Apple Estimated to Retake Title of World's Largest Smartphone Vendor

strategy analytics 4q11 smartphones
Research firm Strategy Analytics today announced its estimates of the global smartphone market for the fourth quarter of 2011, finding that Apple narrowly squeezed by Samsung to retake the title of world's largest smartphone vendor as measured by unit shipments. According to Strategy Analytics' numbers, Apple's 37 million iPhones narrowly eclipsed Samsung's quarterly smartphone shipments of 36.5 million units.

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “While Apple took the top spot in smartphones on a quarterly basis, Samsung became the market leader in annual terms for the first time with 20 percent global share during 2011. With global smartphone shipments nearing half a billion units in 2011, Samsung is now well positioned alongside Apple in a two-horse race at the forefront of one of the world’s largest and most valuable consumer electronics markets.”

Strategy Analytics showed Apple first taking the title in the second quarter of 2011 as it passed Nokia and held off a surging Samsung to become the world's largest smartphone vendor. But Apple's reign at the top was short-lived as Samsung easily topped the list in the third quarter on continued growth paired with a pause in iPhone sales ahead of the iPhone 4S launch. With the iPhone 4S launch now fueling Apple's numbers, it was able to retake the lead from Samsung in the fourth quarter, although it was not able to top the charts for full-year 2011.

One caveat for numbers released by Strategy Analytics and other research firms comes from the fact that Samsung no longer reports mobile phone sales numbers, ending the practice in mid-2010 for competitive reasons. Consequently, observers can only estimate Samsung's sales numbers based on the company's financial performance and other evidence.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

Michael Scrip Avatar
175 months ago


Why does it matter?

Back when Imacs came in various toxic plastic colors, the Apple fans wanted to count them all together.

Why would they now want to divide Android phones based on minor variations?

Oh wait. I know the answer.
Apple is at a disadvantage because they only offer one type of phone.

Samsung has all types: slab, qwerty, slider, big, small, etc. Samsung is simply able to cover a wider audience.

And yet Apple still sold more phones than Samsung this quarter...
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macrumorsuser10 Avatar
175 months ago
Please stop providing Strategy Analytics any limelight. It's a hack organization that only spreads meaningless numbers on shipments, not sales. What is the point?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Schtumple Avatar
175 months ago
[SIZE=1]
Why does it matter?

Back when Imacs came in various toxic plastic colors, the Apple fans wanted to count them all together.

Why would they now want to divide Android phones based on minor variations?

Oh wait. I know the answer.
That clearly wasn't my point. My point is that Samsung AS A WHOLE sells a myriad of phones that yes, are slightly different, but designed to accommodate virtually every possible design style under the sun.

Apple AS A WHOLE makes 3 phones that are all virtually identical in size and design. But yet they're doing just as well as Samsung. If you don't understand my point then don't worry.


EDIT: Here's my point dumbed down and super simple-
If you can make 3 phones that are as successful as 30... You're clearly doing something better overall.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Digital Skunk Avatar
175 months ago
Why? People who like interesting devices are not required to limit themselves to one brand.....

Agreed! I know many Apple fans have been Palm OS users before . . . especially since Apple was a Palm device vendor at one point. Going from a Treo 600 to a featureless iPhone 1 was a hard move that I am sure many actual smartphone users didn't want to make.

Or, as in my case, I didn't think it was worth the money and time to jump from Sprint to AT&T and pay full price for a phone.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
175 months ago
It always amazes me to find so many Android users on a site that is supposely aimed at consumers of Apple products.

Why? People who like interesting devices are not required to limit themselves to one brand.

Heck, I bet that many of the older Android users here have bought and used more types of computers (all the way back to early Apples) than you could possibly imagine. Their iPhones or Galaxies are just one more thing in a long list of devices they've owned, with many more yet to come.

Adults have no problem speaking freely about their things, because they've learned that pieces of glass and metal are not the important things in life.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jacobj Avatar
175 months ago
Wirefully posted (Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; Trident/5.0))





Why does it matter?

Back when Imacs came in various toxic plastic colors, the Apple fans wanted to count them all together.

Why would they now want to divide Android phones based on minor variations?

Oh wait. I know the answer.

Put bluntly, you and the zealous Apple fanboys have ruined this site. This used to be a place where those who liked Apple products and the innovation that the company brought could come and discuss what may happen and what had happened.

There has always been anti windows postings (I've made a few myself- usually after a bad day at work. I've also made some anti Apple ones when the "it just works" mantra didn't quite hold true), but people like you seem to be filling some void in your life with this stuff. Why dedicate so much of your time to antagonising others?

The reality is that it is human nature to make assumptions and generalisations. If we didn't then we would get anywhere on a daily basis. We have to challenge individual and group assumptions where there is reason to believe that a shift in attitude would lead to a better society. Challenging for the sake of needing to feel right is a little pathetic.

What I'm getting to is that pulling holes in an argument is easy. There is never a definitive correct answer where views are expressed about issues in which there are too many variables.

My question to you and those that argue with you is this: is changing the general view about Apple going to make the world a better place? What headline negative impact as to the way Apple operates motivates you to put in the effort? I assume it is not a case of you simply enjoying the sport. Surely antagnosing others and upsetting them is not your motivation? Surely you are not so self-righteous as to believe that you have no areas where you are harmlessly generalist in your views?

Ultimately I now have to sift through dozens of posts all the time just to get to points that don't relate to anti-Apple or pro-Apple battles.

Aiden: why?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)