IPhone owners use Apple services enough to make an iPhone subscription for a phone and apps an appealing option, said Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Monday, referring to a rumored Apple subscription offering. Almost half of iPhone users finance their iPhone purchase, two-thirds use paid iCloud storage and about half subscribe to Apple Music, said the research firm. Under the rumored offering, consumers would trade in their phone periodically, CIRP said. About a third trade already in their old phone when they buy a new one, so “a significant portion of the user base is accustomed to never owning a phone, instead basically leasing it,” and iPhone users have gotten used to getting a new model every two or three years, it said. Apple can easily match these patterns with a program that routinely sends a new phone in exchange for the old one,” said analyst Josh Lowitz. About two-thirds of iPhone owners pay monthly for iCloud storage, the longest-running iPhone service, and almost half subscribe to Apple Music “in a very competitive marketplace,” said analyst Mike Levin. Apple already combines these and other apps and services in the Apple One bundle, “so it has experience and an installed base of users that could take up a combined hardware, apps, and services subscription program,” Levin said. Apple didn't comment Monday. Comparing an Apple subscription service with other successful services, the analysts said Amazon Prime is distinct from other delivery options, and other services -- Costco for shopping and Netflix for streaming -- are available exclusively by subscription. “The challenge for Apple is to create a new subscription service that provides unique value to its customers," the analysts said. Findings are based on a survey of U.S. Apple customers who bought an iPhone, iPad, Mac computer or Apple Watch as of December.

Xiaomi’s global smartphone shipments exceeded 190 million in 2021, enough to place it No. 3 in the world, said President Wang Xiang on a Q4 earnings call Tuesday. Xiaomi finished 2021 ranked No. 1 in 14 markets and in the top five in 62 markets, he said. “We ranked No. 2 in Europe with a market share of 23% and retained our No. 1 position in Spain for two consecutive years and the No. 1 position in India for 17 consecutive quarters,” he said. “We continue to strengthen our position in the premium smartphone market,” having shipped more than 24 million premium handsets globally in 2021, compared with 10 million the year before, said Wang. “Premium smartphones accounted for around 13% of our total smartphone shipments in 2021 compared with around 7% the year before.” Xiaomi estimates its global smartphone share rose to 14.1% in 2021 from 9.2% in 2019, said Chief Financial Officer Alain Lam.

Best Buy pitched customers on select flagship iPhone 13 series phones Friday, offering trade-ins of up to $1,000 for “old or damaged” phones on Verizon, up to $1,100 on AT&T and up to $585 on T-Mobile, all with new line activations. It also began taking pre-orders for the alpine green iPhone 13 Pro and green iPhone 13, announced Tuesday in Apple’s latest product launch. Release date of the green models is March 18, it said.

At least one in 10 smartphones will have a foldable screen by 2030, predicted ABI Research Wednesday. With user experience problems “now mostly resolved,” the addition of more innovative designs “will see an increase in popularity, despite still having relatively high price points,” it said. “A significant change in market availability and breakthrough of many more flexible screened devices is expected in 2022.”

Members of the ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force updated FCC staff on the group’s work toward a goal of making all handsets hearing-aid compatible, said a filing posted Friday in docket 15-285. The group is “hard at work considering the questions posed by the Commission … and is preparing its report and recommendations for the FCC due at the end of 2022,” the filing said. A recent consumer survey found more than half of respondents “use direct Bluetooth audio streaming between their hearing device and their wireless phone,” the filing said: “Consumers generally use more than one way to connect the hearing device to a wireless phone, including Bluetooth, speakerphone, holding the wireless device to the microphone in the hearing device, removing the hearing device. … Some consumers experienced barriers to satisfactory wireless phone communication, such as noisy environments.” The task force is made of representatives of the wireless industry, device makers and consumer groups.

Market forces are expected to “significantly constrain” the SIM card market in 2022, reducing global shipments of removable SIM cards nearly 10% to 3.93 billion from 4.36 billion in 2021, reported ABI Research Thursday. The “long-term threats” to the removable SIM card form factor “are presenting themselves within the handset market, which is already extremely saturated, limiting growth opportunities,” it said. Smartphone average selling prices are “significantly higher” than a few years ago, “negatively affecting removable SIM card churn rates as device contracts are lengthened to spread the cost of higher priced smartphones over a longer period of time.”

Global smartphone sales grew 6% in 2021 to 1.43 billion handsets, reported Gartner Wednesday. Smartphone sales rebounded in the first half of 2021, after a 12.5% decline in 2020, but component shortages and supply chain issues disrupted sales in 2021's second half, it said. “Out-of-stock situations for popular models and limited inventories pushed out some of the possible sales to 2022,” said Gartner. All top five vendors -- Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo -- increased their sales in 2021 over 2020. Samsung held on to the top position over Apple, despite Apple’s 19.7% increase to Samsung’s 7.6%. No. 5 brand Viv had the biggest increase among the leaders with 26.7% year-over-year growth, said Gartner.

Mobile device trade-in and upgrade programs returned an estimated $3.1 billion to U.S. consumers in 2021, up by about $1 billion from 2020 and topping the $2.4 billion returned to consumers in the pre-COVID-19 pandemic year of 2019, reported Assurant Tuesday. An estimated $1.1 billion was returned to U.S. consumers through trade-in and upgrade programs in Q4, up 40% sequentially from Q3 and a 34% year-on-year increase, it said. Other findings for 2021: (1) iPhones led the top five devices turned in through trade-in and upgrade programs; (2) The Samsung Galaxy S9 was the top-traded Android device; (3) The average trade-in value for an iPhone in 2021 was $199, while the average trade-in value for an Android smartphone was $98.

Global shipments of foldable phones will reach 27.6 million units in 2025, based on a 69.9% compound annual growth rate, reported IDC Wednesday. It estimates 7.1 million were shipped in 2021, an increase of 264.3% over the 1.9 million shipped in 2020. “Despite their small market share, foldables represent a major opportunity for vendors,” said IDC. Foldables are “the most innovative visual change to happen to smartphones,” and are a segment “that cannot be ignored by vendors,” it said. The recent success of Samsung foldables “has given new life to the category as competitors rush to enter the market," said IDC analyst Anthony Scarsella. “Samsung has proven that there is consumer demand for foldable phones once they hit the right price and feature a more stable build.”

Major smartphone vendors “are getting ready to compete in the foldable category, which will become a vital part of their high-end strategies and corporate branding,” said Canalys analyst Amber Liu Monday. Canalys expects several foldable device launches in 2022 as vendors continue reducing thickness, weight and price, “vital for mass-market adoption,” Liu said. Leading players will begin differentiating with advanced features this year, she said. Foldable smartphone shipments will grow at a 53% compound annual growth rate to 30 million shipments from 2021-2024, Canalys forecast. The foldable segment grew 148% last year vs. 7% for the overall smartphone market, it said. Samsung is driving the market, having shipped 8.9 million units last year. Foldables provide “vital differentiation” as a way to spur sales, said analyst Toby Zhu, saying Android vendors are “under big pressure in the premium segment,” with under-$800 smartphone shipments falling 18% last year below the 2019 level; iOS shipments have grown 68% over the same period. In addition to hardware design innovations such as hinges, “the real battlefield for device vendors is the software user experience, which requires substantial investment in the user interface and capable software as the foldable app ecosystem is still far from optimal,” said Liu.