The end of summer and the start of fall is a great time of year in the tech world. The spring phones are going on sale, and the fall lineup is just coming out. The whole tech world also travel’s to the IFA trade show in Berlin, Germany for a view at the new winter lineup and everyone’s latest and greatest. But for every new phone and smartwatch at IFA 2015, one fact is starting to come to light. That one fact is that as more and more amazing phones such as the OnePlus 2 and the Moto X (2015) Pure Edition flood the market at a lower price point there is less a market for the high-end offerings. Phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S6, LG G4 and HTC One M9 are all wonderful top flight phones that, unfortunately, cost a lot of money. They cost so much that the public is starting to pass over those phones for unlocked, cheaper and even Chinese phones that can be just as nice and cost much less. Charles Arthur, a freelance journalist formally with The Guardian has done the research. Mr. Arthur went back and tracked the profits of all the major Android players and Apple and found some disturbing new for high-end Android phone makers.
First he found out that not one Android OEM sold more phones than they did in 2014. He also found that none made more operating profit than in 2014. The only companies making any profit other than Apple, which makes about $184 off each phone is LG and Samsung. Now before we throw a party for these two Charles Arthur found out that Samsung is only making $33 off each phone and LG a dismal $0.016. Charles Arthur had this to say about his findings; “”Premium” Android is getting torn apart, piranha-style. Cheaper phones from Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, and Oppo are taking away their high-end Chinese business. Slowdowns in developing countries (notably south America) are killing sales there.”
So even though the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ have the best screen. LG G4 the best camera and the HTC One M9 the best speakers, it seems Motorola, OnePlus, Huawei and Xiaomi have the best idea. Great mid-level and high-end phones at low prices with even cheaper low-end phones being made available in the developing world seems to the be the future of Android. It’s time the big boys catch up.