iPhone 5 and 4S Top Samsung Galaxy S III in Worldwide Smartphone Shipments in 4Q 2012

[MonkeySee....]

Originally Posted by DeathChill

I am getting the feeling people don't understand this chart. It's the top three phones and both the iPhone 4S and 5 outsold the S3 individually. I don't get how people aren't even reading it all and then posting.

I know, its bizarre?

[GermanyChris]

Hey look an EOL phone is being out sold by two

[palmharbor]

Originally Posted by Krazy Bill

My first thought as well.

Holy crap... while I can understand people rooting for Apple (myself included) the distortion and propaganda around here is mind-boggling at times.

This a public relations site for the Apple Corporation...simple

[Simplicated]

Include the GS2 if you want to make a fair comparison.

[hpod]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

Include the GS2 if you want to make a fair comparison.

No.

Learn to read if you want a fair comparison.

They're NOT adding the sales of the 4s and the 5 together.

The 4S, all by itself, outsold the S3.

[BaldiMac]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

Include the GS2 if you want to make a fair comparison.

Why do they need to include it? What place did it finish in for the quarters in question?

[chrisbru]

Originally Posted by mikeorchard

Not really. Android vs iOS is a pretty fair comparison.

If only there was a way to vote down the people not bothering to actually read the article though. The fact that the 4S alone sold more than the GS3 is testament to Apple's staying power. Samsung on the other hand seem only capable of making little blips that quickly dissipate.

Except its not exactly a fair comparison. Apple doesn't ship out $49 off-contract devices running iOS3, while Android does ship version 2.3 units for crazy cheap. I'm pretty sure Android even has some "feature phones" running that OS that aren't even really smartphones.

It's never going to be a completely perfect comparison, but I think individual models is a pretty good place to start, especially with the Galaxy S3 being the "flagship" Android phone.

[hpod]

Originally Posted by BaldiMac

Why do they need to include it? What place did it finish in?

They don't...the people asking for that have made it glaringly obvious they didn't 1) read the chart, or 2) don't actually understand the chart.

They think they combined the sales of the 4S and the 5...when they didn't.

----------

Originally Posted by GermanyChris

Hey look an EOL phone is being out sold by two

Reading comprehension. You don't have it.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by palmharbor

This a public relations site for the Apple Corporation...simple

Yep, the only PR site in the world to post dozens and dozens of articles about iPhone antennae problems, iOS's terrible Maps, Foxconn suicides and child labor, and professional's complaints about stagnant Mac Pros and Final Cut X omissions.

Congratulations, you figured it out. Arn is just an Apple PR guy who is really, really, really bad at his job.

[JGIGS]

Not in anyway a fair comparison. You'd have to add the galaxy note 2 + Galaxy S3 sales minimum to compare to the iphone 5 as they split samsungs high end handset market share. Also the S3 is much later in its product life cycle and a new S4 is around the corner so of course its sales are going to start easing off sooner then the iphone 5.

Duh!

All are great products but I still find apple is starting to lag behind in invoation since the iphone 4 though a lot of samsung/android inovations are getting more gimmicky. A sign that smart phones in general are getting pretty mature in the product life cycle just like computers have for awhile.

If apple would let access and share my media files, allow a bit more customization (imagine what they could make with winterboard themes, fonts, and keyboards), and expandle storage.

I know why they don't allow it but I rather they let me decide if I want that stuff or not.

[CEmajr]

So much for Apple being doomed and everyone wanting a huge screened phone.

No surprise that the iPhone 5 outsold the S3, the real story here is that the 4S outsold it.

So with all the doom and gloom surrounding Apple on the Internet, they still have the two best selling phones on the market. Looks like they are not in trouble at all and obviously they are doing something right.

[Simplicated]

Originally Posted by hpod

No.

Learn to read if you want a fair comparison.

They're NOT adding the sales of the 4s and the 5 together.

The 4S, all by itself, outsold the S3.

Originally Posted by BaldiMac

Why do they need to include it? What place did it finish in for the quarters in question?

Why is it fair? The table includes a previous generation iPhone and the current generation iPhone, but only includes the current generation Galaxy S phone. It's as though the table was designed just to present and tout how many phones Apple outsold its competitors during the two quarters.

And I fervently hate Samsung. But this table, as well as the conclusion, just create a bad image of Apple fans.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by JGIGS

Not in anyway a fair comparison. You'd have to add the galaxy note 2 + Galaxy S3 sales minimum to compare to the iphone 5 as they split samsungs high end handset market share. Also the S3 is much later in its product life cycle and a new S4 is around the corner so of course its sales are going to start easing off sooner then the iphone 5.

Duh!

You say that a fact is obvious and that it's "not fair" to explain this obvious fact. You then explain it yourself.

So does that make your post "not fair" too?

[newagemac]

Originally Posted by Mac2133

If you're going to include 4S and 5, then you should also include S2 and Blaze. This is an unfair comparison - to take just the S3.

