Apple set to overtake Nokia as Samsung becomes world's largest smartphone maker

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
An inevitable shakeup in worldwide smartphone rankings is set to take place in the coming months, when Apple is expected to surpass Nokia in smartphone sales, and Samsung will become the world's largest smartphone maker.



Nokia has led the global smartphone market since 1996, but that reign is set to end this quarter, when Samsung will be the worlds' largest smartphone maker, according to a new prediction from Japanese market analysis firm Nomura. Reporting on the prediction on Monday, Reuters said that Apple is also said to move past Nokia, leaving the Finnish handset maker in third place.



"Nokia looks set to relinquish its smartphone crown to Samsung and Apple," the research note reportedly says. "Further emphasizing the shift in power to Asia is our forecast for HTC to almost match Nokia during 2012."



For Apple to surpass Nokia in hardware sales would be a major milestone for the Cupertino, Calif., iPhone maker. Apple just entered the smartphone business in 2007, but in less than four years it has become the company's best-selling and most profitable product.



The arrival of the iPhone, as well as the growth of the Android platform, have caused considerable problems for Nokia. Earlier this year, Stephen Elop, formerly of Microsoft, took over as the handset maker's chief executive and quickly embraced the Windows Phone platform over its own dying Symbian mobile operating system.



Nokia is still the world's largest cell phone maker, where it maintains a lead over Samsung in a less profitable market where Apple does not compete. But in that market as well, Nokia is losing ground to "more nimble Asian rivals," the report said.







In terms of the total mobile phone market -- including both smartphones and "feature" phones -- Nokia was said to command 29.2 percent with shipments of 108.5 million units in the first quarter of 2011, according to IDC. Samsung was in second with 18.8 percent share on sales of 70 million units. Apple came in fourth, with sales of 18.7 million iPhones good for a 5 percent total market share.



Beyond unit sales, Apple became the largest phone vendor in the world by revenue this January. In its winter 2010 quarter, Apple's iPhone handset and accessories sales hit $10.47 billion, topping Nokia's devices and services division, which took in $9.7 billion.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 48
    joseph ljoseph l Posts: 197member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    An inevitable shakeup in worldwide smartphone rankings is set to take place in the coming months, when Apple is expected to surpass Nokia in smartphone sales, and Samsung will become the world's largest smartphone maker..







    Steve doesn't care one bit about market share.
  • Reply 2 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joseph L View Post


    Steve doesn't care one bit about market share.



    You keep believing that. See how far it gets you.
  • Reply 3 of 48
    citycity Posts: 522member
    For the first quarter of 2011, LG was third with 6.6% share on sales of 24.5 million units.
  • Reply 4 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by city View Post


    For the first quarter of 2011, LG was third with 6.6% share on sales of 24.5 million units.



    Thanks for the missing data.
  • Reply 5 of 48
    galbigalbi Posts: 968member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joseph L View Post


    Steve doesn't care one bit about market share.









    Market share is used as leverage against suppliers to get better (cheaper) component prices.



    If you think Steve doesnt care about market share, then you've certainly havent seen his keynote speeches for the past 5 years.



    What is usually the first couple of slides that Steve talks about?



    Exactly.
  • Reply 6 of 48
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joseph L View Post


    Steve doesn't care one bit about market share.



    Apple and Steve care very much for profit marketshare. What they don't care about is unit marketshare if it comes at the expense of profit.
  • Reply 7 of 48
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Joseph L View Post


    Steve doesn't care one bit about market share.



    Steve cares about everything. I can't imagine there's a single metric that he wouldn't prefer to dominate. I wouldn't be surprised to see an iPhone Nano sometime in the not-too-distant future as a way of furthering the familiarity and foot traffic related to the brand.
  • Reply 8 of 48
    New York City has seven major bridges -- all of which are the longest in the world.
  • Reply 9 of 48
    wovelwovel Posts: 956member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post








    Market share is used as leverage against suppliers to get better (cheaper) component prices.



    If you think Steve doesnt care about market share, then you've certainly havent seen his keynote speeches for the past 5 years.



    What is usually the first couple of slides that Steve talks about?



    Exactly.



