Internal sales documents show Samsung has lost the war for tablet supremacy in the US

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
Samsung, which once claimed its GalaxyTab shipments were in the millions, saw sales of the devices fall to a paltry 37,000 units in the United States last quarter, suggesting that although Korean electronics maker is holding its own in the battle for smartphone unit share supremacy, it's clearly lost the war it waged against the iPad.

The once closely guarded sales figures from the two companies were forced into evidence this week despite attempts from both sides to keep their respective data private. But they'll be necessary for the jury to see, the court ultimately determined, to quantify the extend of potential damages awarded to either side in the case.

Of particular interest is a large discrepancy in sales for Samsung's tablets between the company's internal sales report and estimated second quarter figures published by IDC last week, which are largely culled from retail sales date supplied in cooperation with the company's who manufacture and ship the products.

IDC reported estimated sales of roughly 2,391,000 GalaxyTabs worldwide during the three-month period ending July while Samsung's internal documents indicate it sold just 37,000 stateside, compared to Apple's 5.7 million iPads. That would imply that a staggering 98.5% of all GalaxyTabs would have to have been sold overseas last quarter -- a spread many industry watchers are finding hard to believe.



Potentially even more surprising is the grim picture Samsung's internal US sales data paints for the future of its tablet business on Apple's home turf. Between the second quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012, GalaxyTab sales in the US decline an eye-popping 86% from 266,000 units to just 37,000.

Making matters worse, of those 37,000 GalaxyTabs, over 67% (or 25,000) appear to have been yesteryear and lower-cost closeout models that combined for an average selling price (ASP) of $360. Meanwhile, the company reported moving 6,000 GalaxyTab 10.1 LTE models at an ASP of $545 while eating an estimated $5 million loss on the sale of 1000 non-LTE models.



The same court documents also provide some interesting color on smartphone sales from the two heated rivals. Since its inception in 2007, Apple in the US generated $50 billion in revenue from the sale of 86 million iPhones, while the smartphone models in Samsung's portfolio for which Apple alleges infringement combined for 21 million units and $7 billion in sale.



Also of interest is that Apple's all-time US sales for iPads and iPod touch models have so far totaled 34 million ($19 billion in revenue) and 46.5 million (10.3 billion in revenue), respectively.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 115


    Now their defense will change to, "We had to copy! It was the only way to fight Apple's monopoly!"

  • Reply 2 of 115
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member


    This is a much better article than two of the previous ones dealing with the same general subject. At least it's not blatantly misleading and certainly livable enough for an Apple-enthusiast website.

  • Reply 3 of 115
    Samesung will start saying - see how damaging these silly "copying" allegations have been.
    Apple should compensate us for all our lost sales !
  • Reply 4 of 115
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    IDC's numbers have always been a joke. 12% tablet market share tor "other" ?
  • Reply 5 of 115
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by amoradala View Post



    Samesung will start saying - see how damaging these silly "copying" allegations have been.

    Apple should compensate us for all our lost sales !


    I was just about to say the same thing, if anything it shows that Samsung failed to capitalize on copying Apple. But who to say IDC data was correct in the first place.

  • Reply 6 of 115
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member


    So Galaxy Tab sales have been quite smoother since the 1st qtr they were available.

  • Reply 7 of 115
    negafoxnegafox Posts: 480member


    I would imagine if somebody were looking to purchase an Android tablets, they would have held off until the quad-core full HD tablets came out such as the Transformer Infinity.  My parents held off on tablet and phone purchases until the Galaxy SIII and Transformer Infinity came out.  Then again, as far as Android tablets go, Samsung's offerings are behind compared to their competitors.  Acer and ASUS have quad-core full HD tablets.

  • Reply 8 of 115
    I was thinking a fair fine would be $100 to Apple for every infinging item Samsung sold.
    But now it hardly seems worth it !
  • Reply 9 of 115
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member


    Somewhere out there, a US citizen and Samsung supporter who bought the Galaxy Tab at full price is reading this article and realising what a total fool he/she is.  :-)

  • Reply 10 of 115
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    This is a much better article than two of the previous ones dealing with the same general subject. At least it's not blatantly misleading and certainly livable enough for an Apple-enthusiast website.



