Samsung's Galaxy S III Steals Smartphone Crown From iPhone

zacharye writes "The best-selling smartphone in the world is no longer an iPhone. New data released on Thursday by market research firm Strategy Analytics finds that Samsung's Galaxy S III was the world's top-selling smartphone model in the third quarter this year, displacing Apple's iPhone for the first time in years. Samsung announced earlier this week that cumulative Galaxy S III channel sales reached the 30 million unit milestone and according to Strategy Analytics, 18 million of those were shipped in Q3 2012. During the same period, Apple shipped an estimated 16.2 million iPhone 4S handsets, slipping into the No.2 spot for the quarter..." Also at Slash Cloud.

Comments

Samsung is better than Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why. :p

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[kav2k]

Love the moderation on this one. Currently "Informative", but every single descriptor fits if you think about it.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[YodasEvilTwin]

What do you think Apple is, exactly? There is prior art for every single patent Apple used against Samsung when they won in Germany, just for example. A funny take on a couple aspects of this: http://9gag.com/gag/5195630

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

It's not as easy as you think to be able to hide behind the Anonymous Coward moniker, Mr. Cook.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone is better than Apple. Apple stole every single "innovation" that they have ever laid claim to.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[poetmatt]

he may be "stupid" by anon definition, but it doesn't mean he's inaccurate.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Ziggitz]

Were you trying to be ironic by linking to a site that contains zero original content?

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Tangential]

That's why. :p

According to the article:
However, the Galaxy S3’s position as the world’s best-selling smartphone model is likely to be short-lived. The Apple iPhone 5 has gotten off to a solid start already with an estimated 6.0 million units shipped globally during Q3 2012. We expect the new iPhone 5 to out-ship Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in the coming fourth quarter of 2012 and Apple should soon reclaim the title of the world’s most popular smartphone model

So I guess at that point they won't be better.

What would make this analysis more interesting would be to compare units sold, not just shipped.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

IP-stealing criminals.

There's no such thing.

1) There's no such thing as "intellectual property"
2) Repeating a number someone else utters isn't stealing.
3) Even conceding the ridiculous premise that points 1 and 2 are incorrect, "IP stealing," as you put it, would be a tort, not a crime.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[CastrTroy]

Apple has the advantage that they only sell one phone and call it the iPhone. Samsung on the other hand has many Samsung Galaxy devices. A similar phenomenon exists for LG Optimus phones. So almost all of Apple's sales are concentrated on a single device. I wonder who sells more phones overall. Or more important, who makes more profit overall. I think Apple is still king on that one.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[bhagwad]

As opposed to?

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Coolhand2120]

So if I write a book you can copy it? If I create a game you can copy it? If I make a movie you can copy it? I don't think so. IP does exist. People can copy/steal IP. In this case, Apple has what they claim is their own original IP. But said IP has been in the public domain for too long to be their IP, so their claims are invalid. But IP certainly exists.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Coolhand2120]

You used the word "you're" I think you're looking for the word "I'm"

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[jakimfett]

No, I think you mistook his meaning. If you have an Idea, I can copy it. If you use your Idea to make something, I can use that same Idea to make something too. If my use of the Idea isn't a copy of your product/implementation of the Idea, it's not a copy of what you did.

Intellectual Property shouldn't exist (no claim has been made about actual property). You shouldn't be able to lay exclusive claim to an Idea.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[jakimfett]

As far as total sales, I'm not sure about the statistics for specific manufacturers, but Mashable and CNN have some interesting numbers on Android vs iOS market share.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[mu51c10rd]

Don't you think?

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Scowler]

He is inaccurate, regardless of whether he is stupid or not.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[DMUTPeregrine]

I disagree. Woz's designs for the hardware on the original Apples were certainly innovations, and also original.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Pseudonym]

You might be new around here, so let me explain the thinking. Note that I personally don't necessarily agree with this, but I know how to apply the Principle of Charity.

"IP" is an umbrella term which describes at least four things: copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret. These four things are very different, and obey very different rules. Moreover, terms like "IP protection" do seem to be thrown around in such a way that either the person using the term is confused that "IP" means four distinct things, or are deliberately trying to confuse the person they're talking to into blurring the important distinction between those things.

Not only that, but it blurs the distinction (possibly deliberately, possibly not) with the laws of "property", something which copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret are not. In particular, so-called "IP" is covered under civil law, where property is dealt with under criminal law.

Let's take the example of the book you wrote, which I copy without permission. This is copyright infringement. It is not "theft" or "stealing" of "IP", because there is no "property" of which you have been deprived.

I haven't stolen anything from you or anyone else; you still have your copies, and everyone else has theirs. I haven't even stolen a "right"; you still have the right to copy it, exploit it commercially, publicly perform it and so on, and moreover these are all rights you would still have even if there were no copyrights.

Copyright is not a piece of property you posess which I can steal. It is a restriction imposed on me (and everyone else) which I can break.

And it's not an absolute restriction, either. I'm allowed to copy parts of the book, or even the whole book, under certain circumstances, and you can't do a damn thing about it.

The phrase "IP doesn't exist" simply means that what you "intellectual property" is not a thing, not "property", and an unhelpful and confusing term.

Did that help?

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[rtb61]

Apple have yet to the feel the pain of Goolge LG Nexus at it's highly competitive price. So just one of the Android smart phone manufacturers are beating Apple when all of the are combined youch.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[imagined.by]

The Nexus will cannibalize more from the S3 market share than from the iPhone 5.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[poetmatt]

It's an overgeneralization to say that apple never had any innovations, but it's not a stretch to say apple doesn't create very much, they just refine things.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[mjwx]

Apple has the advantage that they only sell one phone and call it the iPhone. Samsung on the other hand has many Samsung Galaxy devices. A similar phenomenon exists for LG Optimus phones. So almost all of Apple's sales are concentrated on a single device. I wonder who sells more phones overall.

I was waiting for it. The bad excuse that fanboys use to convince themselves this isn't happening. The different SGS 3 devices are akin to the fact Apple sells Iphones with Samsung, LG or Sharp screens, or the fact they have a 16, 32 or 64 GB SKU or do you honestly think there is no hardware difference between the Sprint/Verizon CDMA Iphones and the GSM Iphones? The SGS3 outsold the Iphone, you need to deal with it.

Or more important, who makes more profit overall. I think Apple is still king on that one.

You're right that this is important to a lot of people, but not for the reason you think. The fact that Apple is making more profit than Samsung per unit means that by buying a Samsung, I will likely get a much better deal.

The litany of predictions does not bode well for Apple. In the beginning Apple fanboys said "Android will never sell" and Android sold.

Next Apple fanboys said "Android would never outsell Iphones" and Android outsold Iphones.

Then they said, "No single Android device will outsell Iphones" and the SGS3 outsold the Iphone.

Please predict something epic next, I enjoy seeing them proven wrong.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[rtb61]

Don't you hope, otherwise you might be out of a job. Here's betting the Google LG Nexus makes Apple lovers feel like gullible fools for paying so much for an iPhone. Apple either significant drops the price or loses significant market share, either way a big revenue hole and a collapse of share price.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Xest]

"I think Apple is still king on that one."

They are, but will that still hold true when Apple is eventually forced to pay all the patent royalties it owes but that it has been refusing to license?

Effectively a non-trivial amount of their profit margin over their competitors is because they're not licensing the likes of FRAND and non-FRAND patents that they're legally obligated to.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[CAIMLAS]

Indeed.

I've already heard 'rumors' of iPhone 5s failing wonderously and people returning them to get another iPhone 4/use their old phone/get an Android phone.

The iPhone 5 is not going to do good things for Apple. Mark my words.

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[YodasEvilTwin]

Zero is an overstatement, but more to the point I don't think we're discussing 9GAG here. I wouldn't deny they lift stuff from elsewhere but I can't see how that's relevant.

Purse Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Around my work we call these "purse phones", because they're too fraking huge to comfortably fit in a pocket. Other than that, I think this is pretty well-deserved. They are amazing phones and make the iPhone look pretty darn crappy by comparison.

Maybe there are a lot of people who wear oversized pants or are just fatties.... I donno... I like this phone's concept, but wouldn't want to carry it around.

Re:Purse Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

this message was brought to you by the small hands brigade.

Re:Purse Phone

[Picass0]

I disagree about the size. I own the Galaxy S2 Touch and look forward to upgrading. In terms of size my phone is roughly comparable to the S3. I've never been uncomforartable with the phone in my pocket. Now the Note on the other hand is pretty friggin huge, but it sells so people must like it.

I agree with you regarding the iPhone being pretty crappy, especially the 5. I hate typing on the tiny screen on one of my kid's iTouch screens. The iPhone 5's slightly larger screen is still small compared to most smart phones.

The Iphone 5 is just more of the same-old from Apple. Slightly better specs under the hood, but not a lot for the average user to get excited about. Where's the innovation?

Apple is becoming a follower instead of a leader.

Re:Purse Phone

[mlts]

That is my only real complaint against it. For a phone, I am looking for a compact size with a decent, high resolution screen. I don't want a "phablet", I want something that stuffs in my pocket easily.

So far, the best device I had in the form factor department was the venerable Motorola CLIQ. The screen isn't as big as a Droid X's or an iPhone 5's, but the phone is small enough to comfortable go in a back pocket, and with a sliding keyboard, texting (or just using it as a UNIX terminal) was very easy to do. Why can't some phone maker keep that type of slider design and dimensions, add a better screen, a realistic amount of space (64 GB internal, with a spot for a MicroSD card), and updated specs across the board? Of course, this isn't the phone for everyone, but I'm sure some people don't mind the added thickness of a slider in return for better texting with a physical keyboard.

Re:Purse Phone

[fotoflojoe]

I have a Galaxy S III, it slides into my back pocket rather nicely. Oh wait, I'm a fatty. I love the GS III as a device in every respect OTHER THAN being an actual phone. I believe Samsung's 3G radios are rather weak. Around my home, I get no reception with it (previous HTC EVO 4G always had at least 2-3 bars), and reception overall is generally sucky. My wife's Galaxy S II has the same poor reception. (FYI, she's no fatty). My Sprint service probably doesn't help, but in my experience, the devices' 3G radios are definitely sub-par. Sprint sent me an Airave, but that only helps around the house, I obviously can't take it with me everywhere I go. If I had it to do over again, I would not get a GS III, I'd get one of the new LTE Evos.

Re:Purse Phone

[Tarlus]

I really doubt you are rolling on the floor laughing.

Re:Purse Phone

[badboy_tw2002]

So you're saying the original IPhone had no hint of ingenuity about it? Nothing original? Please...

Re:Purse Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

It was a glom of existing ideas and acquired technologies. If there was any "innovation," it was merely in cramming them all into the same package -- and that's questionable, given how many other vendors were working toward the same goal at that time; Apple hasn't exactly been shy about swiping ideas in the past.

Re:Purse Phone

[WillAdams]

Agreed (posting to fix accidental offtopic moderation --- mea culpa).

Re:Purse Phone

[helix2301]

As most has stated the iPhone has been playing catch up with Samsung’s Galaxy S3, next quarter it will be interesting to see the numbers and see if Apple recaptures its dominance.

Re:Purse Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple has an interface that works and an experience that millions of people are used to.

Why should they mess with that? Any change in look or function is likely to be incremental at this point, as has been the case with OS X since its inception.

