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Iphone Businesses Apple Hardware

Apple Crosses 1 Billion Active iPhone Users (9to5mac.com) 69

Posted by BeauHD from the new-milestones dept.
According to CEO Tim Cook, there are now more than 1 billion iPhones being used by customers around the world. The new milestone comes as the company earned over $100 billion in a single quarter for the first time in the company's history. 9to5Mac reports: Cook shared the new milestone in an earnings-focused interview with Reuters. The new metric is part of an overall increase of active devices around the world, reaching 1.65 billion compared to 1.5 billion this time last year: "Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told Reuters in an interview that the company now has an active installed base of 1.65 billion devices, compared with 1.5 billion devices a year ago. Cook also said Apple now has an installed base of more than 1 billion iPhones, an increase over the 900 million the company most recently disclosed in 2019."

In the interview, he cites Apple's growth opportunity in China as a source of the company's success: "'We had two of the top three selling smartphones in urban China,' Cook told Reuters in an interview, adding that many of the company's other products and services also sold well. Cook said that Apple gained iPhone sales in China both from customers switching from rival Android devices as well as existing customers upgrading devices, but said 'upgraders in particular set an all-time record in China.'"
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Apple Crosses 1 Billion Active iPhone Users More

Apple Crosses 1 Billion Active iPhone Users

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  • In an earlier story [slashdot.org] Cook was quoted to say:

    "At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement.." Cook said.

    And Cook knows a thing or two [slashdot.org] about 'turning a blind eye', and it's no wonder why:

    In the interview, he cites Apple's growth opportunity in China as a source of the company's success: 'We had two of the top three selling smartphones in urban China,'

  • Still, Apple phones have nothing on my Windows phone. I am thoroughly entranced with Azure and have my head firmly planted in the clouds. The problem is it is getting a little lonely up here in silicon heaven. [youtube.com]

  • I know many Android users who hate Apple. I don't know any iPhone user who hates Android. I think many Android users don't want to buy an iPhone for the wrong reason(s).

    • I know many Android users who hate Apple. I don't know any iPhone user who hates Android. I think many Android users don't want to buy an iPhone for the wrong reason(s).

      really? I know plenty of Apple users that hate Android. Some for legitimate reasons like my wife who complains about how inconsistent the experience and interface is and others like some of the guys I work with who are Apple fanboys to the core to the extent they think Apple invented most of features they are using.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:iPhone & Android story (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ath1901 ( 1570281 ) on Friday January 29, 2021 @06:13AM (#61005060)

      I think many Android users don't want to buy an iPhone for the wrong reason(s).

      The most common reasons I've seen for disliking iPhones are walled garden arguments and the luxury-item pricing strategy. Repairability and design choices also come up (head phone jack, sd card, non-replaceable battery etc). I think all are valid reasons and I can not think of a single "wrong" reason.

    • No, the reasons are pretty clear:

      * I'm not spending thrice of what I'm getting. Period.
      * I'm not empty inside and don't need any jewelry to compensate.
      * I'm an individual, in control of my own things and life, so I don't need a legal guardian.
      * I have a normal healthy brain, so I do not need a padded safe space and a simplified interface for disabled people.

      And I hate Android too. For the exact same reasons. It's just the one a hate a bit less.

      I gifted an iPad to my 80-year+old grandma. Because she's a bit

      • Iphone is usless for tech geeks. Even installing apps outside the playstore is not supported!

        • Iphone is usless for tech geeks. Even installing apps outside the playstore is not supported!

          MacOS / iOS developer for a total of 36 years here. They don't come any more geeky. The iPhone is extremely useful. It makes phone calls, has a camera, a flashlight, plays music, video, audio books, has an internet browser, email and messaging, and an alarm clock. I can download a few million apps or install apps that I wrote myself. That's very useful.

          What you apparently find useful is something I'd just call phone masturbation.

        • Iphone is usless for tech geeks. Even installing apps outside the playstore is not supported!

          Cydia exists [cydia-app.com].

          Beyond that, it's free to build and deploy apps to your own phone. If you aren't building your own apps are you even a tech geek?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kbahey ( 102895 )

        What hardware do you use LineageOS on?

      • I don't need a legal guardian

        Yet, an iPhone is safer than an Android... (not flamebait, just fact!)

