Smartphone Unit Share: Samsung v. Apple in Q2 2013 ...
>> Samsung Reaches Biggest Smartphone Lead Over Apple Since First iPhone Launched In 2007
Parmy Olson
Forbes
7/26/2013
forbes.com
In all the talk of smartphone saturation, Samsung is gradually pulling ahead of arch rival Apple. New industry figures from Strategy Analytics show that Samsung shipped 2.4 times more smartphones worldwide than Apple in the second quarter, up from 1.9 times in the first quarter of 2013 and the second quarter last year, and from 1.3 times in the first quarter of 2012. It also represents Samsung’s biggest ever lead over Apple on smartphone shipments since the first iPhone launched in early 2007.
Samsung does not break down shipment numbers but Strategy Analytics estimates the company sold 76 million smartphones in the second quarter, and took a 33% share of the global smartphone market. Apple sold 31.2 million, giving it a 13.6% share, which beat expectations but marked a slide from 16.6% last year.
Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston said Samsung’s Galaxy S4 smartphone had experienced “solid demand” in China and around the world, helping to lift volumes. He added that Apple’s iPhone shipments grew 20% annually in the second quarter, which was less than half the overall industry average of 47%.
“Apple’s global smartphone marketshare… is at its lowest level since the second quarter of 2010,” Mawston said. “Apple is at risk of being trapped in a pincer movement between rival three-inch Android models at the low-end, and five-inch Android models at the high end.”
Samsung also unveiled its second quarter financials on Friday in Seoul, South Korea, posting a total operating profit of $6.9 billion, of which two thirds came from its mobile division. Samsung’s shares have lost ground in recent months on concerns that the high-end smartphone market is slowing down, something which Samsung itself alluded to in its own earnings announcement:
“The strong growth streak for the smartphone market is expected to continue in the third quarter, albeit at a slower pace,” it said Friday. ###
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