Innovation in the space doesn't need to be flashy ... it just needs to work.

Re:Purse Phone

[oxdas]

What ideas implemented by iPhone would you say were original?

Re:Purse Phone

[Guignol]

Your parent was clearly in a hurry
(S)He meant ROFLYSST

Re:Purse Phone

[Picass0]

So you're saying the iPhone has NFC file transfer? Where's your SD card slot? How about a standard micro USB connector instead of the Apple proprietary plugs? Apple's much vaunted "retina display" is 1,136 x 640 and lower resolution than the Galaxy S3's 1,280 x 720 resolution. iPhone requires you to install iTunes to access your phone from your PC (and screw you, Linux users). Samsung, like all android phones, just plugs in and acts as a USB drive. Or you can wireless tether to your PC with an Android. The iPhone 5's camera is 8mp and has ugly purple flair problems, G S3 is also 8mp and features image stabilization. G S3 has longer battery life than the iPhone 5. Where the iPhone's stylus pen? How about showing me some sweet widgets or desktop mods on you iPhone? Let's see you install 3rd party apps without rooting your phone.

You think this is just about screen size? You're not paying attention.

Re:Purse Phone

[LynnwoodRooster]

Have you heard about the Motorola Droid series? The 3 and 4 are both great sliders, great screens, and about the same size as their older CLIQ. Also have MicroSD card slots internally.

Re:Purse Phone

[partyguerrilla]

make the iPhone look pretty darn crappy by comparison.

Technically, yes. The point of the iPhone is also the industrial designed involved in its production, which is still gorgeous. I think that's what people still go for when they pick it. To think of it, this applies to all of apple's products.

Re:Purse Phone

[mlts]

The Droids are great, except that I use a GSM provider...

Re:Purse Phone

[jittles]

Seriously? I can fit a Nexus 7 in my back pocket. I could fit a 4" Evo 3D in my pocket quite nicely too. I suppose if you are wearing women's jeans then the pockets will be smaller.

Re:Purse Phone

[jc79]

Samsung, like all android phones, just plugs in and acts as a USB drive. .

All your other points are correct, but USB mass storage was removed in Ice Cream Sandwich and replaced by MTP, which is a pig to deal with on pretty much any OS - especially linux-based ones - and is a source of immense frustration. I shouldn't have to run a FTP server on my phone in order to access the files that previously I could get to just by plugging in a USB cable. Major fail for what is an otherwise great smartphone platform.

Re:Purse Phone

[Dixie_Flatline]

I'd like to point out that the absolute resolution isn't the particular claim to fame of the so-called 'Retina' screens. My monitor here at work has a better 'resolution'--that is, it has more absolute pixels--than your phone, but if you look at the screens up close, your Samsung is almost certainly going to look better than my monitor. The pixel density is what's important. And, by the definition of the 'retina' screen, anything at or above that limit is going to be undetectable to the naked eye (at a certain distance from the eye, of course). So the S3's resolution is comparable, and so is the pixel density. Now it's just quibbling over which screen size makes everyone feel best.

Most of the other things you're talking about aren't really relevant to most people, either. Proprietary plug? I'm pretty sure nobody cares. Standard USB cable or not, I'm always hunting around for SOME cable or another at my house. You DO need to install iTunes, which is a down-side for some (and it's TERRIBLE under Windows, there's no doubt)...but only if you want to interact with a PC, which is no longer necessary. You can backup to the cloud and buy everything you need directly from the phone. I'm pretty sure you're talking about the purple *flare* (not 'flair') problems that you see when you point the camera at a light-source in a way that introduces bad effects into the picture whether they're purple or not. (I would consider most pictures with that artifact ruined anyway, regardless of the camera I'm using.) Not many people like stylii. I don't want 'sweet desktop widgets', for the most part. Or 3rd party apps. (Though I can install anything I want, since I have a developer account.) And from what I remember, the battery life is comparable when not just talking about stand-by or talk time.

I'm not saying these aren't decisions that people make or factors that aren't sometimes considered, but I think you've mostly put a lot more weight on them than people care about. I think folks are buying for fashion and simplicity and a certain amount of uncomplicated utility. They can quickly download games on either phone, both make calls and take pictures...but they like the way one phone looks better, or their family told them to get a Samsung, or their friends have an iPhone. I think THOSE are the factors that dominate these purchases. I work as a programmer (not of Apple software, despite my developer account; that's personal) and I think only one of a dozen of us has anything other than an iPhone. Moreover, I think there's only one or two of us that even CARE. Most of us are still using the iPhone 4 because all of this extra stat-wanking is now entirely irrelevant.

So to bring it all back to a point, I think Apple's phones are still selling well, but they'd be selling better if each phone didn't have quite a lot of longevity on its own. I'm waiting for next year's release so I can get out of my 3-year Canadian telco contract. I'll stick with Apple. I know my phone will last about 3 years and get OS updates for that long. I'm not on the cutting edge, but that stopped being important to me years ago. Smartphones have become appliances. As long as they work pretty well, all of this butting heads is just fanboyism.

Re:Purse Phone

[Scowler]

What about... performance? The iPhone 5 is simply faster (especially compared to the USA version of S3). Go browse the web and see for yourself.

(oh wait, I forgot, NFC file transfer is much more important feature than... speed)

Re:Purse Phone

[dudpixel]

You're half correct.

The GP said nothing about USB mass storage. To the average user when you plug in a GS3, even in MTP mode, it still acts as a USB drive.

The lack of linux support for MTP is a failing of linux, not a failing of the device. Have a read about why Google changed it, and it makes sense.

It is not a major fail. The major fail was that you had to have 2 partitions on your phone so that one of them could be unmounted in order to use USB mass storage. You therefore couldn't access any files on the phone's internal SD card while it was mounted on a PC.

It was a technical decision. The world has moved on. Linux is just a little late catching up.

Re:Purse Phone

[R3d M3rcury]

Where the iPhone's stylus pen?

I got yer iPhone stylus pen right 'ere, baby! Right 'ere!

(Honest! It's not smut! It's a link to a pen on Amazon!)

Re:Purse Phone

[dave420]

That thing is a joke compared to the stylus thing on the note.

Re:Purse Phone

[CAIMLAS]

In fairness, the newer Android phones are all/mostly shipping without an SD card slot. That's the trend, at least. It's quite disheartening.

Everything else you said is pretty damn accurate. :)

Re:Purse Phone

[donaldm]

I have the Samsung Galaxy S III and my wife has the iPhone 5. I actually got a fairly good deal on my new phone however my wife's phone is about AU$20 more expensive per month for the 16GB model (my S3 also has 16GB and it can be upgraded further with a micro SD card) and 1.5GB download per month. While I think my S3 is the better phone my wife thinks her iPhone 5 is better. Which is the better phone?

I think the following site gives a reasonable inter-comparison between the two smart phones, however which is the best depends on what you want a the phone for, Personally I like the S3's huge screen (720 x 1280 pixels, 4.8 inches to the 5's 640 x 1136 pixels, 4.0 inches) although the 5's overall size is only marginally smaller (S3 is 136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm to the 5's 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm). The S3 has a quad processor while the 5''s has a dual and the S3's battery is replaceable and has a much longer life.

Sure I prefer my S3 over my wife's iPhone 5, however she is very happy with her phone especially since the screen is much larger than her original iPhone 4 and the look and feel of the 5 to the 4 is virtually the same. Now if only she wouldn't bug me over the iTunes app which only runs on Mac's or MS Windows although I have seen some software that allows an iPhone to connect to a Linux machine it looks like a bit of reading is on order or I can use a virtual machine which I do know works.

One thing I do know is that the iPhone has a huge following and many people upgrade their phone when their contract expires like both myself and my wife did so I would not be overly surprised if original iPhone users are going to upgrade to the iPhone 5. Also keep in mind that most people don't care about specs but do care about prestige and Apple does have that in spades so many people are going to get an Apple iPhone 5 and that is that.

Re:Purse Phone

[donaldm]

In fairness, the newer Android phones are all/mostly shipping without an SD card slot. That's the trend, at least. It's quite disheartening.

Everything else you said is pretty damn accurate. :)

I got my Samsung S3 two weeks ago and that came with a micro SD card slot. If I want i can add a micro 32GB SD card for approx AU$24 (approx US$24). Of course price for an SD card does depend on it's class however in the majority of cases the cheaper card will do the job but I can change if I wish unlike the iPhone 5 which is not upgradeable once you decide on the model.

Re:Purse Phone

[davydagger]

thats exactly what I am saying. If you knew anything about technology, you'd know its the truth. relatively little shit apple does is original. They either buyout or steal most of what they have, and then they target devices we might actually want to buy with lawsuits.

iOS runs on ARM class CPUs, so do android phones, and so do almost all cell phones going way back. my motorola razr runs on an older ARM chip(ARM's half life in the embedded market, before reusrging. guess what, apple didn't make that.

There had been smart phones for years, no one wanted one, before apple told them they wanted one. Its all how they were marketed.

They were all marketed as computer devices, and the techies didn't really bite. Apple marketed electronics as fashion accessories, and they sold. Prior to apple, electronics just weren't "cool". So if you want to go to some fashion website and talk about how innovative Apple is there, be my guest.

This is not said fashion website. This is a tech website. I am sorry, apple is not a contributor to technology.

But this is /., we're not here because its cool. we are here because we like technology. Smart is sexy, and we put function over form. Looking at apple's line up from a nerds perspective and there isn't much. They are, always have been, and always will be technologically inferior.

My motoroal razr v3 from 2005 does voice activiation too, siri

Re:Purse Phone

[badboy_tw2002]

Welcome! And thanks for telling me what /. is!

Please point me to the phone that had as tight integration, as good a web browsing experience, as populous and non-fragmented an app market, and as nice and intuitive an interface as the iPhone 1 at exactly the same time as when it came out?

Apple took disparate components and repackaged them in a way that built a market. If there was one there before, its amazing how quickly they owned it through commercials alone. Definitely not through quality of a product!

I'm far from an Apple apologist, I've owned one iPod and that's about it. (Check my posting history, I have one!) Form guides function, and vice versa, and to not recognize that fact is basically to bury your head in the sand. But give credit where credit is due - you're stretching to actually say that iPhone had 0 impact on the market, and 0 impact on how things are done.

That's complete bullshit, and that's really sad if you think that's what /. is about.

Re:Purse Phone

[davydagger]

"Please point me to the phone that had as tight integration,"
with what? itunes?

itunes sucks. just about every android phone will teather and copy files out with any file manager of choice on any operating system.

"Apple took disparate components and repackaged them"
then wrapped some proprietary connectors and non-standards. read, they didn't do most of the work.

granted their slick looking devices, but apple did NOT do most of the heavy lifting. They are the first to point their finger at anyone copying them, although they didn't make most of what they have. Thats my point.

"But give credit where credit is due - you're stretching to actually say that iPhone had 0 impact on the market, and 0 impact on how things are done."

I am saying they had next to zero contribution to actual technological advances, and they actively sue companies that do more to advance technology, resulting in a net loss.

And if Samsung is the King...

