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Apple Passes LG to Become World's Third Largest Mobile Phone Manufacturer

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Research firm IDC today released its estimates of global mobile phone sales for the fourth quarter of and full-year 2011, finding Apple moving past LG to claim third place in the rankings for the first time. Apple was rapidly closing on LG by mid-2010, but fell back into fifth place behind ZTE during the third quarter as customers held off in anticipation of new iPhone hardware. The strong surge from the iPhone 4S launch was then enough for Apple to move up in the year's final quarter and by a large enough margin that it was able pass LG in full-year numbers as well.

idc_4Q11_phones.jpg



Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales in 4Q11 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)​
While Apple has been estimated to be neck-and-neck with Samsung for the crown of top smartphone manufacturer, Nokia and Samsung firmly hold down the top two spots in the overall mobile phone rankings on the volume of their lower-end feature phones.
Apple jumped into the third spot globally from the fifth spot last quarter thanks to a record-breaking quarter of shipments. That represents the Cupertino-based company's highest-ever ranking on IDC's Top 5 global mobile phone leaderboard. The launch of Apple's iPhone 4S smartphone, which is now available in over 90 countries (as of mid-January), was the primary reason the company leapt over LG and ZTE in 4Q11. Device sales in the U.S. and Japan were particularly strong given extra sales days in the quarter and carrier distribution.
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Apple's share of the market hit 8.7% in the fourth quarter and registered at 6.0% for the full year. Steve Jobs famously noted during the iPhone's 2007 introduction that Apple was shooting to take 1% of the massive overall mobile phone market, and the company has clearly exceeded that goal and can now set its sights on a 10% quarterly share during the next spike in sales.

idc_2011_phones.jpg



Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales in 2011 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)​
One year ago, Apple ranked fifth in both fourth quarter and full-year sales for 2010, but by nearly doubling its sales year-over-year Apple was able to overtake both ZTE and LG to move into third place.

Article Link: Apple Passes LG to Become World's Third Largest Mobile Phone Manufacturer
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/01/apple-passes-lg-to-become-worlds-third-largest-mobile-phone-manufacturer/
wickerman1893

wickerman1893

macrumors 6502
Dec 16, 2008
468
0
And apple has no phones being sold in one of the nation's 4th largest carrier and no regional carriers. The growth is great to see!
 
S

slrandall

macrumors 6502
Jun 15, 2011
412
0
Good lord, those year-over-year numbers are ridiculous. Especially because Apple's not exactly a newcomer anymore.
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Well one thing you can take away from that chart is lg is moving out of the dumb phone business and that market is dieing. Motorola did it a few years ago and had a massive drop. Looks like Samsung is the only company to really make the switch the transition from dumb phone to smart phone.
 
G

godknows

macrumors newbie
Apr 5, 2010
29
0
WiiDSmoker said:
Apple fan boys told me that market percentage doesn't matter.
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Not quite fanboy, but no it doesn't matter. If they keep with the leaps like the original iPhone and the iPhone 4, they will stay huge like it is now. If they only push out incrementa updates like the 4S and iPad 2 and Macs, then they will just sink.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
WiiDSmoker said:
Apple fan boys told me that market percentage doesn't matter.
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It doesn't. That's why this is so damn impressive.

All Jobs was gunning for was 1% of the total market, in typical Apple fashion. And look where they are today.

And keep in mind this is all with, at most, three phones (all under the same roof), running an unlicensed OS.
 
Hastings101

Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2010
2,338
1,446
K
MultiMediaWill said:
i tH0uGhT tH4t aPpl3 w4s teH #1?
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Umm, MultiMediaWill, these new Starburst Flavor Morph change flavors as you chew. Like this one was Cherry but it changed to Cherry Lime and maybe if it can change, you can change too. Stop trolling the Interwebz, start fresh.

I applied a television commercial to this situation :D! I win!
 
smileyborg

smileyborg

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2009
267
0
Don't forget that "shipments" and "units sold" are not the same. Which puts Apple even higher, as we know they sold literally every iPhone they could make last quarter, but its highly doubtful this was the case with any other manufacturer.
 
DakotaGuy

DakotaGuy

macrumors 601
Jan 14, 2002
4,226
3,791
South Dakota, USA
*LTD* said:
Yeah, the scrubs are running a different race, the only one open to them. It's unfortunate.
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It was supposed to be a joke...

