HTC Becomes Highest Shipping Smartphone Vendor In the US

An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from an article in BGR: "Samsung blew past Apple and Nokia in the third quarter to become the No. 1 smartphone vendor in the world, but another emerging smartphone vendor stole the top spot in the U.S. according to a new report. Market research firm Canalys on Monday released country-level smartphone shipment estimates and according to its figures, HTC shipped 5.7 million own-brand smartphones and another 700,000 T-Mobile-branded handsets last quarter to take the top spot with 6.4 million total devices shipped."

Comments

Figures provided by analysts, not the companies

[jmcbain]

I don't understand the relevance of these estimates of Samsung and HTC shipment figures, for three reasons:

1. The shipment estimates are made by analyst companies, not by Samsung or HTC themselves. Samsung, as of last summer, has stopped providing shipment numbers of its smartphones and tablets. Then these other companies (Strategy Analytics and Canalys) step in with their own estimates that are dodgy at best. How do they get their numbers? If Samsung is not providing their shipment numbers, why should we believe a third party?

2. One shipment to a vendor (e.g. Best Buy) does not map to one sale to an end consumer. A vendor can always return the item back to the seller.

3. What is counted as a smartphone? Phone manufacturers are cramming more smartphone features into low-end devices; remember that even the most basic Symbian phone was counted by Nokia as a smartphone, and look how those ostensibly great sales turned out for Nokia.

Note that Apple always lists its sales in its SEC statements. And these are sales figures to the end consumer, not shipments.

Re:Figures provided by analysts, not the companies

[andydread]

FTFA

"After a slow start in 2010, AT&T has over-delivered on the number of Android devices it promised to launch in 2011, including the Impulse 4G, supplied by Huawei but AT&T-branded, sold at an aggressive $30 with a contract to target first-time smart phone buyers. Android holds nearly 70% of the platform share in the United States, compared with 57% worldwide."

Then there is the massive Chinese market that's coming online.

"The Chinese smart phone market is seeing explosive growth, not least from domestic vendors Huawei and ZTE,’ said Shanghai-based Canalys Research Director for China, Nicole Peng. ‘Both vendors are delivering good-quality, attractive smart phones on the Android platform for both the domestic and foreign markets, and their aggressive pricing strategies are enabling them to ship large volumes. They will continue to be an increasingly disruptive force in the global market in the coming quarters"

Then there are the Andoid smart watches and who knows what else around the corner. That's the real news. Android looks like it's set to steamroll.

Re:Figures provided by analysts, not the companies

[PopeRatzo]

I don't understand the relevance of these estimates of Samsung and HTC shipment figures, for three reasons:

Don't worry, nobody's going to take away your iPhone just because some other phone manufacturers are having some success.

Believe it or not, the smartphone market is not middle-earth and it's not the forces of good against the forces of evil. If a day comes, and it may never come, when there is a phone that sells better than the iPhone, it will not reduce one bit the meaning of your long devotion. You will still receive your reward in the next life when you meet Steve Jobs at the pearly gates and blow him.

Re:Figures provided by analysts, not the companies

[rtb61]

That's it, keep bragging about how Apple is screwing over it's customers it sure to win them more. Face it the iPhone is yesterday's phone and an Android phone is today's phone, tomorrow's phone now that another question. Personally I think the digital home manufacturer is going to win that, you know, throw in free phone/tablet combination with big screen TV and existing same brand appliances count fridge, washing machine, stove, microwave and new air-conditioning means you'll get next seasons phone/tablet combination also thrown in for free. Now add in branded solar panels, back up batteries and inverter and you get the idea.

Cue the shipped vs. sold debate

[Algae_94]

I'm sure lots of people will bring up the fact that shipped phones does not have a 1-to-1 correlation to sold phones. They may not sell and be returned to the manufacturer. That being said, how many times could HTC or Samsung or any other company get away with over shipping devices that don't sell before retailers stop ordering as many devices? I seriously doubt HTC is shipping vast quantities of phones in these numbers that didn't sell. This isn't a failing product like the TouchPad prior to the fire-sale, or the Playbook. These are just commodity smart phones.

Whether you love or hate Apple, the important point to debate is not exactly who is king of the hill in smart phones, but the fact that it is not just one player that rules it all any more. Anything can change as time goes on and no major handset manufacturer can let up or they might fall hopelessly behind.

Re:Good old conspiracy theory.

[Cryacin]

At some point you fanboys will have to admit that Android is outselling Iphones.

Never underestimate the power of denial.