Samsung Widens Gap Over Apple in Worldwide Smartphone Market

[kdarling]

But yoy isn't meaningful if your financial mobile picture looks like samsungs.

I'm not a fan of YoY myself. It's too dependent on product launch dates, etc.

In addition, compare units sold, not Apple's units sold vs Samsung units shipped.

(said patiently) One more time...

Apple records a sale the moment a device ships to a retailer (or is sold directly from one of their stores).

Samsung records a sale when a device arrives at a retailer (or is sold directly).

Ironically, as for what you're probably thinking of for "shipped vs sold", millions fewer iPhones were sold-through (to end users) this quarter than reported as sold-in (shipped) by Apple. So in this case, Apple is the one reporting more "shipped vs sold" using your definition.

Those two terms are significantly different.

In the case of reports like this one, the meaning of shipped and sold are the same. They are are sales that count towards revenue. Also, the source of Samsung's numbers in this report is not Samsung.

Not your fault that you're confused. What started this whole "shipped vs sold" meme, was some articles from the time of the big California trial, when the authors looked at Samsung's list of tablet sales as evidence, and noticed that they were different from Samsung's previously publicly reported tablet sales.

However, they ignored the fact that the trial numbers were only about the relatively few possibly infringing US sales, whereas the previous reports were of total worldwide sales. More on that topic in my 2014 post here.

(As it turned out, none of the tablets were determined to infringe by the jury anyway.)

 

[billy the fish]

You can cite all red-herring type of "causes" until the cows come home and probably really believe them to the bottom of your heart, but the people have voted with their wallets on their definition of "best". 75 million people last quarter; is that a big enough sample size?

Wow, this really bothers you doesn't it.. did you have a poor up bringing, and are trying to make up for not having much by splashing out on literally 10s of pounds worth a month of mobile phone but telling yourself it is premium, it is designer, it is unique. Then when it turns out that this god phone that you stake everything on really isn't all that.. 720p screen in 2016, lol lol lol, this is embarrassing.. specs on par with 100 dollar DROID phones from 2014, but hey, it's about the experience right. Jeez, I feel your pain.. every time you see an s6 edge, it's OK to be envious. Human nature is that way.
Small tip, don't worry what your peer group will say if heaven forbid you didn't upgrade to the next iTOY, when you show them the device. . They will know why brother.. be a leader not a follower!!!! Amen.

 

[jujufreeze]

Ah Samsung. Best cameras in the market. Best screens in the market. Innovative designs and features. Great overall hardware. Competitive pricing. Touchwiz?

 

[Roessnakhan]

Ah Samsung. Best cameras in the market. Best screens in the market. Innovative designs and features. Great overall hardware. Competitive pricing. Touchwiz? *Runs for the hills.*

TouchWiz isn't that bad now, tbh. It isn't perfect, but then neither is iOS 9. Just my own anecdotal experience with them both.

 

[jujufreeze]

TouchWiz isn't that bad now, tbh. It isn't perfect, but then neither is iOS 9. Just my own anecdotal experience with them both.

Bloatware is bloatware.

 

[I7guy]

Wow, this really bothers you doesn't it.. did you have a poor up bringing, and are trying to make up for not having much by splashing out on literally 10s of pounds worth a month of mobile phone but telling yourself it is premium, it is designer, it is unique. Then when it turns out that this god phone that you stake everything on really isn't all that.. 720p screen in 2016, lol lol lol, this is embarrassing.. specs on par with 100 dollar DROID phones from 2014, but hey, it's about the experience right. Jeez, I feel your pain.. every time you see an s6 edge, it's OK to be envious. Human nature is that way.
Small tip, don't worry what your peer group will say if heaven forbid you didn't upgrade to the next iTOY, when you show them the device. . They will know why brother.. be a leader not a follower!!!! Amen.

Why do you ask if this bothers me? Aren't we having a discussion on an anonymous Internet forum. You post, I post and the cycle repeats.

So sir, if the specs are on par with a $100 droid and Apple sold boatloads last quarter and couldn't shovel the money in the bank fast enough than I postulate they gave the people what they wanted. Peter drucker 101. Good luck with touting the specs thing, do specs really sell a phone? Why did anandtech give the 6s a gold star? Because the cpu was sub-par? Or did the 6s basically demolish the competition?

 

[billy the fish]

Why do you ask if this bothers me? Aren't we having a discussion on an anonymous Internet forum. You post, I post and the cycle repeats.