[GeekWithAKnife]

then surely the HTC is the Queen, primarily because it got f****d.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[YodasEvilTwin]

HTC's mistake was Sense and bloatware. All but their highest-end phones are completely unusable, and the high end ones are still crap compared to the competition. They have no one to blame but themselves.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[geekoid]

I would argue there biggest mistake was getting rid of the keyboard.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[compro01]

HTC's mistakes were bootloader locking, not including microSD card slots or replaceable batteries in the One line, and getting rid of the Z line of keyboard phones. Associating themselves with Beats probably didn't help matters either.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[FatAlb3rt]

f****d

Is that pronounced "fucked"?

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[eyegone]

Nope. It's "fscked".

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[cbhacking]

Um, HTC bootloaders are officially unlockable on all their Android phones and have been for well over a year now. That's hardly a reason to dislike them now.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[jc79]

HTC's mistakes were [...] not including microSD card slots or replaceable batteries in the One line

This is why I replaced my much-loved HTC Desire with a Samsung GSIII instead of a One X. Sorry HTC, Samsung had the features I needed for the same price.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[Bitmanhome]

Well, the iPhone is based on BSD Unix and Android is based on Linux, so fscking is arguably a good thing..

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[compro01]

Except for :

1. Using their unlocker voids your warranty, unless voiding it would be illegal in your locale.
2. Bootloader unlock as opposed to security off makes flashing many roms more annoying than necessary by making you flash the boot partition image manually via fastboot, rather being able to do it from recovery.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[openess]

then surely the HTC is the Queen, primarily because it got f****d.

are you saying the best way to recognise someone as female (that's what I took from Queen in this case) is that they are f****d (as opposed to them f****ng other people)? if so, you're a sexist idiot, and of not, your comment makes no sense. (written on my galaxy S3)

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[YodasEvilTwin]

(1) is irrelevant. Rooting and flashing voids your warranty anyways, with any device from any manufacturer; unlocking the bootloader only has a point if you're going to do one of those. (2) is incredibly minor.

Re:And if Samsung is the King...

[YodasEvilTwin]

I agree that those are mistakes, but not the primary ones. If the consumer can't use the device there's not much point to anything else, With bootloader locking specifically it doesn't matter to any but power users, which are a higher percentage of Android users than other devices but still very much a minority.

Why is the comparision made against the iPhone 4s?

[jandrese]

Is the iPhone 4S outselling the iPhone 5 for some reason? Why is the current Samsung model being compared against Apple's last year model? I'm confused.

Maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe if Apple was more focused on actual innovation like they claim and not litigation and incremental updates, they wouldn't be slipping.

Re:Maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple doesn't need to focus on actual innovation now that they have a patent for the word itself. It's other people's innovation that they need to litigate.

Its simply a better phone

[badboy_tw2002]

While I'm sure the apple maps thing didn't help, the SIII just seems more sleek and modern. I've had a few android phones and they've always seemed like "almost but not quite" compared to Apple. In this latest round, head to head with the IPhone5 you can't really make an argument based on interface, design, screen size, speed, app quality, etc. Its all there, and I can't help but feel like Apple got complacent. Android has seen revolutionary upgrades to its OS, IOS hasn't taken the big leaps and now they're paying for it.

Re:Its simply a better phone

[jo_ham]

I think it also probably sold better in Q3 because it was actually available for sale. The iPhone 5 did not come out until Q4 (hence the lower sales numbers for the 4S, which is used to compare).

Still, the Galaxy SIII is a great phone - I know several friends who have one and it's every bit as good as the 4S. I prefer the iPhone 5 over it, however, purely down to size considerations (DISCLAIMER: I do not own an iPhone 5). The size and weight of the 5 just feels better in the hand. (AGAIN, DISCLAIMER: personal preference, YMMV).

Re:Its simply a better phone

[Scowler]

I disagree on speed. iPhone 5 wins on this count, especially compared to USA version of S3 (the gimped version). The new A6 processor in the iPhone 5 was the key innovation over iPhone 4S, not the screen size increase.

But iPhone 5?

[whitelabrat]

The iPhone 5 will absolutely CRUSH in Q4. Not a hater. I'm one of the GS3's in that Q3 number. I was about to buy the iPhone 5 but then Amazon was selling the GS3 for $99 and got my attention. That was that.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[geekoid]

Projects are starting to show the it won't CRUSH it in Q4.

There just projects, so grain of salt. However, Apple is have supply issues, Samsung is not becasue Samsung has stronger tries to component and material supplies then Foxconn has.

And The difference between 4s and 5 isn't exactly that great. A trivial amount lighter, and slightly longer, and the requirement to buy all new device that physically connect to the device are all issues as well.

We will see.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[jest3r]

No it won't CRUSH in Q4 which is why we keep hearing about how Foxxcon is having trouble making the iPhone5 and they are having trouble meeting demand ... so Apple will say that they didn't meet sales expectations because they couldn't get enough into the supply chain at the right time.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[djsmiley]

You missed the funniest part, the GP posted saying they didn't upgrade due to $$$ yet expect the most $$$ phone yet to win?

The S3 is 1/2 the price.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[thetoadwarrior]

Was it used or from china? Seems odd you'd get an S3 for $99 unless amazon sells phones on contracts. Otherwise everyone should buy one from amazon even if the thing is too big.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[wile_e8]

Yeah, but this is yet another data point along with Android-overtaking-iOS timeline. First it was all Android phones outselling iPhones for a quarter. Then it was all Android phones overtaking iPhones in market share, but the iPhone massively outselling any single Android phone. Now one Android phone outsold the iPhone for one quarter, if only for the worst iPhone quarter, but I'm expecting it to become more of a regular occurrence in the future.

Although a lot of people will be dismissing these numbers as irrelevant outside of fanboi dick-measuring, they do matter. The Android phone app ecosystem was far behind the iOS phone ecosystem until the Android marketshare started too large for it to be ignored, and now they are effectively equivalent. However, when it comes to physical phone accessories, iPhones are massively more supported then any Android phone (at least as far as I can tell from personal observation). Once certain Android phones start selling in numbers comperable to iPhones, the accessory support will follow.

Also, now that Google has started focusing on tablets, I'm expecting a similar pattern on those in the future.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[Paradise Pete]

The iPhone 5 will absolutely CRUSH in Q4.

Maybe. It depends on production. They'll sell every one they make, but how many can they build? Right now production is not where they had hoped. Once production is solved then they'll sell a crazy number, but not until then.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[AmiMoJo]

However, when it comes to physical phone accessories, iPhones are massively more supported then any Android phone (at least as far as I can tell from personal observation). Once certain Android phones start selling in numbers comperable to iPhones, the accessory support will follow.

Depends on the accessories you look at. Many Android phones support a variety of standard USB devices, meaning any random keyboard or mouse will work. Some support flash drives. As of 4.0 Android devices should be readable by more and more other devices, such as in-car entertainment systems, because they use the standard MTP protocol.

You could also count Micro SD cards, and in fact they are probably the most popular accessories going. Android owners do buy fewer chargers and cables because their phones use standard USB connectors for the most part.

Most accessories are generic now anyway. Bluetooth or MTP. About the only area where there is a lack is cases and covers for less popular models.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[Xest]

Numbers like this absolutely do matter outside fanboy circles. As I pointed out in another thread yesterday, Apple has lost 20% of it's share price in the 7 weeks since it hit it's all time high, shaving $130bn off the value of the company.

This figure has actually now increased to 22% including today's trading figures upping that dollar loss in value substantially more. Whether this is because of this news, or the story about them losing their Facetime patent battle I'm not sure:

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=AAPL+Interactive#symbol=aapl;range=20120919,20121108;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;

There seems little doubt Apple is faltering now, as their legal strategy has largely fallen flat in all but their own backyard too. The only question is whether they can do anything with next years product releases (iPad 4 and iPhone 6), or release any new devices in new markets to reverse the current trend. If they can't do that then I'd argue they're in pretty severe trouble, the vast majority of their profits are based on their mobile offerings right now. I imagine It'll be an interesting 2013 for those watching Apple one way or another, either a tragic plummet (if iPhone/iPad sales struggle they inherently suffer a risk of iTunes store content and app purchases plummeting too) or an impressive comeback.

Either way, the tides have certainly changed against Apple this last month or two for the time being at least, despite two new major product releases.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[DigiShaman]

Android is the new "PC" of the mobile world. Apple is still Apple. The biggest reason that I left the Android platform is because of the non-unified incoherent message I was getting out if it. Each phone is different in specs, screen size, and application experience. But most importantly, e-mail support seems to be a hit or miss depending on the phone you get. WHich BTW may break a year later after a new Android OS gets rolled out for said device.

As for Apple. Just works. It's a walled garden, but life is too short to be jacking around with a bunch of useless apps that may or may not work properly on a platform with hundreds (if not thousands) of device permutations. Google needs to solve this issue by solidifying physical hardware standards. Until they do, I won't be going back to Android.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[CannonballHead]

Amazon has a wireless site where they sell phones with 2 year activation contracts ... and often cheaper than in-store.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[thetoadwarrior]

Ah, thanks. It must be a north america only thing.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[cbhacking]

That is absolutely the "with new two-year contract" price. Amazon actually sells a ton of phones that way.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[Cerium]

What the holy hell are you doing that you're having trouble with e-mail, of all things?

Support for IMAP/POP3 have been in the Android core for as long as I've been a user. And Exchange support is seemingly native to everyone running Gingerbread or newer. And in my experience, they've Just Worked as well -- even with several migrations from vanilla to/from custom roms and phones. And, for what it's worth, I'm sure iOS e-mail support is no worse.

I suppose you could use my father's experience with his Xperia as evidence of Android e-mail issues; but 100% of those issues are entirely due to him fat-fingering his password and then swearing at his phone a few times.

In all seriousness... There are issues which I will gladly agree that a given phone/OS is better than another on. But there are far more where I look at the user as the problem. This is one such issue.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[Scowler]

The A6 processor was a pretty major leap up from the A5. I don't know why people on here keep diminishing performance as a major selling point.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[Xest]

Probably because to have any kind of worthwhile size of market for an app you have to cater to the lower power processors for your apps anyway, meaning it's only the lowest common denominator processor in a line of tablets that's really ever taken any advantage of anyway.

Are there any decent number of examples of apps out there for the iPad where a more powerful processor really matters? I imagine the odd game may take advantage, but if it's just one or two then is it really a big deal to upgrade?

Re:But iPhone 5?

[CAIMLAS]

They're also having a hard time meeting QC on it due to how obscene the assembly is.

They're having a lot of problems and it's going to cost Apple.

Re:But iPhone 5?

[shmlco]

"The Android phone app ecosystem was far behind the iOS phone ecosystem until the Android marketshare started too large for it to be ignored, and now they are effectively equivalent."

Tell that to all of the Android developers who make 75% less on Android applications that they do on their iOS apps.

It doesn't matter how large the base is if the jerks won't open their wallets and pay for applications.

The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[blind biker]

...there are better phones, IMHO. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy Note II - gorgeous 5" super-AMOLED display, powerful hardware (CPU+RAM) and stylus input - perfection.
There's even a docking station to connect it to keyboard, mouse and monitor. It's just the kind of phone that keeps a nerd happy.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[darjen]

I don't know about you, but I wear regular size 32" pants and it fits in my pocket just fine.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[SJHillman]

Hmmm, the fact that this is the top seller implies that maybe, just maybe, bigger displays and more powerful hardware isn't necessarily what sells phones.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[claytongulick]

I just bought one on T-Mobile - most amazing piece of technology I've ever owned. Absolutely stunning.

