record.html

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2013/9/comScore_Reports_July_2013_U.S._Smartphone_Subscriber_Market_Share