Samsung ships 20M smartphones, besting Apple's 17.1M iPhones

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Samsung reportedly shipped 20 million smartphones last quarter, pushing it ahead of rival Apple in terms of total units.



Citing a person familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Samsung crossed the 20 million mark in the quarter ending on Sept. 30. While the number isn't official, it would best the 17.1 million iPhone shipments Apple reported during its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday.



Samsung is set to officially release its third-quarter earnings next week, when it is expected it will announce total smartphone shipments for the three-month span. If the 20 million number holds, it would place Samsung not only ahead of Apple, but also beyond Nokia, which shipped 16.8 million smartphones.



Samsung already made waves earlier this week when it and Google unveiled the new Galaxy Nexus smartphone running Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich." The device will sport a 4.65-inch Super HD AMOLED display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor when it launches in the U.S., Europe and Asia this November.



In terms of total smartphone shipments, Apple overtook Nokia in the June quarter to become the largest vendor by units, with 20.34 million iPhones sold in a single quarter. But Apple's stay at the top may have been short-lived, based on the Samsung figures shared with the Journal.



Apple executives said on Tuesday that iPhone sales in the previous quarter were affected by a longer-than-expected wait for the company's next-generation iPhone. While Apple has typically launched new hardware at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June, this year the company waited until October to unveil the new iPhone 4S.



As rumors of the iPhone 4S built leading up to its formal introduction, there was a noticeable effect on sales of the iPhone 4 toward the end of the September quarter, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said. Analysts on Wall Street referred to the transition as a "hiccup," and said they expect sales to rebound in the holiday quarter with the launch of the iPhone 4S.



Of course, units shipped represent only part of the story in the smartphone market. In terms of revenue, Apple has been the largest mobile phone vendor in the world since January. One study from earlier this year found that Apple's 4 percent share of the worldwide mobile market rakes in more than half of the entire industry's profit.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 143
    eh, wake me when we see how many they actually sold.
  • Reply 2 of 143
    Well that's really nice for samsung selling I wonder how many different models of their smartphones to get to the 20 million number, Apple did 17.1 million with just 1 device the iPhone, of course many different configurations, but it's still just one product.
  • Reply 3 of 143
    dave k.dave k. Posts: 1,306member
    And hence the reason why Apple is suing Samsung so aggressively... There is a ton of copy-cat products flooding the market...
  • Reply 4 of 143
    If I'm not sick of this shipped as opposed to actually sold crap - stop posting articles if they are not actual sales.
  • Reply 5 of 143
    If I recall, Apple said they sold 17 million iPhones. Sold is most certainly not the same as shipped.
  • Reply 6 of 143
    lilgto64lilgto64 Posts: 1,147member
    seems to me that if the 3 million iPhone 4S units sold in the first weekend is accurate then you could argue that at least a portion of that number represents sales that would have occurred during the previous quarter had the ship date not been pushed back. Yes I know that doesn't count for official numbers and SEC filings etc - but I would not get too excited about beating Apple in a quarter where they had a delay from the previous cycle - and unless the initial 4S sales ONLY represent a return to the prior trajectory then the future of iPhone vs the competition looks even better.



    In fact - I am very seriously considering an upgrade from 4 to 4S for at least one and perhaps as many as four iPhones - which is a break from tradition for me as I kept the original iPhone for several years until the iPhone 4 came out.



    Add in additional vendors and world phone etc - it would seem to me that the competition has a pretty steep hill to climb.
  • Reply 7 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mbarriault View Post


    If I recall, Apple said they sold 17 million iPhones. Sold is most certainly not the same as shipped.



    Samsung does not care how many are sold from the stores. They care how many phones the stores buy from them....which is shipped.
  • Reply 8 of 143
    That means Samsung sent a bunch of smartphones to retail outlets. How many ended up in customers' hands? PLEASE note the difference in your articles, AI.
  • Reply 9 of 143
    ruel24ruel24 Posts: 432member
    Just keep in mind that Apple has done this with a single phone. Samsung has how many smartphones out there? This is part of the reason Apple is so profitable at it. One product fits so many people's needs, yet Samsung has to have multiple phones out there to make as big of a dent. Also, keep in mind that Apple just got onboard with Sprint. I'm sure that'll kick in next quarter. iPhone 4S is a big hit, and only the the number of people that held off because of the delayed launch of the 4S and late-in-cycle release of the Verizon iPhone has dampened the numbers.
  • Reply 10 of 143
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    1) Like others I wonder what the total sell through is, not channel stuffing, not replacements for defective units, but actual sell through for the quarter. I'd bet money Apple would be winner.



