Apple Inc. (AAPL) Optimism Abounds With Change In Smartphone Market

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It’s time to throw out conceptions of the high-end, low-end, mid-range smart phone market according to Jeffries Research analyst Peter Misek. In a new report, Misek redraws the lines of the smart phone world, adding in the new players, and changing what it means to be a high end smartphone.

Capture AppleMisek says that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the only company to have retained its full place at the top of the smartphone market, but it’s sharing that place with more competitors than ever before. Samsung is now not the only Android OEM delivering a high end experience, and Blackbery Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) smartphones running BB10 have jumped into the mix.

Apple optimism

The report from Jeffries was compiled from returns of a survey of carriers and retailers about the smart phone market. Unsurprisingly those questions were most optimistic about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The Cupertino company has been more immune to commoditization than its Android cousins.

That doesn’t save Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from all of the trends in the smartphone world, however. The high growth areas according to the survey are low end smartphones and 5 inch models. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t offer anything like that, and it doesn’t seem the company has any plans to, either.

Misek places Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the high-end and the mid-range smartphone markets here, pointing to one of the controversies about the posited iPhone 5c. Misek clearly reckons that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is not planning on releasing a low end smartphone, instead going for a mid-range iPhone.

Smartphone market changing

There are some big changes in the smartphone market, and no company is perfectly able to deal with them. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is missing basic features wanted by consumers, while Samsung is failing to offer a best in Android experience, cutting into its market share and its margins. the geographic bounds are also changing, as can be seen in the graph below:

2 Apple

Interestingly Misek puts Windows 8 in the mid-range smartphone bundle. That may serve to disappoint Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) who have spent billion on the platform, and actually bought the Nokia handset business this morning.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still the best company in the smartphone world, according to this report, but that business is anything but guaranteed. Shares in the company had jumped more than 1% to $492.50 at time of writing.

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