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

[Belly-laughs]

impressive numbers

the s3 may be old-ish but did uncle sam sung ever ship 27.4m of them in a quarter?

 

[Michael Scrip]

I think this report is kind of really skewed because the "newness" of the iPhone 5 drove strong sales of the device for much of the last three months of 2012. Yet, in the July-September 2012 quarter, note the very strong sales of the Galaxy S III, since people now realize the Galaxy S III is a real viable alternative.

Alas, now that the "newness" is gone from the iPhone 5, people are realizing that the current iPhone is essentially an iPhone 4S that has a slightly bigger screen and LTE support. In short, in terms of hardware features it's fallen behind all the latest Android models in many ways. Is it small wonder why I think Apple could have as many as three new models of the iPhone by this fall?

If "newness" is a factor... how can you explain sales of the iPhone 4S vs the Galaxy SIII ?

The Galaxy SIII is 8 months newer, has a bigger screen, and LTE.

The fact that the iPhone 4S outsold the Galaxy SIII is the complete opposite of what you're saying.

 

[Bernard SG]

Those numbers are not particularly surprising for anyone following tech news. They just confirm what I suspected, but they are interesting nonetheless.
What they say is not that Apple or Samsung are losing/winning; that line of thinking is just slly peeing contest. What the figures say is that all the hysteria about Apple losing momentum is just dead wrong. iPhone is still solidly leading the top-end of the smartphone market; Apple doesn't *need* to release a larger iPhone or a cheaper iPhone... I'm not saying that Apple shouldn't do those but those are in no way pressing priorities.

 

[iGrip]

What about Palm, RIM and Windows Phones.

Those were the guys Apple had a 5 year lead on at the time. None of them seems to have done well in the meantime, but M$ may yet gain some significant penetration. They've done that sort of thing in the past, due to nothing more than pure cussedness at times.

----------

Apple with iPhone and iOS is a company, one man army, Android as a whole and its OEMs are many .

Apple is a scrappy little underdog which was started by hippies in their mother's garage. And it always will be.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Apple is a scrappy little underdog which was started by hippies in their mother's garage. And it always will be.

Android and Samsung will be the leader in market share and unit sales...

But Apple is the billion dollar underdog with a silver medal!

 

[4509968]

Apple is a scrappy little underdog which was started by hippies in their mother's garage. And it always will be.

Doing pretty well for a scrappy company eh?

 

[AppleScruff1]

Those were the guys Apple had a 5 year lead on at the time. None of them seems to have done well in the meantime, but M$ may yet gain some significant penetration. They've done that sort of thing in the past, due to nothing more than pure cussedness at times.

Windows Phone 8 is a good OS, a nice alternative to iOS and Android. And more intuitive to use than Android, IMHO. I think as Windows 8 gets more market share, people may start taking a closer look at the phones running Windows. The problem is there probably won't be many of them in the immediate future. And of course a lot will depend on the available apps.

 

[brdeveloper]

While Apple has perhaps four iPhone models between 3GS and 5, Samsung has maybe twice options: SIII, Note, Note II, SII, SII Lite, S Duos, Gran Duos, SIII Mini. A comparison including these phone would give a better overview of who tops the high end smartphone market.

 

[GermanyChris]

So tell me seriously with your deep wisdom, how do we compare fairly an Apple iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S series

Sgs 3 : announced on May 2012, $99 with 2 y contract
iPhone 4s : announced on October 2011, $99 with 2 y contract
iPhone 5 : announced on October 2012, $199 with 2 y contract

And for being newer than 4s and older than 5, it's actually outsold by both this quarter. I can't see how unfair that is?

And if you're talking about price, SGS 3 is a huge deal compared to 4S, same upfront fee with newer and bigger phone.
Except for the fact that customer still favor it over S3 and finally it's outsold by an older and equally priced 4S. Not good

Is that so hard for you to read?

Is it so hard for you to read my follow on posts?

 

[Number29]

How does any of that change the fact that Apple sold the top two smartphone models in Q4 2012?