At first I was worried that the whole Pen thing would be a useless gimmick, but I use the damn thing all the time. For jotting down quick notes, it's actually as usable as carrying around a paper notebook, which has always been the bar I've measured these things against.

In all the technology I've owned over the years, PDA's, tablets, smartphones etc... they've never given me the ability to do away with paper/pencil notebook. This actually has, which is fantastic.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[blind biker]

The Note II sold 3.000.000 phones already, even though not all US carriers introduced it, yet. It's more successful than you seem to believe.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[cyberchondriac]

Personally I'd like a Note, but I don't think Verizon carries them yet.. so far, only AT&T and T-Mobile, AFAIK. (I'll have to double-check). My old Galaxy S1 throws fits from time to time.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[jd2112]

The Note II sold 3.000.000 phones already, even though not all US carriers introduced it, yet. It's more successful than you seem to believe.

Very impressive, particularly since the Note II is WAY over the $199 'sweet spot' for smartphones.

I bought a S III last weekend, I had to call 8 stores to find one in stock for my carrier (Sprint) because they are selling so fast. And I live in an area that doesn't even have LTE coverage yet.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[virgnarus]

This phone has been the closest thing I've been looking for towards a Palm Pilot replacement. Everything prior has been media-focused, but this is the first that appears to work wonders as a digital organizer, which has really been a long time coming since the Palm Pilot died. Now I just have to deal with the hefty price tag.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[darjen]

It looks like a really nice phone. I might be tempted to pick up a used one next year when prices start coming down. Unless they release an LTE version of the new Nexus phone. For now I am happy with my Verizon galaxy nexus and probably will keep that for a while.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[AmiMoJo]

Are you talking about the Galaxy Note II? The GS3 does not come with a stylus, although you can buy one for it.

Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but....

[erice]

I don't know about you, but I wear regular size 32" pants and it fits in my pocket just fine.

Which pocket? I don't know about you but I don't want to sit on my phone if I can help it. Further, I'm not crazy about he security of a phone in the back pocket. Jeans also have smaller pockets than slacks or khakis.

iPhone 4s?

[grnbrg]

I'm as much a fandroid as anyone else, but GSIII vs iPhone 4s is a bit disingenuous. The iPhone 5 showed up part way through the 3rd quarter, didn't it?

How did the GSIII fare against the iPhone 4s plus the iPhone 5 numbers? Seems to me to be a more fair comparison....

grnbrg.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Juba]

How did the GSIII fare against the iPhone 4s plus the iPhone 5 numbers? Seems to me to be a more fair comparison....

And many people postponed an iPhone 4S purchase because they knew the iPhone 5 was going to be shipped. So it doesn't seem a pertinent period of time to do such a comparison.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[SJHillman]

Wait, so you want to compare one model (GSIII) against two models (4S + 5)? That would seem to skew the numbers even more. If you're going to go that route, do all Samsung phones vs all Apple phones or all Android vs all iOS, etc.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[geekoid]

Becasue normally you compare versions with versions. Not 'all of every version.

If you are going to compare every version of iPhone sold in Q3, then you need to compare every version of android phone Samsung sold in Q3.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Solandri]

It's not supposed to be a fair comparison. It's supposed to be 2012Q3 sales figures. The press is trying to spin it into a story. If you want just the raw numbers from TFA:

Galaxy S3: 18 million
iPhone 4GS: 16.2 million
iPhone 5: 6 million

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Seb C.]

Simple :
SIII : 18M units sold
4S : 16,2 M units Sold
5 : 6 M sold

Since 5 is the new 4S, it would make more sense to compare SII + SIII vs 4S+5. But that would not be sa much glorious as it seems for Samsung, and not as much sensational for the press running for an astonishing news...

In the "Samsung finally took over Apple" vs "Apple beats once more the concurrency", they made the choice that would tease the average Joe...

Re:iPhone 4s?

[thetoadwarrior]

Exactly. iPhone sales should have been at their lowest just before the iPhone 5 launch

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Paradise Pete]

How did the GSIII fare against the iPhone 4s plus the iPhone 5 numbers? Seems to me to be a more fair comparison....

Add a little over 5 million. So 21.2M vs. the GS3's 18M.
4th quarter sales will be whatever number they can build. Considering that they are selling every one they make, their "market share" is as high as it could possibly be.
That said, I've been buying AAPL puts (the right to sell at a given price) this week, as none of this matters in the short run.

It will take Apple some time to gets its production run rates up to where it has a chance to meet demand. In the mean time that's putting an upper bound on sales.

On a side note, many people dismiss Apple as just a "marketing" company, and yet Samsung will spend a whopping $11B on advertising this year, while Apple will spend a whopping $11B on machinery and production equipment.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Anubis IV]

I agree. It would not be a fair comparison to simply add together the sales figures for both iPhone models against a single Samsung model. That'd be silly and a somewhat dishonest comparison.

That said, these numbers, while fair and accurate, don't really paint an accurate overall picture, given that many people were waiting for the inevitable release of the iPhone 5 and that many would-be iPhone 4S sales became iPhone 5 sales after its release. I would think that a better comparison would be to compare sales of whatever the flagship devices are at any given time (i.e. iPhone 4S sales up until the iPhone 5 launch day, then iPhone 5 sales from that point on), that way you're only ever comparing one device against another. Essentially, splice the sales figures together, rather than add them outright, with the splice point occurring on launch day for the new device.

Doing so would get rid of a lot of the silly statements I've seen flying around from all sides, since you'd get an honest idea of how the flagship devices for each brand are faring against one another. And that applies both today and with many past releases of flagship Android phones that "come up short" of iPhone sales in the same way. Today, it's the Apple haters/Android lovers crowing, but the Apple fans/Android haters have been just as guilty of this in the past when theirs was the phone supposedly on top.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Wovel]

Why? Did Samsung transition from the SIII to something else I'm that quarter? Even if you add the Note and Note Ii to the SIII sales it is less than the 4S+5.. You really going to count all of Samsungs feature phones and pretend like it is the same thing.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[blind biker]

Galaxy S II: 28 Million
Galaxy S3: 18 million
iPhone 4GS: 16.2 million
iPhone 5: 6 million

Expanded TFY. Because, you know, we want to have fair comparisons, right?
Source.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[fredmosby]

According to that article 28 million is the total sales for the SII over 23 months. The other numbers are the Q3 2012 sales, which covers just three months.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[cheesybagel]

Actually I was more interested in the Samsung Galaxy Note II than the iPhone 5. Different things for different people I guess.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[cheesybagel]

If you are going to do that you should add the Samsung Galaxy S II sales as well.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Anonymous Coward]

That already happened one year ago with people postponing an iPhone 4 purchase because they knew the iPhone 4S was going to be shipped. Nevertheless the SG2 didn't steal the crown from the iPhone 4. The SG3 did it this year. We can't overlook the trend.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Luckyo]

At that point it would make sense to count all samsung smartphone sales as well, at which point apple numbers would look positively tiny in comparison as samsung is currently the world's biggest maker of smartphones.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[fredmosby]

That should say 28 million in 13 months for the SII. I need to proofread my posts better.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[blind biker]

You are right, and I was wrong.

I apologize for posting misleading info - I don't even have any good excuse, apart from "a motorbike hit me while I was cycling and I must be suffering from the shock, still".

(which actually really happened. I probably cracked my left arm - I have a weak point near the elbow)

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Paradise Pete]

That's not really the same thing. The flagship phone changed during the quarter in question. Apple also sold another 5 or 6 million 4's and 3GS's, but obviously they don't belong in the answer either.

I don't get the Samsung cheering in this thread. I can certainly understand Apple bashing. Apple is eminently bashable, and deservedly so in several ways. But what's to like about Samsung in general? They are definitely not "the good guys." Is it some sort of "my team" thing?

Re:iPhone 4s?

[mjwx]

Add a little over 5 million. So 21.2M vs. the GS3's 18M.

If we are counting all IOS phones made by Apple, we have to include all Android phones made by Samsung.

So SGS II, SGS III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Ace and so forth.

Feel like doing the numbers on that one. The Note II accounts for 3M units alone in Q3.

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/402706/20121108/samsung-galaxy-s3-note-2-vs-iphone.htm#.UJym6IaSnl8

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Paradise Pete]

If we are counting all IOS phones made by Apple

We weren't. But you knew that. I answered a specific question, and it was about the flagship phone, which changed during the quarter.
Samsung sells an incredibly large range of phones. That's how they killed competitors like HTC. I'm sure there's an office somewhere dedicated solely to keeping track of what's in their product line.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[geekoid]

Becasue Q3 2012 is the last completed set of data available.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[geek]

These are third quarter sales. If I'm not mistaken the iPhone 5 was a fourth quarter release.

Re:Nice Slashvertisement

[Anonymous Coward]

Things have turned a full 180 degrees on Slashdot haven't they?

Linux shills. Who woulda thunk it.

Re:Waiting for iPhone 5

[EasyTarget]

Do they take into account that a lot of people were probably waiting for the release of the iPhone 5?

No more than they take into account all the people who are waiting for the latest Nexus.

Re:Waiting for iPhone 5

[tepples]

And did they take into account that there's more than one way into the Android ecosystem?

Nice phone, but not as nice in the USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Why did Samsung decide to shaft the US and JP markets with an underpowered CPU and GPU compared to the rest of the word? It's an interesting phone, but I just can't consider buying it on that issue alone. If they delivered the full quad-core version with a decent GPU in the US it'd be at the top of my list.

Re:Nice phone, but not as nice in the USA

[firesyde424]

HTC did the same thing with the One X. If I understand it correctly, it had something to do with the Tegra 3 chipset not being compatible with LTE radios or something like that. I personally tracked down an International HTC One X. Cost me the same as a non-contract US HTC One X but I got twice the internal storage, quad core cpu, and a gpu that's at least as fast as the one in the US HTC One X.

And no, I don't miss LTE support. HSPA+ works just fine for me.

Re:Nice phone, but not as nice in the USA

[gabebear]

Actually, the USA version has twice the RAM(2GB vs 1GB) and is much faster per core so single-threaded things are much faster. The Benchmarks for quad core phones are nice, but real-world usage shows that a fast dual-core CPUs make a lot more sense(for both speed and power use).

I do hate how Samsung brands a bunch of different phones with the same tag... I'm guessing they are lumping them together for sales numbers. There were roughly 3 extremely different "Galaxy SII" phones stretching 2 CPUs, 3 GPUs, 2 screen sizes. The "Galaxy SIII" has two major models(so far) with either 1GB or 2GB of memory, quad or dual core CPUs, and 2 GPUs. While it's neat that Samsung lets you easily pull out the battery, it's probably easier to do it on an iPhone since you have to sort through at least a dozen incompatible batteries for the "Galaxy SII".

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[oodaloop]

I hope that was a humorous remark regarding the vast discrepancy between your user id and jandrese's. The alternative is just too ridiculous.

meh

[hottoh]

From the fine article:

"Samsungs' time at the top will be short-lived however, as Apple's iPhone 5 is expected to regain the title to top-selling smartphone in the December quarter."

Re:meh

[Wovel]

And if you count the iPhone 5 in the September quarter Apple sold 22 million of the 4S and 5. The summary could not have been more misleading had they tried. Oh wait. They did try.