So sir, if the specs are on par with a $100 droid and Apple sold boatloads last quarter and couldn't shovel the money in the bank fast enough than I postulate they gave the people what they wanted. Peter drucker 101. Good luck with touting the specs thing, do specs really sell a phone? Why did anandtech give the 6s a gold star? Because the cpu was sub-par? Or did the 6s basically demolish the competition?

Oh poppet, I think someone needs a warm glass of milk and an early night.. nannites sweet pea. . Xx

 

[I7guy]

Oh poppet, I think someone needs a warm glass of milk and an early night.. nannites sweet pea. . Xx

Well lol, enjoy your milk see you round the campus.

 

[Max(IT)]

Wow, someone's riding the denial bus today. The s6 range, headlined by the edge plus is far ahead of the 6s it's laffable, design, screen, camera, video, battery. On a different planet.. it's OK tho my friend, as long as you tell yourself it's not true, you can sleep better tonight. Enoy the rest of your day.

S6 ahead of iPhone 6S ? Maybe in your parallel dimension ... On Earth the iPhone is just better in almost every aspect...

How many S6 Samsung sold compared to iPhone ? A tenth ?

Wow, this really bothers you doesn't it.. did you have a poor up bringing, and are trying to make up for not having much by splashing out on literally 10s of pounds worth a month of mobile phone but telling yourself it is premium, it is designer, it is unique. Then when it turns out that this god phone that you stake everything on really isn't all that.. 720p screen in 2016, lol lol lol, this is embarrassing.. specs on par with 100 dollar DROID phones from 2014, but hey, it's about the experience right. Jeez, I feel your pain.. every time you see an s6 edge, it's OK to be envious. Human nature is that way.
Small tip, don't worry what your peer group will say if heaven forbid you didn't upgrade to the next iTOY, when you show them the device. . They will know why brother.. be a leader not a follower!!!! Amen.

A perfect Samsung customer: specs list is all they need.
Do you know what's embarrassing ? Everytime you actually use your beloved Samsung phone..... I wouldn't take an S6 Edge even for free.
Even if there wasn't any iPhone on the market, I would avoid ANY Samsung product.

 

[billy the fish]

S6 ahead of iPhone 6S ? Maybe in your parallel dimension ... On Earth the iPhone is just better in almost every aspect...t.

You are so correct my friend, the s6 Is only superior in a few small categories. . They just happen to be design, screen, camera and battery life. Bar that, I agree they are rubbish. ..

 

[jujufreeze]

You are so correct my friend, the s6 Is only superior in a few small categories. . They just happen to be design, screen, camera and battery life. Bar that, I agree they are rubbish. ..

Touchwiz anyone?

 

[alexgowers]

I'm bemused at why apple has to even compete on volumes. They make a top industry leading phone at a huge price and rake in tonnes of cash that is getting bigger and bigger. Samsung is a totally different beast but not because as all the comments suggest they sell cheap phones at zero profit. Not it's not that, it's because samsung is a manufacturer and a diverse one at that. They make everything from tanks to fridges to phones and i believe even medical stuffs.

Samsung while i dislike their phone design and terrible tvs is an amazing company, that remains largely the best because they control everything from source and make almost everything for everyone else as well.

I'm amazed apple does so well considering they outsource so much manufacturing, it's a testament to them for getting it right for the customer. Samsung doesn't care as long as it doesn't hurt the brand, they try stupid stuff and sometimes it's great but it's always rough round the edges.

 

[macbook_21]

Doesn't matter without context. You can't compare without factoring price. How many of those units are Samsung's flagships? How many were given away as free upgrades by carriers?

Breaking: Honda sold more cars than BMW. News at 11!

That's not an apt comparison. Honda has been a leader in quality and reliability almost since it's inception. BMW has regularly been a "leader" in poor reliability and high cost of repairs.
[doublepost=1454190026][/doublepost]

I wouldn't say that just yet. 60% of iPhone users are still on the 5/5S. We will see when the 6C (or 5SE) is released whether there are a significant number of people who don't want the bigger phone. I got the 6 and I'm ready to go back to a 4" phone as long as it's not compromised (processor, camera, etc)

I currently have an iphone 5. I opted out of the 'smartphone' market until apple produced a 4" screen. 3.5" was unacceptably small.

I like the idea of an even larger screen, but the 5.5" screen looks comically large. It's almost like the original brickphones people used to carry around. Things have come full circle.