It does not change the fact that Apple sold more iPhone 4S and 5 models. But to make it seem like that Apple sells like hot cakes versus the competion is misleading, because the competion has more than one model that competes in the same category. When a company is selling 70M more smartphones than the other one, somehow this ranking in the article doesn't make a lot of sense. Somehow it doesn't explain how Samsung can sell 57% more smartphones than Apple. Don't you agree that something is missing there?

The article really only tells us that Apple makes the 2 most popular smartphone models.

 

[Michael Scrip]

While Apple has perhaps four iPhone models between 3GS and 5, Samsung has maybe twice options: SIII, Note, Note II, SII, SII Lite, S Duos, Gran Duos, SIII Mini. A comparison including these phone would give a better overview of who tops the high end smartphone market.

I think the chart does give a good overview. I'm guessing all of Samsung's other models have much fewer sales than the flagship Galaxy SIII... which is why they didn't specify them in the article.

The Galaxy SIII is, without a doubt, Samsung's superstar seller at over 15 million last quarter. But which Samsung phone is next? Maybe it drops off by a huge margin.

According to this chart the iPhone occupies the #1 and #2 spots... and the Galaxy SIII is #3. So who has the #4 spot?

I think we would have heard if the S Duo was rocketing up the charts...

 

[marksman]

I'm not defending Samsung but I don't think this comparison is entirely fair. Apple only has two models whilst Samsung has lots of different models so comparing Apple's entire smartphone portfolio against just one Galaxy model is rather pointless. Why not add in all the Samsung smartphones and see how the two brands stack up then. Samsung are not trying to build a one product business like Apple, they are trying to build a many product business so theoretically there is a product for everyone. It's an entirely different philosophy. I certainly would not make any investment decisions based on this report.

All I see is you are the twenty first person in this thread who can't read.

You understand the iPhone 5 outsold the galaxy 3 on its own right? You also see that the iPhone 4S also outsold the galaxy 3 right?

You guys don't think the galaxy II outsold the galaxy 3 did you?

The comments In this thread make little sense

----------

But both of those will be below the SIII so whats the point?

Do people not understand this chart??

It just supports the trolls run amok here. They either don't bother to read, can't understand what they are reading, or the intentionally try to misrepresent the facts while attacking apple while disclaiming it with "I own an apple xxxxxx really I do."

Ironically the biggest complaint is about lumping together numbers yet that is the solution most of those crying foul want to do, just in favor of Samsung.

----------

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

You do realize if you combine the GII and GIII sales and compare them to the 4s and 5 the margin for apples lead will be much much bigger? I expect not as you don't seem to grasp much here. Suffice it to say the comparison you want would be WORSE for Samsung and BETTER for Apple

 

[marksman]

Other Samsung phones should have been included in this comparison.

No other Samsung phones were in the top three.

----------

If you read the source article it definitely seems misleading. I'm all for data and numbers (I own Apple stock and own a household full of Apple products). But I'm primarily for accurate numbers...and that often means providing an adequate selection...regardless of whether they made the "top 3" models. In other words...a simple "Others" section is a lazy way to present numbers.

Yeah well analysts don't work for free. They want people to buy their reports so the tease the top few to get publicity for their firm.

I am sure if you want to pay them the 50k or whatever they charge for all the data they will but you will likely sign a contract not to share it with anyone

 

[Digital Skunk]

Apple is a scrappy little underdog which was started by hippies in their mother's garage. And it always will be.

Apple hasn't been the underdog in almost 4 years. Maybe in terms of the CPU market, but that market is something that's dwindling and one that Apple doesn't seem too keen on putting their full effort into.

But Apple is the billion dollar underdog with a silver medal!

It doesn't work that way. Apple users may want to have that culture permeate the ranks and retail and user and corporate settings but the company that makes the most money is far from being underdog.

While Apple has perhaps four iPhone models between 3GS and 5, Samsung has maybe twice options: SIII, Note, Note II, SII, SII Lite, S Duos, Gran Duos, SIII Mini. A comparison including these phone would give a better overview of who tops the high end smartphone market.

I would rather like to see who makes the most mullah overall. Even with computer sales (Apple) and washing machine sales (Samsung). I probably could just do a search for it.