Re:meh

[ne0n]

I expect the Nexus 4 will "steal" (in Apple's mind, anyway) quite a few sales from the i5. Probably quite a few from GS3 and Note2 as well. It will be interesting to compare December sales of all these smartphones.

Re:meh

[mjwx]

And if you count the iPhone 5 in the September quarter Apple sold 22 million of the 4S and 5. The summary could not have been more misleading had they tried. Oh wait. They did try.

And if you include all Android phones made by Samsung in Q3...

Oh my.

Nice try to obfuscate, but we are comparing one model (all SKU's) to another model (all SKU's) not one model to all IOS phones as the Iphone 5 is a different model (not an Iphone 4S SKU).

The Galaxy Note II alone sold 3 million in Q3, lets not even think about cheaper Samsung Galaxy phones.

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/402706/20121108/samsung-galaxy-s3-note-2-vs-iphone.htm#.UJym6IaSnl8

What?

[Dunbal]

The iPhone never was the best selling phone "in the WORLD". Only in the US. Worldwide the iPhone's market share is laughable.

Re:What?

[phantomfive]

It really helps if you explain WHY someone is wrong. Especially if no one else can see it.

Steve!

[SpaghettiPattern]

Steve! Still dead Steve? Take that! You good old Android-Crusher zealot.

Burn, karma burn! Let thy fumes rise to heaven. Like from sweet smelling incense. Let us drink and be merry.

Good, force Apple to innovate again

[Meatbucket]

This is good for the whole industry! Hopefully Apple won't rest on it's laurels and will improve their OS and produce a new iPhone with a bigger screen (The S3's main advantage)

Re:Good, force Apple to innovate again

[jo_ham]

This is good for the whole industry! Hopefully Apple won't rest on it's laurels and will improve their OS and produce a new iPhone with a bigger screen (The S3's main advantage)

I think Apple "innovated" by releasing the iPhone 5 in Q4.

I think it went something like this at Apple HQ:

"Oh no, look at these numbers! The Galaxy SIII is outselling the iPhone 4S! What shall we do?"

"Well, we could release the iPhone 5 for sale as we planned, since people are not buying the 4S any more because they know it's coming soon."

"Good idea! Start excavations for an extension to the vault immediately!"

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[thetoadwarrior]

Because iPhone 4 to 5 sales are well above S3 sales and probably above the total sales of all of samung's android smart phones for the same time frame (that quarter to today)

Re:perhaps because of when iPhone 5 came out?

[EasyTarget]

..the iphone 5 comes out partway through...

Partway through Q3 (the period this report covers)? I must have missed that, what was the date it launched?

I mean, I thought my colleague was a real fanboi ordering asap and getting one in Q4, but are you telling me you had a super-secret fanboi source who got you one in Q3? cool... what's the URL again?.. I'll pass it along to our local fanboi (if he ever gets off the phone, stops social networking, and does some real work).

I have to wonder...

[Minwee]

...Just how many of those people who bought the "iPhone 4S" knew that it wasn't a genuine Samsung Galaxy but were only fooled by its similar design?

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[cyberchondriac]

Even aircraft carriers have a slew of smaller support ships that count.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[blind biker]

Because the iPhone 4S is (was, actually) the current best selling phone by total (cumulative) numbers.In that sense, it's 100% fair to compare the two phones that sold the most units in the history of smartphones.

Maybe the iPhone will outsell the Galaxy S III, time will tell.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[CDS]

Which also explains why the numbers are lower for apple. The Galaxy S3 was released in June, if I remember correctly. They had the entire quarter for sales of their new crown jewel. With the iPhone 5 rumored to be coming, everybody was waiting for October and NOBODY was buying a 4S in Q3!

Shipments != sales

[Space cowboy]

From the court case, we saw that Samsung lies about how many it has "shipped". Colour me unimpressed.

Simon

Re:Shipments != sales

[Wovel]

It seems likely that Samsung dumped a bunch into the channel during the transition quarter so they could get an analyst to write this story and get some positive press.

Re:Shipments != sales

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems likely? What makes it seem likely? Has there been an official report or even a leak to that effect? What, precisely, brings you to suspect such a grand conspiracy?

Re:Shipments != sales

[Anonymous Coward]

No, they could not possibly have dumped any bunches into the channel. Because every single quarter, all these ~Apple zealots~ experts tell me that Samsung is shipping way more than are being sold. So by this point, all the warehouses must be full. It is not possible to dump anything more into the channel.

I hear they've just installed a big conveyor belt that takes the phones right as they come off the factory production lines, and it takes them straight to the nearest garbage dump. Their business strategy is to make Apple zealots so angry about market share numbers that they have aneurysms which incapacitates them and prevents them from buying any more iPhones.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Daniel_Staal]

The iPhone 4 (no 's') is also on sale over that time period. I wonder if that might also be part of the numbers - iPhone sales were split between several models, including upcoming models. (Though the fact that an Android phone was right up there is still news.)

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Seb C.]

Actually, the iPhone 5 started shipping by the end of september, and they sold 5 millions units in 3 days...
So it can be accounted for the third quarter, and not for a negligeable amount...

you can see the numbers here
http://www.macplus.net/depeche-69591-q3-le-galaxy-siii-depasse-l-iphone-4s
(it's in french, but the chart do not need "special french kiss skills" ;-) )

So you meant to add

[Wovel]

Kind of...

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[ToastedRhino]

I'm not sure where these numbers are coming from in general. Apple doesn't breakdown sales by device type, but did announce over 26 million iPhone sales in their fiscal Q3 2012 which ended in July, and 26.9 million in their fiscal Q4 2012 which ended a few weeks ago. Either way, the iPhone 4S number is pure analyst speculation since that data is not available.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[_xeno_]

You are mistaken. The iPhone 5 was released in Q3. That's why this includes the iPhone 5 in the sales figures it's comparing against the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Face it, Apple fans, you're time has come. The iPhone is in decline, iOS 6 is an unmitigated disaster, and Android is going to reign supreme. The writing has always been on the wall, now it's finally coming to pass.

I do feel kind of bad for all the iPhone owners who are going to have to rebuy all their apps for Android in a few years, but - who am I kidding, no I don't.

Re:Nice Slashvertisement

[Ziggitz]

Kinda hard to shill a free product.

Fireworks

[ultrasawblade]

I wish there was a .gif file of that guy in the commercial that makes a "fireworks" gesture when mentioning that the new iPhone has a headphone jack on the bottom.

I also wish I could post it here.

In lieu of this, I will just post a Youtube link pointing to that: http://youtu.be/QR8A3T6sPzU?t=7s

Do you guys want another monopoly?

[ArcadeMan]

I can understand why some people don't want to get an iPhone, but to see comments about how Android will somehow take over and get the most market share is frightening.

The last thing we need is yet another OS monopoly. I'd be happy to see 33% Android users, 33% iPhone users, 16% Blackberry users and 16% WebOS users.

Or is the majority of posters so young that they didn't live through or at least read about how OS monopolies are bad?

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[wile_e8]

As one of those commenters talking about Android getting the most market share, I don't necessarily want an Android monopoly. All I really want is Android phone and tablet app and accessory support that matches iOS support and death to mandatory walled gardens and locked phones. Device support is pretty self explanatory, but we've already seen Microsoft go from a relatively open desktop OS to a locked down phone/tablet OS in order to try and copy the closed Apple model, and I think that is bad for the future of computing. Start people in a walled garden if you want, but give them the ability to opt-out and unlock their phones if they so choose. The more Android marginalizes iOS, the less likely it is that the next challengers follow that closed pattern.

That being said, if Android does manage to get an OS monopoly, I think the open source nature of the Android project will keep it from copying many of the lock-in problems that made the Windows monopoly so bad.

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[oxdas]

Too late. Android's marketshare is 75% globally, compared to 17% for Apple.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[AbRASiON]

Agree with this post, except I'd rather see 33% Android, 33% WP8, 16% BB and 16% iphone. Apple need to be knocked off their perch for quite a while, frankly they need some humbling.
(I don't even like WP8!)

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[LordLucless]

An operating system can't have a monopoly. Monopolies are things merchants (ie: corporations) have. No corporation can have a monopoly on the Android OS due to its licensing. If Google at some stage decided to close Android and make it proprietary, then they might be able to generate a monopoly - or someone could fork the last free release and run with that.

The issue with Windows wasn't that it was the de fact desktop OS worldwide; the issue was that it was controlled by a single corporation who abused its market position.

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[Scowler]

If you are comparing Android to iOS, you are kind of ignoring tablets and mp3 players in that analysis...

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[Scowler]

.. and I don't want to see Google as a big player either, given their business model reliant on advertisements (and selling out on privacy).

We all can come up with arbitrary reasons to root for one Fortune 500 company or another, at least I'm not hiding behind AC.

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[Scowler]

... Except that this very summary above sort of works against your argument. It's not about "Android" getting an OS monopoly, it's about SAMSUNG in particular. If they become dominant enough, they will fork Android just like Amazon did and start building their own walled garden.

Your ideal world only happens if a wider group of Android manufacturers each enjoy marginal success, not enough to make forking an attractive idea.

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[oxdas]

The issue being discussed is smartphones, so it seems that excluding other devices is appropriate. That said, they don't really change the numbers all that much:

3rd quarter:
iOS: 14 million iPads, 6.8 million iPods, 26.9 million iPhones.
Android: 10.5 million tablets, 136 million phones

Total:
iOS: 47.7 million devices
Android: 146.5 million devices

Re:Do you guys want another monopoly?

[jwhitener]

I think you should feel less worried about an Android OS monopoly because unlike the others, it is free and open source.

Dear Apple ...

[jest3r]

Dear Apple,

I am a huge fan that has been left underwhelmed recently. Here's what you need to do to turn things around:

1. You need to offer more selection of "new" iPhones. I want to be able to choose from different new models, new colours, and new price points. You let me do this with iPods ... even iPads now ... so why is there only ever "one" new iPhone???

2. iOS6. When I got my iPhone 5 I upgraded from iOS3. And to my surprise not much has changed. Many things got worse somehow - feeling clunky with lots of bloat. Siri is useless, Maps took a wrong turn, the Interface hasn't changed at all and the Settings Menu is really unorganized compared to OSX System Prefs for instance.

3. The screen size. You should have made it proportionally larger. So do that next time. Otherwise most Apps run smaller, Videos look smaller, Photos look smaller. Everything actually looks smaller on the bigger screen.
(to everyone saying then it wouldn't fit in your hand - take a look at the iPad Mini photos which is massive compared to the iPhone and still fits in one hand).

4. Laptop pricing. I used to be able to get a 13" MacBook for about $1000.

Now the only laptop under $1000 is 11" (way too small for everyday business use) and everything else is overpriced. I don't mind paying more for Apple products because I do believe the experience is better - however your laptop pricing is ridiculous these days. I am in teh market for a new laptop and I don't understand why they are so much more expensive now?

5. OSX ... I love it. But it's starting to feel like you are losing focus on that too. Launchpad is umm... blah. F12 widgets whatever that is I never use (what's with all these hidden secondary desktops??). The App Store on OSX feels half-baked. Moving the Software Update into the App store makes things harder to use. Overall a bit of a fail the past few releases.

6. iPad Mini, should have been retina. iPod is retina, iPhone is retina, new iPad is retina, MacBooks are moving to Retina ... wtf?

Anyhow get more iPhone selection, fix the laptop pricing, and refocus your OS's ... and things will be good again.