 

[billy the fish]

Touchwiz anyone?

U appear to have issues with TW, this has been debated many times.. 18 months ago it was not great.. those days are gone. It is light bright and a joy to use.. fast fluid and head and shoulders more preferable to stock.. / ios

 

[dacimvrl]

It's ironic I post about cars because I'm an actual truck driver.

ROFL, guys, you've been arguing w/ a truck driver about economics and theory of knowledge... yeah.......

Just saying, I would not personally argue music theory with a carpenter.

 

[Max(IT)]

You are so correct my friend, the s6 Is only superior in a few small categories. . They just happen to be design, screen, camera and battery life. Bar that, I agree they are rubbish. ..

Sure... In your dream

Design ? Lol....
[doublepost=1454204576][/doublepost]

U appear to have issues with TW, this has been debated many times.. 18 months ago it was not great.. those days are gone. It is light bright and a joy to use.. fast fluid and head and shoulders more preferable to stock.. / ios

TouchWiz still is a joke.... Basically is malware installed over Android.

 

[Dave245]

The only reason that Samsung has the lead on Apple is because they have far more mobile devices out there. I personally think the iPhone is the best phone on the market (at the moment), I've owned iPhones since the iPhone 3GS, and they have all been great phones, I've never had a problem with them, the same with Macs and iPads, I find the quality and useability to be great! maybe I'm just lucky but I do think that's the key to Apples success and why the iPhone is so popular.

 

[ViperDesign]

Disappointing. As much as a blatant copycat firm they are, I do not believe they should be enjoying the success they have been experiencing.

I hate it when cheaters win.

You're talking about Apple right?

 

[Michael Scrip]

Perhaps Apple 'sells' no low cost phones but the carriers have been giving away free iphones (old models) for several years now. That's as low end as you can get.

Incorrect!

You actually paid $450 for that "free" iPhone. It was just hidden inside your bill.

 

[billy the fish]

Sure... In your dream

Design ? Lol....
[doublepost=1454204576][/doublepost]
TouchWiz still is a joke.... Basically is malware installed over Android.

So tell.me Again how that even though you ain't bothered about the s6 edge plus being classed as a superior device, you have then gone out of your way to.link.3.seperate battery test results. . Not bothered much eh?. Oh and A,) Design is subjective, and B) the edge plus doesn't appear on your pretty little graphs, I'm assuming.its at the top and you've just cropped the image.. a tad childish.. your God phone hasn't been top of the tree since.about 2011.. the sooner you realise that, life will be much better. ..amen.

 

[I7guy]

So tell.me Again how that even though you ain't bothered about the s6 edge plus being classed as a superior device, you have then gone out of your way to.link.3.seperate battery test results. . Not bothered much eh?. Oh and A,) Design is subjective, and B) the edge plus doesn't appear on your pretty little graphs, I'm assuming.its at the top and you've just cropped the image.. a tad childish.. your God phone hasn't been top of the tree since.about 2011.. the sooner you realise that, life will be much better. ..amen.

So basically your first post was hyperbole, it's gets responded to on some way with at least meaningful information and now more hyperbole?

 

[Max(IT)]

So tell.me Again how that even though you ain't bothered about the s6 edge plus being classed as a superior device, you have then gone out of your way to.link.3.seperate battery test results. . Not bothered much eh?. Oh and A,) Design is subjective, and B) the edge plus doesn't appear on your pretty little graphs, I'm assuming.its at the top and you've just cropped the image.. a tad childish.. your God phone hasn't been top of the tree since.about 2011.. the sooner you realise that, life will be much better. ..amen.

you are embarrassing yourself...

your words:

the s6 Is only superior in a few small categories. . They just happen to be design, screen, camera and battery life. Bar that, I agree they are rubbish. ..

I linked three test where the S6 isn't any superior of the iPhone 6S nor the iPhone 6.
Now you put in the thread the S6 Edge Plus Mega Ultra Whatever ....

 

[MrAverigeUser]

Just to stop the endless spiral of fanboys claiming "It is a clear sign of quality that apple can sell their iPhones for extremely high prices":

NO, it is NOT!
the vast majority of iPhones were sold to carriers worldwide. Carriers NEVER pay the high prices customers would pay in the apple-temples. These overpriced smartphones get ONLY purchased in the major part by horrible subventional payment of the carriers. Customers of carriers get their iPhone for free or for just 100-200USD.
And being lemmings they do not realize that they pay indirectly the horrible price month by month on the higher carriers bill… (it´s the economy, stupid..)