    Since Apple has a very limited product line using similar or identical components, they're leverage with suppliers far exceeds anyone else. Marketshare from a diverse collection of products does not help supplier leverage anywhere near as much.
  • Reply 10 of 48
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Apple and Steve care very much for profit marketshare. What they don't care about is unit marketshare if it comes at the expense of profit.



    Except in financial conference calls they never mention profit marketshare ( in fact even there they dont, analysts work it out) . In keynotes they do mention market sharewhen they are ahead, or coming on strong. There is the famous 90% marketshare claim for iPads, for instance. iPod market share. iTunes market share. Every single time the share looks good, it is up there on a graph.



    I would say that Steve is obsessed with Market Share.
  • Reply 11 of 48
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by asdasd View Post


    Except in conference alls they never mention that metric



    They always mention their profits in their conference calls. They even break it down between product categories and regions and mention the growth rate differences YoY.
  • Reply 12 of 48
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    They always mention their profits in their conference calls. They even break it down between product categories and regions and mention the growth rate differences YoY.



    Yes, and thats what except in conference calls means. Only there. Not in Keynotes.



    Thats what conference alls are for. And Jobs doesn't even turn up for most.
  • Reply 13 of 48
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post








    Market share is used as leverage against suppliers to get better (cheaper) component prices.



    If you think Steve doesnt care about market share, then you've certainly havent seen his keynote speeches for the past 5 years.



    What is usually the first couple of slides that Steve talks about?



    Exactly.



    Maybe the OP meant "hardware" market share, which Jobs rarely talks about.
  • Reply 14 of 48
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    ...iPhone Nano...







    Get off that kick. It'll only cause you pain.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wovel View Post


    Since Apple has a very limited product line using similar or identical components, they're leverage with suppliers far exceeds anyone else. Marketshare from a diverse collection of products does not help supplier leverage anywhere near as much.



    Who says more marketshare demands a more "diverse" offering of products? That's crazy.
  • Reply 15 of 48
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Galbi View Post








    Market share is used as leverage against suppliers to get better (cheaper) component prices.



    If you think Steve doesnt care about market share, then you've certainly havent seen his keynote speeches for the past 5 years.



    What is usually the first couple of slides that Steve talks about?



    Exactly.



    Yes, apple show those slide all the time since that is what world cares about, however, I can tell you that apple does not always get parts at the lowest cost, they trade this off for other more important things like supply flexibility.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Apple and Steve care very much for profit marketshare. What they don't care about is unit marketshare if it comes at the expense of profit.





    Exactly, Apple only cares about profits, as longs as they are making more per unit than anyone else is all they care about, profits allows them to continue to invest in the next products faster than the competitor, this is why Apple is sitting on $50B in the bank, and they continue to come out with new product faster than anyone else. They have the money to continue to invest in the future.



    This is what most people fail to understand and the wall street idiot do not realize that think only selling more unit than anyone else is all that matters.
  • Reply 16 of 48
    nairbnairb Posts: 253member
    IMO Nokia will continue to fall. Those still buying Nokia today are largely symbian fans - lets see how quickly they jump ship when Nokia produces mainly Win7 high end phones.



    Big wins coming up for android and apple.
  • Reply 17 of 48
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Apple and Steve care very much for profit marketshare. What they don't care about is unit marketshare if it comes at the expense of profit.



    And if it comes at the expense of beautiful and functional design. This may change over time but it is still the most important factor.
  • Reply 18 of 48
    Unit sales are directly linked to app market and itunes profitability. It affects not only component suppliers but also developers and contents providers. Apple will have to diverse its product lines in order to maintain its market share by unit sales.
  • Reply 19 of 48
    dualiedualie Posts: 334member
    The last Nokia phone I had is the last one I will ever own. It was nearly junk. The manual was so poorly written that there were no instructions anywhere on how to adjust the volume. I had to look that up in a third-party forum.



    Today I use a Motorola, which has a really crappy screen and horrible sound, and was over-priced at $100.



    There is a really good reason why Apple sells a tenth as many phones as Nokia but makes nearly a billion more in revenue from its iPhone business. Quality is king.
  • Reply 20 of 48
    By the way, Samsung is very flexible in a sense that they develop smartphones in multiple platforms: Android, its own Bada, and WP7. They could even make iOS phones if that can be licensed, lol. Wait a second, that could turn out to be a good strategy for Apple, lol.
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