2015 was a great year for Apple. Although the final numbers aren’t in yet, it’s pretty clear that they picked up quite a bit of market share from Samsung and other Android-using cell phone manufacturers. 2015 was the year that Apple was finally able to deliver a phone that matched Android in size. Steve Jobs didn’t believe people wanted phones the size of paperback books… the truth is that they did. A lot of people defected to Samsung products in 2013 and 2014 not for features or price, but just because of that larger screen.
Samsung suffered in 2015, but it survived. HTC, once believed by some to be the next great cell phone company, is circling the drain now largely because the big market share went to Apple if you wanted an Apple product and Samsung if you didn’t. But what about 2016?
Obviously Samsung has a lot of money and a lot of skin in the cell phone game. While they make everything from washing machines to copiers, they’re known most of all for their mobile devices and I’m confident that they’re working hard on creating a drool-worthy device that will steal some market share back from Apple in 2016. As far as tablets, Apple still owns the segment but it’s really stopped growing so it’s not going to be a real consideration in 2016.
So, even with the prospect of a completely new iPhone coming in the third quarter, I expect this to be a growth year for Android with most of those new users coming from iPhone. I don’t know what Samsung has in store yet but they’re working hard, I know that.
Right now if you’re interested in using both iCloud and Google services, the iPhone makes it easier – it supports calendars and contacts lists that use the CalDAV and CardDAV protocols so syncing to Google accounts is a breeze. Unfortunately, even though Apple reads these formats from other providers, their own iCloud services don’t use them, so it’s not possible to use iCloud contacts and calendar items on an Android. So, if you are the sort who switches back and forth, you’re better off keeping all your info on Google’s servers and completely ignoring iCloud.
The real point of all of this is that with today’s smartphones you almost can’t go wrong. Having spent a lot of time on both the Apple and Android sides of the fence I have so say that they both do a great job of giving you a smooth, easy-to-use experience. I personally prefer Apple because I have a great many devices to administer and Apple makes it easier. To date there’s been no real malware problems with iOS devices either, and that’s important to think about when you’re dealing with your entire family’s phones, tablets, streaming devices and computers. Malware is the last thing I really want to have to focus on when I’m done with work.
So leave us a comment… what phone are you using now and what do you think you’ll be using next year? Why do you plan to switch or why don’t you? I’ll aggregate all the comments from all our social media outlets and send one lucky person a prize sponsored by Solid Signal!