I don't think the Gran Duos, S3 Mini S Duos, S2 and Note would really need to be included. It's harder to judge IMHO who may have the bigger success given that both companies have different strengths, with Samsung having the better handsets and OS bar none and supported on web, and Apple still leading in the ecosystem and user experience.

 

[BaldiMac]

Well the s3 is a year old...

No, it's 9 months old. And at the start of Q4 2012 (per the table being discussed), the S3 was 4 months old. Hardly EOL.

And the iPhone 4S is 16 months old.

 

[Jimmy James]

So Samsung is #1 then.

 

[iGrip]

Windows Phone 8 is a good OS, a nice alternative to iOS and Android. And more intuitive to use than Android, IMHO. I think as Windows 8 gets more market share, people may start taking a closer look at the phones running Windows. The problem is there probably won't be many of them in the immediate future. And of course a lot will depend on the available apps.

Microsoft won the OS war with (what some would call) an inferior product. Microsoft won the browser wars with (what most would call) an inferior product.

Now they are competing in the smartphone arena with (what many would call) a superior product.

Time will tell, but I would never bet against Microsoft.

 

[iGrip]

It doesn't work that way. Apple users may want to have that culture permeate the ranks and retail and user and corporate settings but the company that makes the most money is far from being underdog.

You don't seem to understand Apple.

They are all about fighting the forces of darkness and evil. They come from behind, and they leapfrog over their big competitors, nimble as only a small company with a visionary leader can be.

Apple doesn't care about trends. Apple doesn't care about market share. Apple doesn't care about profits.

Apple cares about only one thing: Making the best gosh-darn products that they possibly can. That is why they get up in the morning - to bring great products to you, and for no other reason.

And everybody who buys even one Apple product can be part of all this. People can actually elevate their status in society simply by buying a product. I'm not sure any company in the history of the world has accomplished that before. It is magical.

It's harder to judge IMHO who may have the bigger success given that both companies have different strengths, with Samsung having the better handsets and OS bar none and supported on web, and Apple still leading in the ecosystem and user experience.

Watch yourself there, Tiger. "better handsets and OS bar none"?


/s

 

[AppleScruff1]

Microsoft won the OS war with (what some would call) an inferior product. Microsoft won the browser wars with (what most would call) an inferior product.

Now they are competing in the smartphone arena with (what many would call) a superior product.

Time will tell, but I would never bet against Microsoft.

Is that a subtle hint about the iWatch?

 

[fertilized-egg]

Now they are competing in the smartphone arena with (what many would call) a superior product.

There are two aspects to it though. Neither Microsoft nor Google makes the phones, Nexus notwithstanding, and their first-line customers are the carriers and the OEMs, not people who buy the phones at the end. Windows Phone is decidedly inferior to Android here because it takes away much of the control from the carriers and the OEMs.

I'm not saying that's a good thing for us consumers but that's one very crucial aspect to Android's success nonetheless and why it received so much support from them. I personally find Windows Phone to be much superior to Android in many regards, but I do feel it missed its chance. Android has simply gotten too big.

 

[extricated]

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.

Mike,
I totally agree regarding Apple's staying power and people needing to read the article, but I'm still not convinced a comparison is appropriate in terms of manufacturer base.

In other words, I would easily expect Android as an OS to outsell iOS. A lot of people make smartphones that use Android - Acer, Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and many more.
When we pit "iPhone" against "Android", we're comparing a couple of devices to possibly hundreds.

Some people rant about how Android has overtaken the iPhone. Android's OS may have surpassed iOS, but as demonstrated in the article, the Galaxy S3 clearly has not overtaken the iPhone 5.

I think of it like comparing McDonald's to ALL other fast food chains.
Taco Bell, Burger King, Hardee's/Carls Jr, etc. together surely outsell McDonalds. However, a one on one comparison may reveal that McDonald's is in the lead (I don't know if that's true, just trying to demonstrate my reasoning).

I'm not one of those, bull-headed "my way is absolutely right" kind of people. Just wanted to explain my logic.

Have a great day!

 

[Tinmania]

You don't seem to understand Apple.