So - the REAL price REALLY paid for iPhones is MUCH LESS than fanboys don´t stop to claim. Some of them even confessed unwillingly in threads elsewhere "I don´t mind, I get it for free with my subscription". So - they make prove that they are even incapable of counting 2 and 2 together… they don´t realize that apple sells the minor part of their iPhones for the official price… stop to claim "Customers are willing to pay 799/899 USD, so this is worth it.."

As for Samsung:
It is ridiculous to claim Samsung being behind apple in terms of technology while knowing very well that apple assembled for now about 10 years world-leading technology made by SAMSUNG…
They don´t even get rid of Samsung although they desire to separate from its most-important competitor, they are still DEPENDING on Samsung.

Samsung being behind apple concerning hardware? RIDICULOUS!

Same for the OS:

If you claim superiority of IOS over google´s Andoid or Microsofts WindowsPhone, you are not up-to-date.

And again: Samsung develops high-level Smartphones - and it was apple to copy them more and more (iPhone 6xxx is just a "reckless" copy of Samsungs phablets)….

People who ignore the high-innovative "note" line concept or the "edge" line are (fill in the word you like)...

 

[I7guy]

Just to stop the endless spiral of fanboys claiming "It is a clear sign of quality that apple can sell their iPhones for extremely high prices":

NO, it is NOT!
the vast majority of iPhones were sold to carriers worldwide. Carriers NEVER pay the high prices customers would pay in the apple-temples. These overpriced smartphones get ONLY purchased in the major part by horrible subventional payment of the carriers. Customers of carriers get their iPhone for free or for just 100-200USD.
And being lemmings they do not realize that they pay indirectly the horrible price month by month with the carriers bill…

So - the REAL price REALLY paid for iPhones is MUCH LESS than fanboys don´t stop to claim. Some of them even wrote in threads elsewhere "I don´t mind, I get it for free with my subscription". So - they make prove that they are even incapable of counting 2 and 2 together… they don´t realize that apple sells the minor part of their iPhones for the official price… stop to claim "Customers are willing to pay 799/899 USD, so this is worth it.."

You realize if said "fanboy" bought any flagship it would be the same conversation.

 

[Max(IT)]

Just to stop the endless spiral of fanboys claiming "It is a clear sign of quality that apple can sell their iPhones for extremely high prices":

NO, it is NOT!
the vast majority of iPhones were sold to carriers worldwide. Carriers NEVER pay the high prices customers would pay in the apple-temples. These overpriced smartphones get ONLY purchased in the major part by horrible subventional payment of the carriers. Customers of carriers get their iPhone for free or for just 100-200USD.
And being lemmings they do not realize that they pay indirectly the horrible price month by month on the higher carriers bill… (it´s the economy, stupid..)

So - the REAL price REALLY paid for iPhones is MUCH LESS than fanboys don´t stop to claim. Some of them even confessed unwillingly in threads elsewhere "I don´t mind, I get it for free with my subscription". So - they make prove that they are even incapable of counting 2 and 2 together… they don´t realize that apple sells the minor part of their iPhones for the official price… stop to claim "Customers are willing to pay 799/899 USD, so this is worth it.."

As for Samsung:
It is ridiculous to claim Samsung being behind apple in terms of technology while knowing very well that apple assembled for now about 10 years world-leading technology made by SAMSUNG…
They don´t even get rid of Samsung although they desire to separate from its most-important competitor, they are still DEPENDING on Samsung.

Samsung being behind apple concerning hardware? RIDICULOUS!

Same for the OS:

If you claim superiority of IOS over google´s Andoid or Microsofts WindowsPhone, you are not up-to-date.

And again: Samsung develops high-level Smartphones - and it was apple to copy them more and more (iPhone 6xxx is just a "reckless" copy of Samsungs phablets)….

People who ignore the high-innovative "note" line concept or the "edge" line are (fill in the word you like)...

reported for insults.

BTW, a little reality check: Samsung is just a foundry. They don't design Apple's technology . Samsung actually IS behind Apple, and Apple was in the technology market well before Samsung dude. Apple isn't depending from Samsung, there are others foundry available (TSMC just one example).

Another little reality check: Windows Mobile is dying. Not even slowly.

Let me laugh at Samsung's "high level smartphones" or iPhone 6 copy of Samsung phablets: never seen one out of a store, uh ?