Is Apple Missing Out on Half-Billion Unit Dual-SIM Phone Market?

Companies and Brands

Published: July 16, 2015 11:05 am

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 11:52 pm

Source: courtesy of Apple Inc.

The U.S. market for a single smartphone that can support two different phone numbers — a dual-SIM phone — is quite limited. Worldwide, the market comprises about a third of the total 1.6 billion smartphones estimated to be sold in 2016. One name missing from the dual-SIM market is Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), and one research firm thinks the company is missing an opportunity.

In a research report released Thursday, Strategy Analytics estimates the 2015 market for dual-SIM phones at 431 million units, rising 19% to 514 million in 2016. Dual-SIM (SIM is an acronym for Subscriber Identity Module) phones are big sellers in some markets, according to Strategy Analytics director Linda Sui:

Dual-SIM smartphones with two or more SIM card slots, such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos, are wildly popular in cost-conscious markets like India and China. Dual-SIM smartphones are popular [there] because they allow consumers to select the cheapest tariff rates for voice or data plans, as well as access better cellular coverage without roaming charges, while removing the extra cost of owning multiple handsets for personal or business communications.

The key to the scarcity of dual-SIM phones in the United States is contained in Sui’s comment about allowing consumers to select the cheapest rates. Nearly all smartphones sold in the United States are locked to a single carrier, such as Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, to name the large ones. The carriers do not want consumers to be able to switch to another carrier to take advantage of cheaper rates.

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Apple, which exercises nearly total control of its hardware and software ecosystem, is probably even less interested in producing a dual-SIM phone. One analyst recently projected that Apple will sell 225 million iPhones in 2015 and 226 million in 2016. Apple also nabbed 92% of total first-quarter 2015 operating income among the top eight smartphone makers. The company is not interested in selling cheaper phones that customers can fool with — that could foul up the ecosystem and alter the company’s focus on being a premium smartphone maker with extravagant profit margins.

So while Strategy Analytics thinks that Apple is missing out on a huge opportunity in the dual-SIM market, it does not seem likely that Apple will jump in anytime soon.

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