Samsung Easily Tops Apple to Become World's Top Smartphone Manufacturer

[Lennholm]

Yes. How is that even remotely impressive? Throw Muhammad Ali into the ring with 30 other guys and he'll go down pretty quick. Sheer force of numbers, even when it's all ****, can nullify any single contender, no matter how good that contender is. Of course, the real victim in such a misadventure is quality, User Experience, and device shelf-life.

If those 30 guys got the same amount of nutrition as Ali to share among them it could very well be a pretty equal fight.

Apparently it only sold 30 million units to date (combined with another model.) Apple sells that many iPhones in little more than two quarters. By some peoples' definition around here, lower unit share does not a "killer" make, right?

Where were all the GSII lineups?

The Galaxy Nexus isn't a killer anything because it isn't even on the market until mid-November.

The Galaxy SIII does not exist in the market. It's scheduled for sometime in 2012. It can't kill anything as yet. Unless it time-travels or something.

In the meantime, amid all these wonderful promises by the competition, Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4Ses in a single weekend.

Why doesn't this logic apply when Apple is about to (or just rumored to be) release a product?

Yeah well when you release 10 phones a month while Apple has one it makes sense that they would top Apple.

Why? Releasing more phones doesn't magically spawn new customers out of nowhere.

 

[*LTD*]

why is this news? how many different phones does samsung make...50 or 60 roughly? now how many does apple make...1

how is this a fair comparison?!!!!!!!!!!

What's happening is your typical OEM-based horizontal business model at work. Virtually any OEM, provided they push enough volume, can outsell Apple by sheer force of numbers and nothing more.

At one point Nokia far outsold Apple with all manner of flotsam and jetsam - a lot of it essentially low-end commodity-ware. It's quite something else, however, to gain the share Apple has with essentially one or two models that run an unlicensed OS. That one phone had better be amazing, and the numbers bear out that it is.

Not all forms of "success" are equal. Samsung's is rather weak in comparison to Apple's. OEMs pushing volume is nothing to really boast about.

 

[samcraig]

Since some people have a real hard time understanding this let me spell it out for you.

As a consumer I walk into a store. I can buy an iPhone or I can buy a Samsung. So the fact that Samsung has a bazillion phones is irrelevant because I am choosing one phone.

Saying that Samsung has more types of phones actually weakens the iPhone argument because your just stating that Samsung sells more phones because they cater to more people.

 

[djgamble]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

There is no doubt that phone shops make more selling Android phones.

In Australia I find ALL the shops I go to will be pushing Android big time. While they'll also have the 4S, it will be hidden from display and I'll need to specifically ask for one. Even then they'll try to turn me away from it.

When I bought my 4S I went in saying "save the pitch, I'm an Apple fan since 1984 and want a 4S..." they then pitched all the Android models at me before I saw a Nokia and said "ooooh I haven't seen Nokia for a while... What's their new MeeGo OS? Out of interest can I give it a spin?"

They said "no, we don't have any display Nokias or iPhones sorry..."

While I was in there LOTS of people came in specifically asking for an iPhone 4S. Same response... they tried steering them towards android before finally giving in and saying "okay here's your iPhone, but I warned you... they look good but break easily and are not as well built as any of the Android phones."

I reckon Google + Samsung + HTC + Sony are offering big bucks in order to sell their platform. Consequently if you go in and just want "a phone that works..." then you'll be given an Android. Not a lot of money will be made for Samsung/Google, but this gives them market share.

For Apple/Nokia, both have models where they NEED to make money from unit sales. Their focus is on money, not market share. So long as Apple continues to make a puck load, sales volume increases and the iPhone sells itself, then I think Apple's happy. The 4S to most (who don't know what dual-core A5s means) is a very minor incremental update and it has still sold record numbers despite Android buying itself market saturation. Apple products have always sold themselves...

 

[Oletros]

I reckon Google + Samsung + HTC + Sony are offering big bucks in order to sell their platform. Consequently if you go in and just want "a phone that works..." then you'll be given an Android. Not a lot of money will be made for Samsung/Google, but this gives them market share.

And you reckon exactly why?

If you reckon the same you think Nokia sell only high profit phones and that they make a lot of profit from them you're totally wrong then.

 

[Axegrinder]

Can't be arsed reading the entire thread and somebody may have made the analogy already. Apologies if so but what the hell...

The best selling car in the UK for 2010 was the Ford Fiesta - 103,000 sold.
The BMW 3 series - 42,000.

Cheap products flood the market and are affordable to a wider range of customers than premium products. It's not rocket science is it?

Based on my experience of owning an Android phone for the last six months, I'd actually be doing Ford a disservice by comparing it to a Fiesta because the Fiesta is actually a decent car. I'd say Android phones are a bit more like a Lada.

 

[samcraig]

LTD. You say Jobs and Apple dont turn out crap and/or care about ther customers. Is that right? I think you really do live in a world that only exists from 2007 to now. At the end of 1984, when Mac sales had slowed to a crawl, he slapped on an emulation program onto the Lisa and called it the Macintosh XL. Please explain.

