Research firm IDC yesterday released its estimates of global mobile phone and smartphone shipments for the second quarter of 2012, revealing that Apple's slower year-over-year iPhone growth and booming sales from Samsung have caused the company's share of the market to slip compared to previous periods.
In the smartphone market, Apple's shipments of 26 million iPhones were up 27.5% year-over-year, but with the market growing at a 42% clip, Apple's share slid from 18.8% to 16.9%. Apple's share had registered at 24.2% in the prior quarter when the company was still riding high on the relatively new iPhone 4S that was expanding into new markets such as China.
Worldwide Smartphone Shipments in 2Q12 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)
While Samsung has ceased releasing data on smartphone sales for competitive reasons, IDC's estimates peg the company at having shipped 50.2 million smartphones during the quarter, up 172.8% year-over-year and allowing Samsung to easily take the crown in a booming market that topped 150 million shipments during the quarter.
Apple posted an expected sequential decline last quarter, similar to years past. The quarter-over-quarter shipment decline came six months after it unveiled its latest iPhone. The decline is not unusual as iPhone shipment volume is highest in the first two quarters after its release. The company’s once-a-year release cycle usually results in two quarters of lower volumes leading up to the next-generation model introduction. Nonetheless, Apple made significant inroads into new markets and segments, including smaller regional carriers and prepaid service providers.
Looking at the mobile phone market as a whole, Apple's performance looks a bit better, with the company's 27.5% year-over-year growth approaching Samsung's overall 29.7% growth as the feature phone business has continued to erode with the consumer shift to smartphones. The mobile phone market as a whole grew by only 1% year-over-year, meaning that the smartphone segment's strong growth was almost entirely offset by losses in feature phones on a unit basis.
Worldwide Mobile Phone Shipments in 2Q12 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)
Apple's share of the total mobile phone market registered at 6.4% for the quarter, up from 5.1% in the year-ago quarter but down from last quarter's 8.8% share.
Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others.
During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
Apple today announced an expansion of AppleCare+ coverage in India, with new options for monthly and annual plans, and the addition of Theft and Loss for iPhone for the first time.
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Monday November 17, 2025 3:20 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers with the third beta of an upcoming iOS 26.2 update, and there are still new features that are being added with each beta that we get. We've rounded up all of the changes that Apple made in beta 3.
AirDrop
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iOS 26.2...
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One thing worth...
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OLED Display
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Starting this Wednesday, November 19, the feature will be available to residents of Illinois.
The announcement confirmed that the...
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We're getting closer to Black Friday, which lands next week on Friday, November 28. In the lead-up to the shopping holiday, we're tracking a few lowest-ever prices on Apple's most popular Macs, including the M4 MacBook Air and brand new M5 MacBook Pro.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
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Apple Watch owners have been voicing their frustration online over changes to the Workout app that Apple introduced in watchOS 26, with many finding the redesigned interface makes starting exercises difficult and exasperating.
When Apple launched watchOS 26 in September, the Workout app went from large, easily tapped workout tiles to a scrolling, corner-button interface. Instead of tapping a ...
This is the reason why Apple sues Samsung so much. They know they can't handle that much competition with such fast development.
iOS looks like 2007... Oh wait...
You make a good argument.... for bringing back the down-voting of comments.
This is the reason why Apple sues Samsung so much. They know they can't handle that much competition with such fast development.
iOS looks like 2007... Oh wait...
Not a surprise, the iPhone looks antiquated compared to some of the newer droids like the HTC one X and the Samsung Galaxy SIII. If the iPhone 5 Rumors are true, its not going to be pretty as the iPhone will continue to slip
This is the reason why Apple sues Samsung so much. They know they can't handle that much competition with such fast development.
iOS looks like 2007... Oh wait...
Or maybe it's because Apple only sells one type of phone compared to plenty of Samsung smartphones. And people hesitated to buy the iPhone; they're waiting for the iPhone 5, which should definitely increase Apple's share.
