Apple Inc. trails its Korean rival Samsung, believes Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
It was shocking to see Benioff retweet: “Crazy seeing Apple trying to catch Samsung. Battery life, waterproofing, blue color, front led light, &curved screens. Samsung set the standard.”
Benioff doubts Apple’s ability
Benioff retweeted the tweet by basketball coach Dennis Marshall. Some people will probably ignore this as a mere retweet, but this “retweet” felt like a review that the company’s iPhones appear a little retrograde, notes CNET. A Salesforce spokesman confirmed that Benioff himself retweeted the tweet.
Rumors already suggested that the upcoming iPhone may look like the last one. Apple CEO Tim Cook has completed five years in the position, and questions are already being raised about whether his promises of better products are being fulfilled.
According to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the iPhone got bigger three years too late. In addition, the new iPhones looked like just bigger iPhones; there was not much upgrade, especially in contrast to Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge and Note 7. However, the iPhone maker’s consistency in updating its OS has been superior to Android.
Chinese players versus Apple and Samsung
The smartphone segment is a cut-throat business, and no company can stay in the first position for a long time. Even experts were left surprised with the two Chinese startups Vivo and Oppo, which came out of almost nowhere and collectively sold one in 10 new smartphones globally this spring, reports the Seattle Times.
In a recent article on how Chinese smartphone makers have their attention on the United States, author Tim Culpan noted how Chinese companies will eventually steal sales in the U.S., where Samsung and Apple sell the most smartphones.
According to data from Mike Walkley at Canaccord, Apple and Samsung have together created 100% or more of overall operating profits among makers of premium-priced smartphones. This means other players are either making losses or are barely able to break even on high-margin phones.
It must be noted that the data does not include important private brands such as China’s Huawei and Xiaomi, which are making it big in their home country and in other emerging markets like India. Though they are no match to the profits being made by Apple and Samsung, it will be important to see how these players can change the overall smartphone segment.