 

[Oletros]

Can't be arsed reading the entire thread and somebody may have made the analogy already. Apologies if so but what the hell...

The best selling car in the UK for 2010 was the Ford Fiesta - 103,000 sold.
The BMW 3 series - 42,000.

Cheap products flood the market and are affordable to a wider range of customers than premium products. It's not rocket science is it?

Based on my experience of owning an Android phone for the last six months, I'd actually be doing Ford a disservice by comparing it to a Fiesta because the Fiesta is actually a decent car. I'd say Android phones are a bit more like a Lada.

What Android phone did you had?

 

[slinky199]

and buying depends on marketing, less so on innovation.






That's deployment, not innovation.

Get your nomenclature straight.

So in conclusion, you thought the ipad was non-innovative when it was announced? is that correct?

LTD, Answer me! Did you consider the ipad non_innovative when it was announced? A yes or no.

 

[BaldiMac]

Since some people have a real hard time understanding this let me spell it out for you.

As a consumer I walk into a store. I can buy an iPhone or I can buy a Samsung. So the fact that Samsung has a bazillion phones is irrelevant because I am choosing one phone.

Saying that Samsung has more types of phones actually weakens the iPhone argument because your just stating that Samsung sells more phones because they cater to more people.

It depends on the point that is being made. The fact that Apple is able to design one phone that appeals to more people than any other phone is impressive. The fact that Samsung sells more smartphones than anyone else is impressive. You are just shifting the goalposts to try and discredit the point. The same way the people that you are arguing with are doing.

 

[lilo777]

Can't be arsed reading the entire thread and somebody may have made the analogy already. Apologies if so but what the hell...

The best selling car in the UK for 2010 was the Ford Fiesta - 103,000 sold.
The BMW 3 series - 42,000.

Cheap products flood the market and are affordable to a wider range of customers than premium products. It's not rocket science is it?

Based on my experience of owning an Android phone for the last six months, I'd actually be doing Ford a disservice by comparing it to a Fiesta because the Fiesta is actually a decent car. I'd say Android phones are a bit more like a Lada.

That would be a meaningful comparison if Fiesta had more powerful engine than BMW, had more features that BMW (in case of smart phones that would be OLED screens, more RAM, 4G, dual band WiFi, NFC) etc. Perhaps you got the models wrong. Samsung is BMW of smart phones and iPhone is a Ford Fiesta (or a Honda Civic souped up with powerful GPU).

 

[Axegrinder]

What Android phone did you had?

At home an HTC Wildfire S on 2.2
At work an HTC Desire on 2.1

 

[Oletros]

At home an HTC Wildfire S on 2.2
At work an HTC Desire on 2.1

So, you're using a low end phone like the Wildfire and you're surprised about its performance?

I suppose you're not comparing the Desire to a Lada or even to a Fiesta

 

[Axegrinder]

That would be a meaningful comparison if Fiesta had more powerful engine than BMW, had more features that BMW (in case of smart phones that would be OLED screens, more RAM, 4G, dual band WiFi, NFC) etc. Perhaps you got the models wrong. Samsung is BMW of smart phones and iPhone is a Ford Fiesta (or a Honda Civic souped up with powerful GPU).

It's generally the case that the more expensive cars, i.e BMW and Mercedes tend to come with fewer mod cons yet cost more whereas the cheaper cars put all kinds of gizmos in them. I can remember when Mercs came with radios only and manual wind up windows whilst cheaper cars had cd players and electric windows so, no, I think I got them exactly the right way round but thanks for your help.

 

[BaldiMac]

So, you're using a low end phone like the Wildfire and you're surprised about its performance?

I suppose you're not comparing the Desire to a Lada or even to a Fiesta

You mean low end like the iPhone 3GS that doesn't run anywhere near as crappy. And that's with the latest OS.

Why is it not a negative that many Android phones are offered for sale that can't run Android well? The Wildfire S was released 5 months ago!

 

[Axegrinder]

So, you're using a low end phone like the Wildfire and you're surprised about its performance?

I suppose you're not comparing the Desire to a Lada or even to a Fiesta

You're missing the point. My argument is about why they sell more. It's exactly because there are cheap **** Android devices flooding the market that it's no surprise they outsell everything. It doesn't mean they are any good, and just to clarify the only difference I find between the Wildfire and the Desire is that the Desire is faster. It's still a crap user experience and both suffer similar bugs. YMMV, but that's how it is from my perspective.

To be fair, I have to develop apps for Android at work now and find the SDK actually a decent development experience. Wish I could say the same for the devices.

 

[saturn88]

What will be interesting to see is the Q4 numbers when the 4s is added to the mix. Probably Apple will be ahead again, but it'll be interesting to see by how much.

Yea, right, and Samsung adds Galaxy SII LTE, Galaxy Nexus and 5.3" Galaxy Note "to the mix".