     


    You're really into the irony this week, aren't you?

  • Reply 11 of 115


    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post

    Somewhere out there, a US citizen and Samsung supporter who bought the Galaxy Tab… …is reading this article and realizing what a total fool he/she is.


     


    You mean.


    ????

  • Reply 12 of 115
    pendergastpendergast Posts: 1,358member
    I agree these numbers make more sense than Samsung's likely inflated numbers, but... if we assume it's possible Samsung lied about its original numbers, isn't it equally likely they're lying about these numbers? These numbers would be used to calculate damages, no? It also paints a more favorable argument for Samsung than, say, if Samsung really had sold millions of alleged copies, wouldn't it?

    As with thieves, once a liar always a liar. And any conflicting evidence was likely "auto-deleted"...
  • Reply 13 of 115
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    anonymouse wrote: »
    You're really into the irony this week, aren't you?
    I've often wondered if Apple fans flood Android and/or Samsung fan sites in an attempt to provide balance. Because lately there's been an influx of the reverse here and on MR.
  • Reply 14 of 115


    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post

    I agree these numbers make more sense than Samsung's likely inflated numbers, but... if we assume it's possible Samsung lied about its original numbers, isn't it equally likely they're lying about these numbers? These numbers would be used to calculate damages, no? It also paints a more favorable argument for Samsung than, say, if Samsung really had sold millions of alleged copies, wouldn't it?

    As with thieves, once a liar always a liar. And any conflicting evidence was likely "auto-deleted"...


     


    So there are three options here… 


     


    Samsung lied about the first numbers and these are legit: They'll be crucified by their shareholders, an inquiry will be raised, and there'll be a ton of trouble.


    Samsung told the truth about the first numbers and these are a lie: They'll be crucified by their shareholders, an inquiry will be raised, and there'll be a ton of trouble.


    Samsung lied about the first numbers and is also lying about these: They'll be crucified 2x by their shareholders, an even larger inquiry will be raised, and there will be unimaginable trouble.


     




    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post

    I've often wondered if Apple fans flood Android and/or Samsung fan sites in an attempt to provide balance.


     



    It really doesn't happen. It'll be one person with one post, something simple, "Apple rocks!", and that's that. Not like here. Not at all like here. These people are deranged.






    Because lately there's been an influx of the reverse… …on MR.



     


    Lately, he says… image

  • Reply 15 of 115
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    [...] which are largely culled from retail sales date supplied in cooperation with the company's who manufacture and ship the products.

    with "the company's" what?
  • Reply 16 of 115


    Too early to make these claims.  It took 3 years for Samsung to really compete with Apple iPhone.

  • Reply 17 of 115

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Pendergast View Post


    It also paints a more favorable argument for Samsung than, say, if Samsung really had sold millions of alleged copies, wouldn't it?


     


    I'm of a similar mind. If the jury believes that Samsung's tablets are not selling, they might conclude that any copying being done is ineffective and not causing harm to Apple. Kinda like a "innocent by reason of incompetence" defense.

  • Reply 18 of 115


    Originally Posted by gprovida View Post

    Too early to make these claims.  It took 3 years for Samsung to really compete with Apple iPhone.


     


    And it took just about the same amount of time for Apple to get 75% of all cell phone profits worldwide, having never made a phone before in the history of the company, and only making four models of phone ever.


     


    It's not too early.

  • Reply 19 of 115
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member


    I am not sure Samsung ever specially said how many phones they ship. I believe in their public statements they tend to be vague. It is usually the industry analysis who put specific numbers around all this and they maybe the one who over inflated the numbers to make Samsung look better. Apple has been the only one who has consistently published their numbers. They never show how much they made on a particular phone.

  • Reply 20 of 115
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    This is a much better article than two of the previous ones dealing with the same general subject. At least it's not blatantly misleading and certainly livable enough for an Apple-enthusiast website.



     


    I wonder how the Android-apologist websites are spinning it.  image

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