      • I hate them both too, but which Android phone or tablet can I get that can actually compete with a $399 iPhone or a $299 iPad? I had to pick one though, so I went with an iPhone because at least Apple is not an advertising company. Now, if they would just let me easily build and deploy apps onto my own phone. I can't find a way to do it without jumping through hoop after hoop.

  • The other four billion are Android (Score:4, Informative)

    by Tough Love ( 215404 ) on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:59AM (#61004866)

    Not wanting to rain on anybody's parade, but there are at least four billion Android phones out there on the cell networks. Better value, better compatibility, more trustworthy.

    • Better value, better compatibility, more trustworthy.

      "Value" is somewhat subjective, but I won't contest that the entry-level price for an Android devices is lower than an iPhone.

      "Better compatability" with what?

      "More trustworthy" is also somewhat subjective, but I still can't think of a reason why I'd trust Google or the average Android developer more than Apple or the average iOS developer.

    • Android isn't a single company. The article is about the company, and so a more accurate comparison would examine the top producers of mobile devices by company, and the overall revenue that this it provides.

    • "more trustworthy" (Score:5, Informative)

      by PhrostyMcByte ( 589271 ) <phrosty@gmail.com> on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:46PM (#61006830) Homepage

      I don't know how you could call Android more trustworthy when Google has a very clear need and makes design choices toward preventing you from thinking about how your data is being used. Apple doesn't seem interested in data mining you (yet), and their new privacy policy is gold -- Google and Facebook and every other app that uses your data are now quite a bit more exposed and I love that.

      Apple also keeps their phones updated much longer than any Android phone I've seen (I'm sure there are some examples I'm not aware of, but definitely not among the popular brands), so tech-ignorant people will be more protected.

      I've avoided Apple products in favor of Android (and formerly Windows Phone), but I switched to an iPhone yesterday. For what it's worth, I am really disliking iOS. I'm hoping it is mostly natural resistance to change that will fade as I use it more, though there are definitely several things I would consider glaring usability issues that I will never be happy with.

      As far as "better value" goes, Android definitely takes the cake for cheaper hardware, though at the cost of privacy issues. I'm not really sure how one measures "more compatibility" but anecdotally I haven't ran into any issues there yet.

      • Apple doesn't seem interested in data mining you (yet)

        The extent to which Apple addicts are capable of self delusion is truly remarkable.

      • the thing about iphones and ipads is the limited choices on android you can still find modern phones with qwerty or other niche features same goes for tablets, I have yet to see a tablet with a build in projector for example I dislike both Apple and Google as well as custom roms but I can only buy the hardware I want if I accept that it needs to run Android also, I have yet to see a watch that runs a real version of iOS I have watches that runs a complete android, not wearos or some other cut down thi

  • What with the lockdowns and stay at home orders, most of us probably aren’t that active.

  • Surprised about China (Score:3)

    by iampiti ( 1059688 ) on Friday January 29, 2021 @04:02AM (#61004872)
    I know it has been a fast growing economy for many years now but I didn't expect so many chinese to be able to afford iPhones. I'd imagine most of them would go for cheaper mid-range Android phones

    • I think the correct term you're looking for is "Status symbol".

      • Re:Status symbol (Score:4, Interesting)

        by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Friday January 29, 2021 @05:12AM (#61004954)

        I think the correct term you're looking for is "Status symbol".

        Status is more important in China than in America. In Western cultures "honor" is about what you think of yourself. In Eastern cultures "face" is about what others think about you.

        So Chinese people will eat nothing but rice to scrimp enough money to buy an iPhone and keep up with the Wangs.

        Status is especially important for single men. China has a shortage of 20 million women, so many men will never marry or have children. Especially those with no iPhone, no nice clothes, no car.

        • Even more than in America?

          Because to us in most of Europe, that is already a crazy amount, no disrespect.

          Just in case you ever want to pick up a girl here... the moment you start bragging with your stuff, you're done. Especially money and 'bling' (like iPhones). Complete opposite of the above.

          • Bragging about your stuff is seen as gauche. But having nice stuff still attracts people. They want the trappings of materialism, but they want you to pretend it doesn't matter to you.

            Sick, sad world.

        • With the shortage of women relative to men being so severe it makes sense that status is so important over there. So yeah, seems like a plausible explanation to the high number of Apple buyers

  • What I find amazing about that previous BS about Apple making their iphones slower is that, in my view, they were always releasing the latest features to all the devices that support them. Granted, older devices shouldnt use certain features which slow the device down unreasonably but Apple they really do a good job at keeping that ecosystem homogeneous.