Thanks!

Re:Dear Apple ...

[quacking duck]

Sad to say, I agree with most of your points. I have an iPhone 4S, and there is nothing in the iPhone 5 that's compelling me to break contract and upgrade early. And iOS6 is a marginal update at best--a few new features I like, but no way should they be touted as major reasons to upgrade.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Synerg1y]

Android has always "been up there" with the iPhone, though maybe not as the leader, but not far either, it's just that Android is broken up into many phone models, iphone only has a couple at a time usually. What this means is that more Androids of a single type of phone were sold than a single type of iphone (which probably accounted for most of the sales being the more recent one). It is a ways bias though since the S3 is a lot newer of a product than the iphone 4s.

Re:perhaps because of when iPhone 5 came out?

[Wovel]

The iPhone 5 released on 9/21 announced about a week earlier.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2206143/iPhone-5-release-day-2012-Apple-fans-Sydney-New-York-finally-hands-latest-iPhone.html

I can provide over 1000 more links if you like. You seem confused. Apple sold (to customers) 6 million iPhone 5s in the period this report covers. If you RTFA you would know that.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if you compare all models of Android to all models of iPhone, people say it's unfair because "Apple has a single model", and if you compare a single model of Android to a single model of iPhone, it's unfair because "Apple has more than one model"? Interesting.

Yeah but...

[flanders123]

Didn't iPhone sales slow Q3 in anticipation of the iPhone 5?

Regardless, I don't understand why some people want their device to "kill" the competition. Must be some sort of self-identity complex that I am not smart enough to understand. Competition breeds innovation. Ideally these 2 companies will start one-upping each other and consumers on both sides will win.

Re:Yeah but...

[devleopard]

Indeed. Let's say all the fandroid's wet dreams come true (not pointing out obvious pun there), and Apple throws in the towel. How good will the S4, S5, or S6 be? (Though to be fair, iPhone has languished over the past couple of generations)

Yes it is

[Graham J - XVI]

There are more iPhones in the world than any other smartphone. I'd say that makes it the best selling one.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[danomac]

The Galaxy S2 is also still for sale. They were comparing the current (at the time of the data set) flagship phone from Samsung against the current (and only model) from Apple.

They'd have to count the S2 sales as well in order to make a fair comparison. S2 phones dropped quite a bit in price, so they've likely moved a bunch of those too.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[danomac]

It's also a hell of a lot cheaper than an iPhone or Galaxy model...

I'm interested in the Nexus 4 as well - it's reasonable hardware for around half the price of competitors. Considering I still have about 8GB free on my Galaxy S1, not having a SD card is a non-issue for my personally, and I'm likely not the only one that falls into that category.

This is a surprise or news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Like Ive always said...

ANYTHING apple offers there is another product that in terms of hardware is just as good but most of the time better, there is another product that does not restrict what the customer can do with it to only what apple wants to let you do with it, there is another product that performs better, and all the whole the other product is always cheaper than apple.

But people dont care about that stuff. Apple users are generally smug, pretentious, morons who overpay for a inferior product just so they can have a logo on their product. Proof and point: people who use apple products dont call their cell phones a cell phone, they call it a iphone. They dont call their tablets a tablet, they call it a ipad. They dont call their mp3 players a mp3 player, they call it a ipod. They dont call their computers a computers, they call it a imac or macbook. They make sure that when they talk about a product they own they make sure everyone knows its a apple product. They want people to know "Hey! I bought a apple product. I overpaid for a inferior device because I am a slave to popular trends!"

Re:This is a surprise or news?

[devleopard]

Do you call it a Coke or a soda? Plus, for most of the personal computing age, the generic term PC or computer has typically referred to Windows/DOS machines. If someone is running a different OS, they've been taught to differentiate it for years. Most Linux users I know don't generically refer to their computer: they're quick to point out what they run.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

If we're talking about Android as a platform, Android has been decimating marketshare by a HUGE margin (like a factor of 2-3).

Worldwide marketshare is at around 60-70%, while all other platforms are sitting at less than 30%.

Congrats to Samsung

[f00zbll]

Samsung has worked hard and they deserve a congrats. I do own an iPhone, but unlike some people I don't see Samsung's success a threat. I like competition, so this should make everyone push harder. Though I doubt RIM or Nokia will last much longer. HTC and Google/Motorola will hopefully push harder to beat Samsung. I hope this encourages Apple to push harder too. Though honestly, I doubt HTC, Motorola, Apple, Nokia, and Rim need us to tell them to push harder.

Re:Congrats to Samsung

[quacking duck]

Apple needs to get their butt in gear and release updates with minor new features faster. Waiting a whole year between iOS updates isn't cutting it anymore, and taking longer to "get things right" is a poor excuse for the minor features I'm thinking about (in iOS6, this would include the addition of Do Not Disturb, decline call options, mail formatting, Safari full-screen...).

Apple is still selling metric craploads of iPhones and iPads, but they're losing mindshare just on the feature front, never mind the legal front.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[dudacgf]

Sorry, this is legend. What App are you talking about? And what is its real relevance?

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[msauve]

He's saying he "feels for no one," because that's who fits his description.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[AmiMoJo]

You say they are not the best, but does anyone else make better and more innovative smartphones?

Arguably Nokia is more innovative but most of what they produce is crap, with the occasional gem. HTC isn't bad but at this point Sense is working against them.

Premature journalism

[devleopard]

In the long run, I believe Samsung wins. They are innovating; Apple is not, merely adding a bit of polish and shine here and there with incremental releases.

That said, this is poor journalism. They were comparing a new phone to Apple's 10? month old offering. It's not like people were buying 4S's and were blind-sided by the 5's release: no one in their right mind would buy a 4S when the same sized 5 would be available in a month or so. Not to mention, phones tend to have sales bursts when released, more so with the iPhone (it may be dumb for the fanbois to do it, but have you seen anyone camp out for days to buy a new Galaxy S*?) In other words, I'd say that by last quarter most people who wanted an iPhone 4S had one. You can mention upgrade cycles, but I know at least one carrier allows early upgrades when the iPhone is released if you're anywhere close to being eligible.

I think a fairer comparison would be to compare 1st month of sales of 4S v. S3, or to be more relevant, 5 v. S3. Anyone of the supposedly critical readers that make up Slashdot could see this article really doesn't say anything, even if it says what you want to hear. Sadly though, I believe the typical fanboi or fandroid on hear are so crazed, they're no different than a Belieber or those in the "Team Jacob v. Team Edward" arguments.

Again, I think Samsung is on the right trajectory. However, I think everyone so eager to crown Samsung king right now that they'll spin things in any way to pretend it's happened already.

Re:Premature journalism

[Moridineas]

I have used an iPhone 3gs and an iPhone 5 (currently). I tried an SII and hated it. I have not seen an SIII so I have no basis for comparison.

I COMPLETELY agree that Apple's iPhone/iOS development has stagnated. It's a very nice phone, but the interface is virtually unchanged in almost 5 years now (copy/paste, multitasking, notification center, siri, are the big changes). There are some nice features that I use daily--Siri and Find my Friends most notably--but not a huge different appearance-wise.

But, my question is: how is Samsung innovating? I ask this question out of ignorance. What are the killer features of the SIII that mark it as a more innovative phone than, e.g., the iPhone5.

Re:Premature journalism

[shutdown -p now]

But, my question is: how is Samsung innovating? I ask this question out of ignorance. What are the killer features of the SIII that mark it as a more innovative phone than, e.g., the iPhone5.

Two specific examples would include AMOLED screens and NFC (granted, the latter isn't really a Samsung innovation - but they support it where Apple did not).

Re:Premature journalism

[shutdown -p now]

It wasn't their invention, yes, but they are one of the major backers of this technology, and improved a lot on it, both quality-wise and price-wise (IIRC they were the first ones to ship non-PenTile high-res OLED screens, in SGS2).

Re:Premature journalism

[Wheely]

Ok, in no particular order

When the screen is off, you still get a little flashing LED to tell you if you missed a call or text

Receive a text, lift phone to ear and the phone calls the sender

Looking at a contact? lift phone to ear and the phone calls the sender

In a meeting and a call comes in? Simply turn the phone face down on the desk and it mutes the sound

Screen stays on while you are looking at it even if you are not doing anything

Walk past a train station and the phone gives you a timetable card, photos of the area and recommends places you might like to see nearby but not intrusively

Notification center is actually really rather useful. Not just notifications but things pop up in it like transit control when you play music etc

Pinch Screen and then go straight to the home screen you were looking for. No more flipping franticly from screen to screen looking for the icon you were after

Kill apps but pressing home button and then swiping away the ones you dont want rather than the laughable IOS method

Widgets on the screen that provide useful one touch things like the torch or your alarm or a book marked web page

A load of gesture controls e.g. touch screen and move phone to pan around a zoomed photo (gimicky but cool)

Seamless sharing of media to an enormous number of things including XBMC

A USB PORT!!!! So you can drag and drop things from PC to phone

A zoom on the camera :)

An FM Radio

I can do this all night and I havent even started to consider things that you can do if you root your phone!

Re:Premature journalism

[Scowler]

I'm still astonished that the new Apple A6 processor is not considered an "innovation". That thing is FAST. Try loading a web page on iPhone 5 over LTE... very impressive.

I am not saying the S3 is slow... it is definitely the fastest Android phone on the market, and you can find some benchmarks where it will beat the iPhone 5 (if you have the quad-core version of the S3), but for most day-to-day usage, including web browsing, iPhone 5 beats Samsung S3 on performance / speed.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[AmiMoJo]

The again Samsung miss out on sales from the initial rush in June (Q2).

You could frame the data to give almost any result. Bottom line is that the GS3 is selling very well.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[filthpickle]

Face it, Apple fans, you're time has come. The iPhone is in decline, iOS 6 is an unmitigated disaster, and Android is going to reign supreme. The writing has always been on the wall, now it's finally coming to pass.

Man, phones mean a lot to you. I am sure that apple fanboism drove you to this....but look at what you just said.

Bad Analogy Warning

[srussia]

Even Jeremy Lin outscored LeBron in the 3rd quarter once.

I for one welcome our

[future assassin]

Samsung "the new Apple" overloards.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[cheesybagel]

AMOLED. Not to mention they regularly put out the highest density DRAM and Flash in the market but hey who is counting...

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[filthpickle]

I've probably spent about $50 total on apps. I am a sucker for games (174 games on my steam account). When I was going to get rid of my 3gs I fully intended to get an android phone...and I just didn't like any of my options at the time. This is a comment on me being lazy, not about the quality of the android phones.

Anyway, the point I am making is that I wonder how much people really care about losing their apps when switching? It didn't factor into my choice, but I don't really care about my phone all that much, I may be an outlier.

It's an estimation of shipped units

[suntory]

Please RTFA. It's a market research firm doing estimations about units shipped, not sold (that is why they use "channel sales". Samsung does not release information on the number of phones that were actually sold (only Apple does this). Only when Samsung shows their real numbers we will be able to compare. Until then, the whole article is pure bullshit.

History repeats itself

[fuzznutz]

Despite all the bickering and indignant attitude, most, if not all, fail to see the obvious. This is MacOS v. Windows again. MacOS was first to market (1984 vs 1985) and had all the goodies that the "cool kids" wanted. Microsoft came out with Windows and it was a pale imitation of the Mac System, but it ran on anybody's hardware. Apple derided Microsoft for their crappy junk. After a few iterations, Windows became the clear winner just because every hardware maker could and did bundle it on their PC for a lot less money than Apple wanted.