With that said why is it unfortunate? Competition breeds innovation. Most people like having healthy competition that drives the market forward. There are very few that actually wish Apple had 100% marketshare and everyone was forced to buy the same exact phone. You might be the exception to that, but most like choice.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
DakotaGuy said:
It was supposed to be a joke...

With that said why is it unfortunate? Competition breeds innovation. Most people like having healthy competition that drives the market forward.
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Except the competition (outside of the one OEM that has decided to go in Apple's direction, incidentally) isn't very healthy.

The only other growth prospects are ZTE and "others." Yuck. And HTC is having serious issues.

This is without even mentioning Google's legal issues re Android:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...nt_in_apples_favor_in_htc_android_appeal.html
 
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faroZ06

faroZ06

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2009
3,387
1
I used to have an LG flip phone. I just recently got my mom's iPhone 4. I have to say, the LG was way better for voice calling because it actually fit my head. Of course, the iPhone is better for everything else, including having standardized chargers.

The original Motorola Razer (flip phone) was amazing.

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Hastings101 said:
Umm, MultiMediaWill, these new Starburst Flavor Morph change flavors as you chew. Like this one was Cherry but it changed to Cherry Lime and maybe if it can change, you can change too. Stop trolling the Interwebz, start fresh.

I applied a television commercial to this situation :D! I win!
Click to expand...

The guy fails at leet also. This is how it's done super-leet style:

! †|-|ø|_|g|-|† ÅpP£€ \/\/å$ #1

I learned that from online games. If your nickname has that kind of leet, you are immediately "pro".
 
Monty88

Monty88

macrumors newbie
Sep 2, 2010
15
0
"While Apple has been estimated to be neck-and-neck with Samsung for the crown of top smartphone manufacturer, Nokia and Samsung firmly hold down the top two spots in the overall mobile phone rankings on the volume of their lower-end feature phones."

Firmly indeed! Apple is not even close to Samsung in units sold (mehh... just 60 million). I bet they're much closer in mobile revenue & profit though ;)

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ECUpirate44 said:
When was the last time you said something of substance on this forum?
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This guy's recent posts are nearly all hilarious.
 
neko girl

neko girl

macrumors 6502a
Jan 20, 2011
988
0
Monty88 said:
Firmly indeed! Apple is not even close to Samsung in units sold (mehh... just 60 million). I bet they're much closer in mobile revenue & profit though ;)
Click to expand...
The numbers in the article is for mobile phones, not smartphones.

Of course Samsung sells a lot of dumbphones. Not really an "apples to apples" comparison here.
 
gnasher729

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
By the way, does anyone know what the hell happened to LG? Being passed by Apple was as much due to Apple as it was due to Nokia according to the numbers.

WiiDSmoker said:
Apple fan boys told me that market percentage doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

Of course it doesn't matter. Apple sold 37 million iPhones. A company selling 37.1 million of the cheapest possible ten dollar phone that makes phone calls and nothing else, the kind of phone that you'll find in the glove compartment of my car for emergencies, would have higher market share than Apple. So yes, market share doesn't matter.

But it wouldn't be "Apple fan boys" telling you that, but actually anybody knowing what is really important.


Monty88 said:
Firmly indeed! Apple is not even close to Samsung in units sold (mehh... just 60 million). I bet they're much closer in mobile revenue & profit though ;)
Click to expand...

I would be careful with that bet. In profit, Apple is probably very far away from Samsung, but above, not below. Compared to Nokia, Apple is definitely very far away in profit, because Nokia has been losing money recently (even with $250 million payments from Microsoft).


smileyborg said:
Don't forget that "shipments" and "units sold" are not the same. Which puts Apple even higher, as we know they sold literally every iPhone they could make last quarter, but its highly doubtful this was the case with any other manufacturer.
Click to expand...

Long term it doesn't make much difference. A company cant' ship more than they sell for very long. It happened to Acer in PCs (a rather bizarre case, the company apparently didn't know itself that they had millions of PCs in warehouses, and it cost them a lot), it happened to tablet manufacturers who then had to leave the business, and it happened to Nokia when their sales dropped - one quarter Nokia shipments to stores stayed constant while the stores sold much less, the next quarter stores stopped buying to get rid of their inventory, so in that quarter Nokia's shipments were actually less than their sales.
 
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