They are all about fighting the forces of darkness and evil. They come from behind, and they leapfrog over their big competitors, nimble as only a small company with a visionary leader can be.

Apple doesn't care about trends. Apple doesn't care about market share. Apple doesn't care about profits.

Apple cares about only one thing: Making the best gosh-darn products that they possibly can. That is why they get up in the morning - to bring great products to you, and for no other reason.

And everybody who buys even one Apple product can be part of all this. People can actually elevate their status in society simply by buying a product. I'm not sure any company in the history of the world has accomplished that before. It is magical.



Watch yourself there, Tiger. "better handsets and OS bar none"?


/s

As sarcastic as you were, many really seem to believe all that nonsense.




Michael

 

[MonkeySee....]

I think this report is kind of really skewed because the "newness" of the iPhone 5 drove strong sales of the device for much of the last three months of 2012. Yet, in the July-September 2012 quarter, note the very strong sales of the Galaxy S III, since people now realize the Galaxy S III is a real viable alternative.

Alas, now that the "newness" is gone from the iPhone 5, people are realizing that the current iPhone is essentially an iPhone 4S that has a slightly bigger screen and LTE support. In short, in terms of hardware features it's fallen behind all the latest Android models in many ways. Is it small wonder why I think Apple could have as many as three new models of the iPhone by this fall?

What is it with people and "Specs"?

The iPhone 5 will run EVERY SINGLE iPhone app in the App Store flawlessly.

Whats the issue?

 

[69650]

All I see is you are the twenty first person in this thread who can't read.

You understand the iPhone 5 outsold the galaxy 3 on its own right? You also see that the iPhone 4S also outsold the galaxy 3 right?

You guys don't think the galaxy II outsold the galaxy 3 did you?

The comments In this thread make little sense

Let me try and explain as you seem a bit confused.

If Samsung followed the same strategy as Apple and just had two models - the Galaxy S3 and S3 mini then they would have sold more units than Apple. Is that clear enough for you? The only reason the iPhone is ahead is because Samsung's smartphone sales are spread across several different phones.

We know this because published figures for 2012 show that Android now accounts for approx 70% of the market. Samsung and Apple account for about 90% of smartphone shipments so it follows that Samsung's overall smartphone shipments must be very healthy indeed. I'm not trying to promote Samsung or anyone else, just making a point about the original article.

You seem to think anyone who doesn't demonstrate blind allegiance to the Apple faith is somehow a troll. I go my own way. I don't follow the crowd. I bought the iPhone because I have lots of Apple kit and it's just easier to integrate the iPhone into that set up with iCloud. I would prefer a larger screen like they have on the S3 but I'm happy enough with my iPhone.

IMHO it would be a very sad day if this forum followed some of the other Mac forums and essentially turned into an Apple love fest with anyone making negative comments routinely hounded and castigated.

 

[BaldiMac]

Let me try and explain as you seem a bit confused.

If Samsung followed the same strategy as Apple and just had two models - the Galaxy S3 and S3 mini then they would have sold more units than Apple. Is that clear enough for you? The only reason the iPhone is ahead is because Samsung's smartphone sales are spread across several different phones.

We know this because published figures for 2012 show that Android now accounts for approx 70% of the market. Samsung and Apple account for about 90% of smartphone shipments so it follows that Samsung's overall smartphone shipments must be very healthy indeed. I'm not trying to promote Samsung or anyone else, just making a point about the original article.

You seem to think anyone who doesn't demonstrate blind allegiance to the Apple faith is somehow a troll. I go my own way. I don't follow the crowd. I bought the iPhone because I have lots of Apple kit and it's just easier to integrate the iPhone into that set up with iCloud. I would prefer a larger screen like they have on the S3 but I'm happy enough with my iPhone.

IMHO it would be a very sad day if this forum followed some of the other Mac forums and essentially turned into an Apple love fest with anyone making negative comments routinely hounded and castigated.

Wow!!!! You really need to find a way to monetize your ability to see into alternate realities!

Here I was thinking that the variety of Samsung's smartphones at multiple price points was an advantage in building market share. If they knew that they could sell the same number by only offering two (relatively high-end) models, it would seem that they could make a lot more money!