Google has taken a page from the Microsoft play book. Android is already way bigger than IOS. IOS market share is dropping even while raw sales are expanding. Android has parity in usability and features. The top Android phone has sales parity with the top Apple phone. The Android ecosystem is just going to expand.

As long as Apple earns massive margins on their product, more and more competitors will enter the market. This will reduce prices and steal more of Apple's customers. Many Android phone's have quality equivalent to the iPhone, and sometimes are in different ways better. Microsoft is now entering the market as a serious competitor. Apple knows this and they are pissing in their boots, They are lashing out the only way they know: litigation; just like before. They may have "invented" the smartphone or pioneered the market, but they are doomed by sheer numbers of competitors. They know it. Unless Apple can pull the next "big thing" out of their asses, they will fall back again. And Jobs won't be around to save them next time.

Re:Nice Slashvertisement

[harperska]

Care to tell me where I can get my hands on one of these free Galaxy S IIIs you speak of? Everywhere I have looked they cost quite a bit.

Bit misleading

[Theaetetus]

New data released on Thursday by market research firm Strategy Analytics finds that Samsung's Galaxy S III was the world's top-selling smartphone model in the third quarter this year, displacing Apple's iPhone for the first time in years.

... during the quarter in which Apple had announced that the iPhone 5 was coming soon, so people held off buying the iPhone 4S. In fact, if you add the iPhone 5 sales to the iPhone 4S sales for the quarter, the result tops the Galaxy S III by 4 million.

Except that you're completely wrong.

[mosb1000]

The iPhone 5 was released in Q3. That's why this includes the iPhone 5 in the sales figures it's comparing against the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Except these are the numbers for the 4S only, so you're completely wrong about this.

Re:Except that you're completely wrong.

[_xeno_]

You didn't read the article. They also list sales figures for the iPhone 5, which were something like less than a third the sales of the 4S. Which just kind of goes to show how big a dud the iPhone "5" really is.

Clearly, in order for the iPhone 5 to have 3Q sales, it had to have been released in Q3. Which it was.

Re:Except that you're completely wrong.

[mosb1000]

It is true that the article mentions the iPhone 5 sold 6 million units, but you claimed that that the actual comparison includes iPhone 5 sales and it doesn't. Just to be clear, they compared the 16 million iPhone 4S units sold to 18 million GS3 units sold when making the statement that the GS3 outsold the iPhone 4S. They could have compared the iPhone 5's 6 million units sold, but most thinking people would realize that's not a fair comparison because it was only on sale for a small part of Q3.

The iPhone 5 went on sale on September 21st. That means it was on sale for 10 days during Q3. Most, sane, people would realize that selling 6 million phones in 10 days is pretty impressive. You think it means it was a "big dud" so what does that say about you?

Re:Except that you're completely wrong.

[volxdragon]

Right.....Barely. The iPhone 5 was announced 9/12, preorders started 9/14 and the first units were delivered on 9/21. The quarter closed on 9/30, so selling (shipping?) 6 million units (according to the article) in the last 9 days of the quarter clearly shows it was a "DUD" at 666,666 units per day on average. Samsung sold 18M units of the S3 in the 92 days of the quarter so clearly it was superior at, wait, 195,652 units per day on average. Oh wait, it wasn't, nice try...

Re:Except that you're completely wrong.

[mjwx]

It is true that the article mentions the iPhone 5 sold 6 million units, but you claimed that that the actual comparison includes iPhone 5 sales and it doesn't. Just to be clear, they compared the 16 million iPhone 4S units sold to 18 million GS3 units sold when making the statement that the GS3 outsold the iPhone 4S. They could have compared the iPhone 5's 6 million units sold, but most thinking people would realize that's not a fair comparison because it was only on sale for a small part of Q3.

Remember that we are ignoring the fact both the SGS3 and the Iphone had a multiude of SKU's with different HW configurations, both phones had CDMA and GSM versions as well as various memory sizes and colour options based off the same template, so we are counting all SKU's under the SGS3 and Iphone 4S branding. The Iphone 5 is not the same phone as the Iphone 4S as it is a new design nor does it fall under the same brand.

So if we include all Iphones sold by Apple regardless of model, to be fair we have to count all Android smartphones sold by Samsung... Feel like doing the numbers on that. :)

Samsung is a semiconductor manufacturer

[Morgaine]

Samsung is a semiconductor manufacturer (among many other things), and with that comes a whole slew of innovation in electronics. You should check out their leading edge work in camera sensors, not just for smartphones but also at the high end for very impressive cameras of all types that rival Nikon and Canon in some areas. They are very much a leading technology company.

And of course their ARM designs are among the best in the field as well, often detailed here. It's a reasonable guess that Intel is going to be under pressure from Samsung in the power-per-watt area in the not too distant future.

Comparing Samsung to Apple is kind of silly. The company is much more comparable to Sony (in their heyday), omnipresent in all fields of manufacturing. Like all huge engineering conglomerates, they innovate incrementally and continuously, and mostly silently without needing a media circus.

Re:Samsung is a semiconductor manufacturer

[BMOC]

Ah it seems like the apple fanbois have modded me down harshly. Thanks for your reply.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[ScienceofSpock]

I have used Torque Pro since it was in beta, and it is amazing. The closest thing on an iOS device is the Rev app, which is pretty weak in terms of features when compared to Torque Pro, but is almost 10 times more expensive ($39.99 vs $4.95 for Torque Pro). Actually, after checking the itunes page for Rev, it appears to have been abandoned, but is still for sale, and many people are reporting compatibility or connectivity issues. There is another one called DashCommand, but that has some pretty average reviews, and is even more expensive at $49.99.

What the f***?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is slashdot, dude. It's okay to say "fucked".

Really?

[mosb1000]

Are you actually claiming the Galaxy Note fits in you pants pocket? Or did you forget to read the thread you're replying to. . .

Unacceptable

[gelfling]

Tim Cook unleashes the lawyers. Sues owners for appropriating money destined for Apple.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[ScienceofSpock]

My biggest complaint about the Nexus 4 (And the reason I won't be getting one) is the lack of 4G. I understand why Google didn't include it, but as a consumer who has a provider with good 4G coverage, I want that speed. The lack of a MicroSD slot is a non-issue. It would be nice to have one, but I still have plenty of space on my gNex, that doesn't have a MicroSD slot either.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[AcidPenguin9873]

This just proves that there is real competition in smartphones. Four years ago, no one would have done anything but wait until iPhoneNext came out. Now, people who want a smartphone in the 3 months leading up to iPhoneNext can get one of a selection of the latest Android phones, which are at worst merely equal to iPhoneNext, and in this particular case (GSIII), superior.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[oxdas]

Android marketshare was 75% of worldwide sales last quarter, compared to 15% for iOS. This time last year the numbers were 58% for Android and 14% for iOS.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/

Misleading Summary

[flargleblarg]

As reported:
Samsung Galaxy S3 — 18.0 million units
Apple iPhone 4S — 16.2 million units
Apple iPhone 5 — 6.0 million units

Now let's look at it in an actually meaningful way:
Apple iPhone 4S & 5 — 22.2 million units
Samsung Galaxy S3 — 18.0 million units

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121108005702/en/Strategy-Analytics-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-Worlds-Best-Selling

Re:Misleading Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

You're comparing one phone to two phones in that second count. The Galaxy S2 is still on sale, there's also the galaxy nexus as far as "galaxy" line of phones go.

Re:Misleading Summary

[yoshman]

Well, both Apple and Samsung got smoked by the famous company Others that sold 127.6 million units. Eat that Apple/Samsung!

Re:Misleading Summary

[flargleblarg]

LOL. :-)

Re:Misleading Summary

[strikethree]

lol, even more meaningful would be pitting Samsung's entire lineup against Apple's entire lineup. :)

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[oxdas]

Not even close. Samsung doubled up Apple last quarter, 56 million phones to 27 million.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121025007003/en/Smartphones-Drive-Quarter-Growth-Worldwide-Mobile-Phone

Re:Apples missing features

[jo_ham]

Galaxy S III comes with built-in maps and memory-card support. Apple don't. Also, Apple uses a proprietary charger that is not compatible with any other brand, making this aspect of the S III better as well. Also, the S III can be used as a harddrive for files without any need for additional drivers.

iPhone 5 comes with:

* Apple Maps and access to Google Maps, with a large number of options for other map apps (that can can be downloaded), both free and paid.

* Uses a USB charger, charges off anything with a USB port (note that USB is not proprietary), and a micro-USB adapter is also available so you can charge it off a Galaxy SIII charger if you really want.

* Doesn't have removable memory card, no, but this has allegedly been a missing "killer feature" from every iOS device ever sold, and doesn't seem to be slowing down sales.

* No USB Mass Storage Mode either, but files can be moved on and off it as necessary, also supports cloud storage (iCloud, Dropbox etc).

So, other than the lack of mass storage mode and removable memory card, it holds up pretty well.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[cheesybagel]

At least Samsung actually conceived and manufactured the screens. There were other OLED screens in the market before but they were mind bloggling expensive. Apple just invents buzzwords.

Re:Nice Slashvertisement

[Ziggitz]

The accusation was of being "Linux Shills". Last I checked it was free.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Wheely]

I have all the iPhones except the iPhone 5. When IOS6 came out and I realised that not only did it have nothing I wanted, it also took away something I did. So I was never going to upgrade and decided now was the time to try the Galaxy SIII

I have had it about two months now and I have to say I had NO IDEA that IOS was so far behind. I have been genuinely shocked that Samsung and Google have been quietly putting so many great little features into the OS and I knew nothing about it. IOS is still pretty much in the same place it started from.

I loved my iPhones but Ill never go back.

Re:Android is the reason...

[Wheely]

I like the Direct Call feature myself and the little flashing LED when youve had a call or text while your phone screen was off.

Also, today, i discovered you can make any contact into a little photo icon your home screen. A nice little touch. I keep accidently finding useful things it does. I was rather surprised when a photo I was looking at suddenly appeared on my TV. I happened to have XBMC on at the time :)

Oh and you want some nicer transitions Nova works fine on stock Samsung.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[Wheely]

Actually they have Touch Wiz on top of Android and it is surprisingly good and actually rather innovative.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[Voyager529]

HTC isn't bad but at this point Sense is working against them.

Okay, can someone PLEASE explain this to me? Genuine question here - it seems to be the obligatory follow-up to any mention of HTC. I don't really get this...

--The Sense dialer dials when I tap a number, and gives me a menu when I long-press it. Samsung's dialer requires several more taps to dial a number from the recent list and doesn't have as many nice filters and groupings.
--The Sense e-mail clients is one of the few that has CONSISTENTLY worked well with Exchange. Frequently, my phone gets push e-mail before my desktop Outlook client, and has since the first iterations of Android with Sense, even when stock Android had stability issues with it.
--The Weather clock is one of the most often imitated looks - Fancy Widgets, Beautiful Widgets, and HD Widgets all have variants of it, and it seems to do a fine job at balancing between needlessly refreshing and being out of date.
--The Ring unlock is one of the handiest ways to jump right to a specific function...the 'reverse ring' is becoming standard in a lot of ICS/JB ROMs, and admittedly it's not the most intuitive things to pick up at the very first glance, but I've yet to see an unlocker I prefer.
--HTC Sync is a lot more stable than Samsung Kies, and a lot less expensive than The Missing Sync, making it a great way of transferring contacts and calendars over a USB cable (a feature Android proper annoyingly leaves to be desired).

