Samsung trumps Apple in Q3 smartphone sales

Published : Oct 21, 2011 - 12:08 Updated : Oct 21, 2011 - 18:32

(Yonhap News)

Samsung Electronics Co. outpaced Apple Inc. in the global smartphone market by more than 10 million handsets during the third quarter of the year, industry data showed Friday.

According to the data, Samsung Electronics sold about 27 million smartphones during the July-to-Sept. period, while Apple’s figure came in at about 17 million.

While those in the industry had forecast that Samsung Electronics would outperform Apple in the period, the Korean electronics maker was expected to gain, at most, a 3 million handset lead.

While some point to Apple’s postponement of the launch of its new handset as the cause of the changes in the two companies’ figures, Samsung Electronics has been closing the sales gap between it and Apple for some time.

For the second quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics took 5 percent of the global smartphone market while Apple took 13.5 percent.

By the final quarter of 2010, Samsung Electronics had narrowed the gap with Apple to 5.5 percentage points, moving down to 1 percentage points during the second quarter of 2011.

Although Samsung Electronics’ lineup had included smartphones before the third quarter of last year, the chase after Apple began with the launch of the Galaxy S in June last year. Since its launch, more than 20 million units of the device have been sold, laying the ground for Samsung Electronics to take on the smartphone market. With the launch of the Galaxy S2 in April, more than 10 million units of which have been sold so far, Samsung’s chase picked up the pace.

While the new iPhone 4S has proved highly popular, those in the industry expect the Korean company’s lead to be maintained during the final quarter of the year.

In the four days following the iPhone 4S launch on Oct. 14, more than 4 million units were sold, outpacing the previous model’s sales figure for the comparable period by more than twofold.

However, with Samsung Electronics having a larger lineup and Galaxy Y, a more affordable smartphone model designed for emerging markets, ready for launch, some industry watchers are projecting that the company’s smartphone sales during the final three months of the year could rise as high as 40 million units.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)

<한글기사>

삼성, 애플 제치고 3분기 스마트폰 1위

삼성전자가 3분기 스마트폰 판매에서 애플을 제치고 세계 1위로 올라섰을 것이라는 추정이 제기됐다.

21일 월스트리트저널은 시장조사기관 SA의 애널리스트 닐 모스튼을 인용해 삼성 전자가 이 기간 2천만~3천만대의 스마트폰을 판매해 1천700만대에 그친 애플을 넘어 섰을 것으로 분석했다.

이런 추정은 삼성이 4월 출시한 '갤럭시S2'가 5개월 만에 1천만대 이상 팔리는 등 성장세를 이어 간 데 따른 것으로 업계에서는 보고 있다.

삼성전자 관계자는 이에 대해 "3분기 실적은 아직 발표되지 않았지만, 지난 2분 기 스마트폰 시장 점유율에서 이미 1% 이내 격차로 애플을 따라잡아 3분기 전망이 밝았다"며 3분기 실적이 애플을 웃돈 것으로 기대했다.

하지만 애플의 새 아이폰이 10월에 출시될 것이라는 기대감에 소비자들이 애플 제품 구매를 미뤘다는 분석도 있어, 삼성이 이번에 스마트폰 판매에서 애플을 제쳤 더라도 4분기 실적의 향방을 예측하기는 쉽지 않다.