    2) Wow! That's 37 million devices that look like iPhones being sold last quarter. (not to be taken seriously)
  • Reply 11 of 143
    Maybe this site should be renamed to SI. No, not Sports Illustrated, but Samsung Insider.



    Copy/Paste is so so easy and tempting.
  • Reply 12 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by robogobo View Post


    That means Samsung sent a bunch of smartphones to retail outlets. How many ended up in customers' hands? PLEASE note the difference in your articles, AI.



    Agree ... really getting tired of the headlines reading 'SOLD', when in all actuality the number that reached the end-customer is always much lower. We know when Apple states 'SOLD', it really means such.
  • Reply 13 of 143
    The Samsung Galaxy S II was recently crowned 'best smartphone 2011' in the Netherlands (go figure what the dutchies were smoking).



    I never saw it in real life, but just happened to stumble upon one this morning. My response: WTF, is this what all the hubbub is about? What a nintendo-cloning-piece-of-rubbish'! It's even worse than any HTC brick. Flimsy plastics that give when you ever so slightly squeeze the thing; way over the top brightness and contrast; no balance in weight; no craftsmanship; no... well nothing. Everything about this thing screams CHEAP, I'M CHEAP!



    Even if it carries the 'smartphone' moniker, this is in no way competition for the iPhone (3GS, 4 or 4S). At best it's the first stop in the race to the bottom.



    If this is the best Samesung can bring, I'm not worried. At all.





    (Yes, I'm Dutch, and currently ever so slightly ashamed of it )
  • Reply 14 of 143
    Just wait until the middle of January and then revisit this thread...
  • Reply 15 of 143
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,258member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post


    Just wait until the middle of January and then revisit this thread...



    Exactly. I can't say for sure how the comparison will go then, but it will be a much more interesting comparison.
  • Reply 16 of 143
    and samsung is reporting this, because...?
  • Reply 16 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MatthewGavin View Post


    Samsung does not care how many are sold from the stores. They care how many phones the stores buy from them....which is shipped.



    It doesn't work like that. Stores don't buy phones from Samsung (or anyone else for that matter). Instead stores carry the phones and other electronic products as an inventory. Whatever is not sold is shipped back to the manufacturer. So, Samsung does care A LOT about what was actually sold from the stores.



    Samsung's historical sell though for smart phones was only 50%, meaning that only ~10M phones were actually sold. The reason why Samsung announces the shipped numbers instead is to overinflate the actual performance and generate the excitement among developers. In a way if you keep telling everyone that your product is the best selling one, it might become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
  • Reply 18 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dmitri View Post


    It doesn't work like that. Stores don't buy phones from Samsung (or anyone else for that matter). Instead stores carry the phones and other electronic products as an inventory. Whatever is not sold is shipped back to the manufacturer.



    That's not universally true. It depends on the product and the agreement between the manufacturer and the retailer.
  • Reply 19 of 143
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lilgto64 View Post


    seems to me that if the 3 million iPhone 4S units sold in the first weekend is accurate then you could argue that at least a portion of that number represents sales that would have occurred during the previous quarter had the ship date not been pushed back. Yes I know that doesn't count for official numbers and SEC filings etc - but I would not get too excited about beating Apple in a quarter where they had a delay from the previous cycle - and unless the initial 4S sales ONLY represent a return to the prior trajectory then the future of iPhone vs the competition looks even better.



    In fact - I am very seriously considering an upgrade from 4 to 4S for at least one and perhaps as many as four iPhones - which is a break from tradition for me as I kept the original iPhone for several years until the iPhone 4 came out.



    Add in additional vendors and world phone etc - it would seem to me that the competition has a pretty steep hill to climb.



    It isn't correct. It was over 4 million.



    But we see what happens when a company releases one new model a year. This dip has always been seen before the new phone arrives. The analysts were off on this one. Even they were feeling the iPhone frenzy.



    But Samsung, as other manufacturers do, offers new phones several times during the year, so the ups and downs of their sales is almost entirely due to seasonal variation - something that Apple's sales are subject to as well.



    Next quarter's results should be interesting considering Apple's very aggressive, and unusual, guidance.
  • Reply 20 of 143
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ruel24 View Post


    Just keep in mind that Apple has done this with a single phone. Samsung has how many smartphones out there? This is part of the reason Apple is so profitable at it. One product fits so many people's needs, yet Samsung has to have multiple phones out there to make as big of a dent. Also, keep in mind that Apple just got onboard with Sprint. I'm sure that'll kick in next quarter. iPhone 4S is a big hit, and only the the number of people that held off because of the delayed launch of the 4S and late-in-cycle release of the Verizon iPhone has dampened the numbers.



    Apple is crying all the way to its 81 billion dollars in the bank....81 billion!?? damn!
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