    I've seen a lot of people using older iPhones. Good on them and I hope they hold the line re:security and privacy.

    • Now if only humans were homogenous . . .

      Sorry, but I love individualization and choice. Known to you as "fragmentation".

    • As an Android user the only thing I envy of iPhones is the large time of support the get from the manufacturer. There's no Android manufacturer that comes even close. I guess they really can't because otherwise their phones would have to be much more expensive to pay for the extra support. And that'd make many people lean towards other Android phones.
      Well, I'd also prefer that the developer of the OS wasn't a company whose income mainly comes from selling ads. That obviously makes you doubt they're gonna d
      • You can root and get updates from XDA
        • Yeah, but you can't compare that with official updates from the manufacturer
          • Yes official is best but slashdot users can manage rooting etc

            • I'm moving house soon. Doing a cleanout, I have 3 phones in a drawer once officially supported by LineageOS but now abandoned by the project because backporting security fixes and feature updates was too much of a burden*

              I guess I'm done with Android once my current phone dies. Keenly following the progress of Pinephone - the specs aren't great but they have a new board called Quartz64 for developers to port the kernel and drivers to, which should provide decent GPU acceleration once Pinephone 2 rolls out i

              • I really really hope pinephone and similar will succeed on a massive scale... it will open the door to a much needed alternative... and maybe even result in the same variety of hardware devices that we still see in android.... granted the variaty has been dropping rapidly for years now... but as previously mentioned.... do enough digging and then it is possible to find a qwerty phone that is born with an actual version 9 of android
    • The one great thing that Apple does is provide OS updates and security patches for a long time for older phones. My seven-year old 5s received it's latest security patch last November, and I just noticed there is a new one available from this January, albeit it is just for covid tracking.
  • I hope they honor this milestone by allowing some of their their Shenzhen factory workers to kill themselves. Not all of them, mind you. That would negatively affect the next quarter.

    • I hope they honor this milestone by allowing some of their their Shenzhen factory workers to kill themselves. Not all of them, mind you. That would negatively affect the next quarter.

      That's such a ridiculously stupid statement, you really need to explain what you are going on about. First suicide is illegal in many countries. Second, Apple is in no position to allow or forbid anyone to commit suicide.

      • They're probably talking about how Apple factories require suicide nets because so many people are trying to kill themselves there.

        That doesn't differentiate Apple from many other companies out there, but that's just the point. They're all evil scum, and that includes Apple. Apple is simply the poster child for worker abuse because they are piling up ever-taller mountains of cash through the process. They are the most visible and egregious example, and as such they deserve the attention.

        You don't work your

        • They're probably talking about how Apple factories require suicide nets because so many people are trying to kill themselves there.

          Invisible suicide nets with jumping board were invented by Jerry Pournelle. Foxconn left the jumping board out because it looks too much like taking the piss.

          At the worst times, the suicide rate at Foxconn was less than the murder rate among retail employees in the USA. So before you call Apple evil, look at the situation where you live.

          And the numbers were an awful lot lower than suicide rates in the USA. So before you call Apple evil, tell me why people kill themselves in the USA in such large numbe

  • My drawer is getting crowded with all these obsolete devices....

  • This completely contradicts the market shares. So unless those are bullshit, or there are more humans with too much money than we think, or there are multiple phones per person, this is bullshit.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xwin ( 848234 )
      I think there is a truth to it. I think the iPhone users are counted in a same way facebook users are counted. I know a number of people who's dog has a facebook page. Except for iPhone you need to actually purchase a physical phone.
      My company issued a mandatory cell phone during pandemic. We were told it is here to stay. Default free selection is an iPhone. If you want Android, you must pay. Most of the people just went with the default choice, I see iPhones everywhere around office never used, just acti

  • All of those people say that the iPhone is just status bling jewelry are the ones that are shallow.
    Watch the short film "Nian", shot on iPhone. In just a decade, look how far it has taken cinematography.
    The entry cost allows new filmmakers to capture what used to cost tens of thousands is astounding to me.

    This is with a pocket device that can shoot sequences where traditional cameras were too bulky.
    Yeah, I know that great films have been shot on 16mm and Android phones have cameras too.
    That's not the point.

  • "Passes" or "surpasses" is the word an English speaker - or someone who had briefly studied the language - would use here.

  • Just wondering, how many of these 1bn devices still receive updates...

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