I don't think you read the chart correctly. They showed the stats for the iPhone 5 only. They also showed the stats for the 4S only. It was a head to head comparison of market share for the iPhone 5 vs the S3... (the best phones available from each company) and the S3 is getting clobbered by the iPhone 5.

The is nothing new though. The only time a Samsung smartphone has ever outsold the latest iPhone is when the S3 beat the 4S right before the iPhone 5 shipped. What's funny though is that even the iPhone 4S surged ahead and beat the S3 the very next quarter as these charts show.

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by JGIGS

Not in anyway a fair comparison. You'd have to add the galaxy note 2 + Galaxy S3 sales minimum to compare to the iphone 5 as they split samsungs high end handset market share.

The Iphone figures are split

iPhone 4S & iPhone 5 sold around 45 million combined in Q4 (chart has them split)

SIII had 15 million

Adding them up like this the Note 2 would have to have sold around 30 million to get Samsung equal to iPhone sales

[hpod]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

Why is it fair? The table includes a previous generation iPhone and the current generation iPhone, but only includes the current generation Galaxy S phone. It's as though the table was designed just to present and tout how many phones Apple outsold its competitors during the two quarters.

And I fervently hate Samsung. But this table, as well as the conclusion, just create a bad image of Apple fans.

Because they're comparing the top sales of the last 2 quarters time.

The S2 probably doesn't even register in the top 10 in sales in the previous 2 quarters.

These are NOT all time sales.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by Simplicated

Why is it fair? The table includes a previous generation iPhone and the current generation iPhone, but only includes the current generation Galaxy S phone. It's as though the table was designed just to present and tout how many phones Apple outsold its competitors during the two quarters.

And I fervently hate Samsung. But this table, as well as the conclusion, just create a bad image of Apple fans.

Ok, go at it. Draw me a "fair" list of the top 3 selling phones.

Go:

1) _______
2) _______
3) _______


I'm curious to see how you handle this, since apparently you have a better idea.

[GermanyChris]

Originally Posted by hpod

They don't...the people asking for that have made it glaringly obvious they didn't 1) read the chart, or 2) don't actually understand the chart.

They think they combined the sales of the 4S and the 5...when they didn't.

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Reading comprehension. You don't have it.

Hey look Apple low end phone out sells Samsungs High end that is EOL..Really whodda thunk it??

Apple freshly released iPhone that people will be creaming their britches to get out sold Samsungs soon to be replaced EOL'd high end phone..whodda thunk it..

[PedroCst]

Originally Posted by JGIGS

Not in anyway a fair comparison. You'd have to add the galaxy note 2 + Galaxy S3 sales minimum to compare to the iphone 5 as they split samsungs high end handset market share. Also the S3 is much later in its product life cycle and a new S4 is around the corner so of course its sales are going to start easing off sooner then the iphone 5.

So, you have the following. This is, decomposing everything:
*iPhone 5 had more shipments than S3
*iPhone 4S also had more shipments than the S3
*The 4S and the 5 account for ~21% of the market
*The S3 accounts for 7% of the market, and it's the 3rd most sold smartphone

Now, you have this:
*If the S3 is the most sold and has 7%, the others have the same or less
*Imagine the S2 and the Note sold 7% each. That makes 21%

So, at best, Samsung sold as much in burn-your-wallet devices as Apple did.
Are you satisfied or plain mentally ill?

[hpod]

Originally Posted by GermanyChris

Hey look Apple low end phone out sells Samsungs High end that is EOL..Really whodda thunk it??

Apple freshly released iPhone that people will be creaming their britches to get out sold Samsungs soon to be replaced EOL'd high end phone..whodda thunk it..

Apples "freshly released" iPhone outsold the S3.

And so did it's 2 year old 4S.

As I said, reading comprehension...you don't have it.

[paulsalter]

Anyone know the sales for these models for the whole of 2012?

[AppleScruff1]

Oh wait! Now shipments are impressive because Apple is back on top? But when it was Samsung on top the last time shipments meant nothing.

[GermanyChris]

Originally Posted by hpod

Apples "freshly released" iPhone outsold the S3.

And so did it's 2 year old 4S.

As I said, reading comprehension...you don't have it.

and the 4s costs what on contract?

continue on please..

**edit** the 4S was released in October 2011 so 17 month old 4s

[hpod]

Originally Posted by AppleScruff1

Oh wait! Now shipments are impressive because Apple is back on top? But when it was Samsung on top the last time shipments meant nothing.

No, "shipments" in and of themselves are never impressive. Apple doesn't release "shipment" numbers, they release actual sales numbers. And most of these "estimates" on what Samsung ships are just that, estimates, since Samsung doesn't actually release shipment OR sales numbers.

[Simplicated]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

Ok, go at it. Draw me a "fair" list of the top 3 selling phones.

Go:

1) _______
2) _______
3) _______


I'm curious to see how you handle this, since apparently you have a better idea.

We are talking about the previous and current generations, not the three top-selling phones.