 

[paul4339]

LTD. You say Jobs and Apple dont turn out crap and/or care about ther customers. Is that right? I think you really do live in a world that only exists from 2007 to now. At the end of 1984, when Mac sales had slowed to a crawl, he slapped on an emulation program onto the Lisa and called it the Macintosh XL. Please explain.

I thought Jobs got kicked off the Lisa team... besides, really, that was -27 years- ago... in general Apple doesn't turn out crap, they have solid products. (except for the hockey puck mouse! )

 

[Savor]

How I see Apple and Samsung's relationship is similar to that episode of Family Guy in Season 3 called "Stuck Together, Torn Apart"

Brian: We did it.
Stewie: Job well done.
Brian: And we're NOT stuck together anymore.
Stewie: Thank, God.
Brian: You said it.
[pause]
Stewie: Do you want to hold hands on the walk home?
Brian: Yeah, sure.

 

[scoobydoo99]

Why would I have to admit anything. Just because I don't care who shipped or sold what doesn't automatically mean I'd admit to something I didn't believe. That's a strawman argument at best.

Apple isn't selling every phone - there are plenty of iPhones on "shelves" - if you think otherwise - you're naive. And Samsung couldn't possibly ship THAT many phones and have stores keep their inventory.No store would waste that much space.

And I'm sorry you have a problem with me acknowledging different strokes for different folks, drama queen.

Ironically, YOUR argument is the Straw man. You misrepresented my argument by implying that I said your admission would logically follow from a lack of concern about "who shipped or sold what". I did not.

Perhaps you would agree to look at the data scientifically? Product SOLD does not equal product shipped. HP at one point could have touted the number of TouchPads that they SHIPPED. Things would have sounded very positive - "Look how many tablets HP has shipped!"....BUT they sold so poorly that HP cancelled the product and basically gave them all away at $99. For you to argue that Samsung "couldn't possibly" have stores keep their inventory is conjecture. The point is, we DON'T KNOW how many sold and how many are in inventory, because SAMSUNG DIDN'T REPORT SALES. So, arguing that the number of phones shipped can be used to reach a definitive conclusion about who "sold" the most phones during the quarter isn't logical.

And, _of course_ there are iPhones "on shelves". However, the supply in inventory at any given store may be quantified in hours or days (i.e. - without further resupply, the existing inventory would be depleted within x number of hours or days). My comment goes to the fact that every store receives shipments of iPhones as fast as they can get them, because they can sell all that they get. How many Samsung retailers say "Wait, we don't need another shipment yet, we still have unsold inventory that isn't moving". We don't know for sure, but we do know that Apple doesn't have that problem with the iPhone 4S right now.

As for your comments giving us permission to buy what we like...well, that's quite self-aggrandizing, isn't it? You imagine that people place so much value on your opinion that you feel the need to state (with implied superiority) that you think we should all buy what we like and not argue about it. The implication that you are "above the fray" smacks of intellectual superiority.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

You mean low end like the iPhone 3GS that doesn't run anywhere near as crappy. And that's with the latest OS.

Why is it not a negative that many Android phones are offered for sale that can't run Android well? The Wildfire S was released 5 months ago!

lets be blunt. Latest OS if it ran siri or several other features Apple blocks on purpose.
Lets see no extra text tones for the 3GS (explain that one away). Kind of takes away from it is running the latest OS. Instead it is sort of the latest but we block several features.

Also tell me what Android 2.3 added from 2.2.

 

[tosehee]

Yeah well when you release 10 phones a month while Apple has one it makes sense that they would top Apple.

I really wanted to get the Galaxy S II but I have had nothing but problems with Samsung phones. Between buttons being defective, sliders getting stuck, and speaker phones being broke I'm not sure I want to spend any decent amount of cash on a Samsung phone.

I have so much trouble with my iPhone 4 that I am dumping this piece of crap as soon as my contract is over, and moving onto Galaxy S3..

Failures.

1. Unable to backup. My phone has literally dozens of images that I cannot transfer to my PC.
2. Phone Hangups middle of conversation.
3. Somebody calls me, but that stupid swipe to answer DOES NOT work..
4. Glass.. Nice.. My back glass is already cracked broken, but I am not gonna replacing it since I am gonna dump it anyway..


Your experience may vary.. Let's not make these a generalization of the product..

This is coming from a guy who's been using iphone,ipod, ipad, macbook pro, mac pro.

 

[AaronEdwards]

Gee what a concept for businesses producing products to make profit so they can invest more in R&D to build better products

So, with all this R&D why did we only get the 4S? And what's up with the battery?

Maybe they should invest in some more R&D?

 

[thenerdal]

What have I missed?

 

[something3153]

What's happening is your typical OEM-based horizontal business model at work. Virtually any OEM, provided they push enough volume, can outsell Apple by sheer force of numbers and nothing more.

Why, exactly, do you think people will just buy whatever's on the shelf? I haven't gotten a decent answer to that yet. If there's only one good option, why will people pay attention to a dozen bad ones? There's an assumption here that's I've never gotten a good explanation for.