android phone
A man plays with a HTC Desire smartphone at a mobile phone shop in Taipei Reuters/Pichi Chuang

The smartphone market has continually evolved, with premium Android devices now losing team and Apple experiencing pressure to top previous performance. According to the latest figures, premium Android phones no longer have the same appeal as before, while Apple's growth is a double-edged sword. Will new smartphone releases change the tide?

In an examination by journalist Charles Arthur, a deeper probe in the current smartphone numbers makes a compelling case about the status of premium Android phones. The product line has hit a wall especially when it comes to percentage revenue growth. The only player against the declining value of premium phones in the market is Apple. According to Arthur, in 2014, Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Motorola and Lenovo had a combined shipment of 129.4 million smartphones. Out of these, Samsung shipped 74.9 million units, almost 58 percent of overall sales. In the second quarter of 2015, things took a different turn.

As Arthur puts it: "In the second quarter of 2015, the combination of that same group (with Motorola now owned by Lenovo) shipped a total of 114.7 devices. Samsung shipped (an estimated, as always) 73.2m, or 64 percent of them. The whole smartphone market was 337.2m, so that group had 34 percent of it."

The smartphone market is a comprised of a complex series of processes including designing and manufacturing. Despite attempts to differentiate products from one another, devices remained underwhelming. Smartphone companies are seemingly under the curse of producing the same product repeatedly. Thus, this is where the problem lies. Whereas Apple appears to be succeeding in topping its performance every year, the upcoming cycle will become more of a challenge, according to analysts.

In a report by the Wall Street Journal, the publication cites Bernstein Research Toni Sacconaghi saying that Apple's growth rates are “mathematically unsustainable." Sacconaghi estimated Apple growth to be just around 3 percent or 237.6 million units for the fiscal year beginning October.

“It’s highly debatable whether there will be any iPhone growth next year,” explained Mr. Sacconaghi. “The market realities will catch up with Apple.”

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