Samsung Easily Tops Apple to Become World's Top Smartphone Manufacturer

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung had overtaken Apple for the title of world's top-selling smartphone manufacturer, relying on a source who indicated that Samsung had shipped over 20 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared to Apple's announced sales of 17.1 million iPhones.

Samsung today officially announced its financial results for the third quarter, and while it no longer releases smartphone sales units, it did disclose that smartphone sales were up more than 40% over the previous quarter. With Samsung having been close on Apple's heels during the second quarter and Apple's sales declining in the third quarter as customers waited for the iPhone 4S, that growth enabled Samsung to easily surpass Apple in the smartphone segment.

strategy analytics q311 smartphones
Research firm Strategy Analytics has released its data on smartphone shipments for the third quarter, pegging Samsung at 27.8 million units while Apple barely edged out Nokia for second place by a margin of 17.1 million units to 16.8 million units.

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “After just one quarter in the top spot, Apple slipped behind Samsung to second position and captured 15 percent share. Apple’s global smartphone growth rate slowed to just 21 percent annually in Q3 2011, its lowest level for two years. We believe Apple’s growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter, volatile economic conditions in several key countries, and tougher competition from Samsung’s popular Galaxy S2 model.”

While Apple is expecting all-time record iPhone sales during the current quarter as the iPhone 4S rolls out around the world, it still may not be enough to overcome Samsung's significant lead and strong growth.

In the overall mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics pegged Apple in fifth place, slipping behind ZTE compared to the previous quarter. Apple's share of the total market fell to 4.4%, down from 5.6% in the second quarter.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
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 ...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
iphone 17 lineup cad render majin bu

Revealed: Entire iPhone 17 Lineup's Striking New Camera Designs

Monday February 24, 2025 2:49 am PST by
A new CAD render of all the devices in Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 lineup has been shared online by leaker Majin Bu, specifically showing the allegedly different rear camera system designs of the standard iPhone 17, all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models. The leaker Majin Bu has had some hits in the past, but some of his information has been wrong,...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...

Top Rated Comments

koobcamuk Avatar
174 months ago
Doesn't stop the fact that Apple have possibly the most elegant phone ever made:

(http://martindesu.tumblr.com/)

(photo from my tumblr)

... and the OS is just as good.
Score: 44 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iSee Avatar
174 months ago
I'm happy with this...

I'm pretty much married to iOS platform and don't want to start over with andriod. But this is the kind of thing that will hopefully get Apple to shore up the holes in iOS.

E.g., yesterday I was dying for Siri to turn-by-turn directions.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kiljoy616 Avatar
174 months ago
Good for them, I like to see more of this, I don't want Apple to sit on their past gains after this is Apple, the company that brings "magic to life" what other company do people get so excited that they can't wait to see what else they bring out.

I dont' care if Apple is 2 or 4th what I care is they keep Steve Jobs legacy alive and keep bringing things we want and haters unable to control their fits. :rolleyes:
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Steve's Barber Avatar
174 months ago
I love how people always equate every other brand other then Apple to be piles of junk. Comments like that are why I'm embarrassed and literally hide the fact I use :apple: products.

I know how you feel.

Granted, MR seems to draw all the giggling teenies and iWorshipers but sometimes their pom-pom waving around here creates way too much of a breeze.

It's really embarrassing.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rafterman Avatar
174 months ago
I have to laugh at reading some of these posts and the lengths at which people will wear their rose colored glasses when it concerns Apple. I own as many Apple products as anyone - A Macbook Pro, a Macbook Air, a Mac Mini, an iMac, 64GB iPad 2, 64GB iPhone 4S, two Apple TV's and several thousand dollars over the years in iTunes content. So I am as much of "fanboy" as anyone.

But the mere mention of a company, product or service even suggested as being superior to Apple will drive some people to insanity. Some people need to get a grip. Apple is just a company, not a religion. Yikes.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Funkymonk Avatar
174 months ago
PC's outsells Macs

"who cares if PC sells more, it's not about market share, it's about the quality of the product and Macs are better. They simply just are!"

Apple Outsells everyone else

"APPLE IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST, THEY SELL MORE THAN EVERYONE ELSE, ISN'T IT OBVIOUS TO YOU THAT APPLE IS THE BEST, JUST LOOK AT THE NUMBERS. LOOOK AT THE NUMBAHHHSSSS!!!

Samsung outsells Apple

"who cares if samsung sold more, it's not about market share, it's about the quality of the product and iPhones are better. They simply just are!"



lol :p I like apple products more too but there's a lot of hypocrisy going on here
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)