Has Britain finally fallen in love with the iPhone? Apple’s market share in the mobile phone market has fallen to an eight-year low

Apple’s share of the UK mobile phone market has fallen to an eight-year low, figures show.

Although still dominant, the tech titan’s traction has fallen well below the 50 percent mark by 2024.

Now Apple only has a twelve-point lead over arch-rival Samsung.

Fans have been angry for years about the Silicon Valley company’s lack of innovation. Experts have said the market is saturated and the top options are priced at ten per cent, eroding Apple’s dominance.

After months of feverish anticipation, Apple’s latest iPhone model went on sale worldwide last week.

It described the 16 (which retails for £799), 16 Plus (£899), 16 Pro (£999) and 16 Pro Max (£1,199) as ‘the beginning of a new era’, with improved AI capabilities , camera upgrades and a battery life upgrade.

The new models also come with a button that activates the camera app – a feature described by Apple enthusiasts as the ‘coolest ever’.

But leading industry figures criticized the disappointing final product, which comes without the long-awaited ‘Apple Intelligence’ AI ecosystem.

The software may not be available until early 2025.

Features of Apple Intelligence include better writing tools, Photo Memories, the Clean Up tool, automatically transcribed audio, summary notifications, and smart replies. It will also adapt Siri to leverage Open AI’s infamous chatbot, ChatGPT, and AI-powered emoji generation.

Major tech reviewers The Verge called Apple’s latest phone “the most unfinished product ever released.” One former US employee even brutally described it as ‘s***’ and claimed the company was ‘trapped’.

Signs of lower-than-expected demand – evident through faster delivery times than previous models – sent the company’s shares down 3 percent.

Consumers are spoiled for choice in terms of viable alternatives to a smartphone that meets every conceivable criteria.

Samsung and Google continue to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into development, consistently unveiling new models in Britain with more bells and whistles.

Many already have some, if not most, of the AI ​​capabilities – or relevant equivalents – that Apple Intelligence will boast.

Apple’s share of the UK mobile phone market was 46 percent in August, online data aggregator StatCounter claims.

This fell to 43.9 percent in July, which is the lowest point since September 2016.

Samsung now has a third of the market (33.8 percent), up from less than 1 percent in 2010, when the comparative records began.

Google (4.6 percent) and Motorola (3.1 percent) also have a notable share of the pie.

StatCounter integrates tracking technology on more than 1.5 million partner websites worldwide and collects data from them to calculate mobile market share.

From a price perspective, Apple iPhones are still among the top at release. Although Samsung’s big release this year, the S24 and S24 Ultra, cost £799 and £1,249 respectively.

However, prices for standard and premium models have remained consistent in recent years, as has the delivery of new models and system upgrades.

When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it was all about forcing consumer upgrades every two years, revamping the phone’s design and tailoring it to consumers looking to cash in on their upgrades.

Since then, Apple has released new iPhone models and iOS updates annually.

Ernest Doku, mobile expert at price comparison site Uswitch.com, told MailOnline that the reportedly subdued demand for the latest models on the market has been noted.

He said: ‘While demand for the iPhone 16 is reportedly lower than its predecessors at launch – our data shows many are also opting for earlier, now cheaper models – the iPhone is unlikely to disappear entirely any time soon.

‘But with all kinds of hardware innovations, combined with rising costs, improved durability, and durability that mean older devices will be used for longer, Apple has its work cut out for it to win (or recapture) the hearts and minds of people looking are towards a fresh smartphone experience.’

Wired Magazine’s senior innovation editor Jeremy White agreed, telling MailOnline that the iPhone 16 launch had less impact than usual.

He said: ‘It’s no surprise that many people thought the iPhone 16 would be a super cycle year for iPhones – when you see a huge increase in people trading up and buying the new ones.

‘But because much of the technology at the 16 is linked to the AI ​​capabilities, that super cycle argument is debunked to some extent.

“If you’re interested in the AI ​​features, you might want to wait until the 17th.”

But Mr. White explained that the company’s broader play is to continue to build Apple into all aspects of consumers’ lives, merging the brand experience with the consumer.

He added: ‘The Apple ecosystem is the great app they have and the idea of ​​everything talking to each other is not only very useful, but it’s like a gateway drug that drives you to buy other products.’

Mr White noted that in Britain ‘the options are incredible because ‘you can get a great smartphone for a few hundred pounds’.

“The technology in smartphones is advanced and mature, even the mid-range and budget players have many of the desirable features – that will erode everyone’s position,” he said.

“But Apple has traditionally been slow to introduce technology that others already have – come last, come best.

“Remember, when they launched the Apple Watch, the smartwatch market was a joke and mocked, they legitimized it and they have a huge ability to do that in other sectors as well,” he added.

“You’d be crazy to write them off.”

Apple declined to comment.