Back in November, research firm Strategy Analytics estimated that Samsung's Galaxy S III had topped the list of worldwide smartphone shipments for the third quarter of 2012, taking advantage of a lull in iPhone 4S sales ahead of the iPhone 5 launch to claim the crown.
Unsurprisingly, the firm's latest figures published today find that Apple easily reclaimed the title for the fourth quarter of the year with the iPhone 5 seeing shipments of 27.4 million units for 12.6% of the market.
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Not only did the iPhone 5 top the market, but the iPhone 4S also saw more shipments than the Galaxy S III, as shipments of the previous-generation iPhone actually saw an uptick in the fourth quarter after Apple cut pricing.
Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S together accounted for 1 in 5 of all smartphones shipped worldwide in Q4 2012. This was an impressive performance, given the iPhone portfolio’s premium pricing. We estimate Samsung’s Galaxy S3 was the world’s third best-selling smartphone model and it shipped 15.4 million units globally, capturing 7 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Strategy Analytics' numbers are of course an estimate, given that Apple does not break down iPhone sales by model and Samsung does not even release handset shipment data.
The leapfrog game between Apple and Samsung is likely to continue when Samsung launches its new flagship handset, the Galaxy S4, which is expected on March 14.
Top Rated Comments
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It's blowing my mind how many people are not bothering to read the article before making these snarky comments.
Many above have already attempted to point it out that they're NOT combining the sales of the 4S and the 5, they're comparing them individually.
Stop. Go back. Re read story.
The S3 wasn't outsold by the combined sales of the 4S and 5...it was outsold by both of them, individually.
The 4S outsold the S3. Do you understand that yet?
The 5 ALSO outsold the S3. Are we understanding yet?
Learn to read, morons.
But both of those will be below the SIII so whats the point?
Do people not understand this chart?? :confused:
Are those ridiculous statistics really necessary? By now everybody already knows that Samsung sells more UNITS than Apple while Apple still has a larger profit margin because they only sell devices in the high-end price segment.
And unless Apple all of a sudden also enters the low-end price segment (i.e. smartphones WITHOUT contract for LESS than 99 USD), those figures won't magically change.