Now don't get me wrong, 'Location' is a bit annoying, and their variant of 'Find My Phone' just kills your battery in no time flat, and I know that the faint of RAM and CPU cycles can have issues with the latest releases of Sense. Even so, my two-year-old Incredible can run it on Gingerbread* just fine. Yes, low-end phones are going to take exception to its additional RAM requirements, and there's of course no accounting for taste, and I completely understand that many here will prefer stock Android simply because it's what they like, and I'm not trying to convince those who fit that group otherwise. However, is it really THAT much worse in the eyes of THAT many people that it's what's caused the decline of HTC?

Personally, I went with a GS3 over a One X more due to the lack of a removable battery and MicroSD slot. My HD2 is still my secondary phone due to the fact that it runs WM6.5, WP7.8, and every version of Android ever released, making it a phone more mod friendly than basically anything Samsung's ever put out...though admittedly I do feel bad for users still stuck on WinMo 6.5 and still have a bit of time left before their contract expires.

Therefore, I reiterate: Why so much hatred for Sense that it makes Touchwiz the more desirable overlay?

*Yes, I know Gingerbread is old...but that's the latest official release for the handset, and even though there are ICS and JB ROMs for the hardware, I've found that even the sense-free, odexed, optimized versions are still heavy enough to keep the hardware from running as smooth as GB, plus I don't really see the appeal of the newer releases anyway.

Re:Apples missing features

[realityimpaired]

iPhone 5 comes with:

* Apple Maps and access to Google Maps, with a large number of options for other map apps (that can can be downloaded), both free and paid.

You're using Apple Maps as a selling feature? Meanwhile, Androids come with Google Maps out of the box, as well as Google Navigation, which supports voice instructions, and there are a similarly large number of other map/navigation apps available for Android.

While your point is that IOS can hold its own against Android, it's a bit silly to use Apple Maps as the first point of comparison....

* Uses a USB charger, charges off anything with a USB port (note that USB is not proprietary), and a micro-USB adapter is also available so you can charge it off a Galaxy SIII charger if you really want.

USB isn't proprietary, but the connector at the other end of the cable is. If your cable is damaged or lost, you need to buy a replacement cable from Apple, and pay for the privilege. If you lose or damage the cable for any Android phone I've ever used, you can use *any* MicroUSB cable from any other device you own, or can buy one very cheaply from any number of people selling them.

* Doesn't have removable memory card, no, but this has allegedly been a missing "killer feature" from every iOS device ever sold, and doesn't seem to be slowing down sales.

Some Android phones don't have removable memory cards. Mine does. It's very useful. I've used the same MicroSD card across 3 phones now, and have not needed to recopy the data to each new phone. Similarly, I haven't lost any of the settings or high scores from my games/apps, and several of my games have installed completely to the SD card, so they don't need to be reinstalled/downloaded on a new phone, either.

* No USB Mass Storage Mode either, but files can be moved on and off it as necessary, also supports cloud storage (iCloud, Dropbox etc).

Call me next time you need to sync 32GB of data through iCloud to your new phone. We'll compare how long it takes against how long it takes me to remove my MicroSD card and put it in the new phone, shall we? We'll also compare how much that costs on your 3G data plan....

Oh, did I mention my phone didn't cost anywhere near what a new iPhone would cost without a contract, and that the memory/cpu for my phone are almost identical to the iPhone 4S, which was the best iPhone available when I bought mine?

Misleading article is misleading!

[DarthVain]

Soooo....

18M Galaxy IIIS sold 3rd quarter
16M iPhone 4S sold 3rd quarter

So therefor Samsung has the "lead" over apple...

However:

"The Apple iPhone 5 has gotten off to a solid start already with an estimated 6.0 million units shipped globally during Q3 2012"

So if you add the 6+16 you get 23M to 18M...

Ya ya it is a "different" phone... anyway not exactly as protrayed.

Re:Misleading article is misleading!

[dave420]

Add in the Galaxy S2 numbers, and things start to look a bit different. Add in *all* Samsung's models, and you can barely see the iPhones.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[AmiMoJo]

The Sense dialer dials when I tap a number, and gives me a menu when I long-press it. Samsung's dialer requires several more taps to dial a number from the recent list

Samsung: Slide left to dial, slide right to send a text. Alternatively click one and raise to your ear to dial.

The Sense e-mail clients is one of the few that has CONSISTENTLY worked well with Exchange. Frequently, my phone gets push e-mail before my desktop Outlook client, and has since the first iterations of Android with Sense, even when stock Android had stability issues with it.

Never had issues with the stock email client, maybe your exchange server is fucked?

The Weather clock is one of the most often imitated looks - Fancy Widgets, Beautiful Widgets, and HD Widgets all have variants of it, and it seems to do a fine job at balancing between needlessly refreshing and being out of date.

Don't care for it myself, Samsung has something similar, billions of clones on the market, hardly a reason to buy an HTC.

The Ring unlock is one of the handiest ways to jump right to a specific function...the 'reverse ring' is becoming standard in a lot of ICS/JB ROMs, and admittedly it's not the most intuitive things to pick up at the very first glance, but I've yet to see an unlocker I prefer.

Samsung puts icons at the bottom of the lock screen that you can drag to access functions, and they are configurable.

HTC Sync is a lot more stable than Samsung Kies

I don't think anyone uses either of them. Calendar syncs with Google/Exchange, sync media by dragging files or just sync with Picasa/Facebook or whatever.

Touchwiz does not differ from stock Android much, being mainly a light weight skin and some optional apps you can easily ignore. Sense just makes your phone slow.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[ballpoint]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the latest versions of Sense like on the One X for instance. It's lite, quick enough and looks nice. You can always install another launcher if you're bothered for some weird reason.

HTC is just suffering from too little marketing.

Re:Apples missing features

[jo_ham]

Edit: Bah, looks like I messed up the quotes. My text is indented.

iPhone 5 comes with:

* Apple Maps and access to Google Maps, with a large number of options for other map apps (that can can be downloaded), both free and paid.

You're using Apple Maps as a selling feature? Meanwhile, Androids come with Google Maps out of the box, as well as Google Navigation, which supports voice instructions, and there are a similarly large number of other map/navigation apps available for Android.

While your point is that IOS can hold its own against Android, it's a bit silly to use Apple Maps as the first point of comparison....

Absolutely. For the 99.5% of times when it's not "epically failing" (and being corrected), it works very well. The whole "zomg look how bad it is, you'll end up in a lake!" stuff is amusing, but ultimately overblown. And, as I pointed out right after it, I noted that Google Maps is also available on iOS 6, along with many other apps to choose from if you think Apple Maps will "epically fail". For the majority of people, however, it is

* Uses a USB charger, charges off anything with a USB port (note that USB is not proprietary), and a micro-USB adapter is also available so you can charge it off a Galaxy SIII charger if you really want.

USB isn't proprietary, but the connector at the other end of the cable is. If your cable is damaged or lost, you need to buy a replacement cable from Apple, and pay for the privilege. If you lose or damage the cable for any Android phone I've ever used, you can use *any* MicroUSB cable from any other device you own, or can buy one very cheaply from any number of people selling them.

I didn't address the Lightning connector (or the previous incarnation, the 30 pin dock connector), merely that the GP said that Apple's charger was proprietary and that (I quote) "not compatible with any other brand", when it's obvious to anyone who has actually used an iPhone that it will charge off all sorts of third party branded chargers, and that you can charge other phones and devices off an Apple charger if you like since it has a USB port on it. It's no accident that the "non-phone" end of the cable is a USB plug, and that the cord is removable from the charger.

* Doesn't have removable memory card, no, but this has allegedly been a missing "killer feature" from every iOS device ever sold, and doesn't seem to be slowing down sales.

Some Android phones don't have removable memory cards. Mine does. It's very useful. I've used the same MicroSD card across 3 phones now, and have not needed to recopy the data to each new phone. Similarly, I haven't lost any of the settings or high scores from my games/apps, and several of my games have installed completely to the SD card, so they don't need to be reinstalled/downloaded on a new phone, either.

Yes, I mentioned that this is one of the few genuine differences, and that for some people a removable SD card is a killer feature. It simply bears repeating that the supposed "killer feature" is clearly not all that important to the vast majority of iPhone users. Personally I think it is more of missing killer feature on the iPad, where extra removable storage would be very welcome for the sorts of things it is used for - movies and games on the go.

* No USB Mass Storage Mode either, but files can be moved on and off it as necessary, also supports cloud storage (iCloud, Dropbox etc).

Call me next time you need to sync 32GB of data through iCloud to your new phone. We'll compare how long it takes against how long it takes me to remove my MicroSD card and put it in the new phone, shall we? We'll also compare how much that costs on your 3G data plan....

Oh, di

I have one of each

[Paul Carver]

The UI on the SIII spends a much larger percentage of its time annoying me than the UI on the iPhone does. Among other things:

Autocorrect was so bad I had to turn it off.

Getting the insert point where I want it when editing text is much more cumbersome than the iPhone's magnifying glass mechanism.

It's not always clear why some functionality is available on screen while other functionality requires using the off screen button on the bottom left.

Way more preloaded junk apps than iPhone.

It doesn't handle my blue tooth keyboard as gracefully as my iPhone does.

The two types of app launcher screens aren't actually a problem but they seem to me like an indication of lack of a unified approach to UI design.

The main good point about the SIII is the voicemail to text feature, but if I remember correctly I had to locate and install the application to do that. Out of the box I don't think it could even do visual voicemail. Even now, tapping the little cassette tape icon on the phone screen initiates a voice call to a pre-iPhone-era touch tone driven voicemail system rather than bringing up a list of voicemails on screen.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[AmiMoJo]

HTC is just suffering from too little marketing.

No argument there.

When will Samsung fork Android?

[Scowler]

Google only wins if there are a bunch of Android manufacturers, none with overwhelming market share, OR Motorola Mobility becomes a dominant player, far exceeding their current market share.

Otherwise, if Samsung becomes *the* overwhelming Android manufacturer, it is just a matter of time they start making "requests" of Google, to change this feature or add that, which later turn to demands. Some of those demands may also be of the type "don't let Motorola make a handset that competes directly against ours".

Ultimately, if Google does ANYTHING displeasing to Samsung, there is nothing preventing Samsung from acting like Amazon and forking. With this much market share and user enthusiasm, they could afford the R&D and the complaints from Android purists.

"Slightly better specs"?

[Scowler]

The A6 processor is no small step up. That thing doubles performance of the iPhone 4S, which itself was a doubling over iPhone 4.

Let's face it, the iPhone 5 is currently performance king. Spend a little time surfing the web over LTE and there is no other conclusion you can make.

Perhaps we don't care about performance any longer, and more trivial features like having NFC or not are the important things to talk about...

Re:Apples missing features

[Scowler]

Apple Maps actually compares very well with Google Maps, despite the anecdotes being hyperventilated on Slashdot and a few other technology sites. I tried Apple Maps, and can tell you that:

Apple Maps wins by a mile on speed and responsiveness. I don't know how they do it, given that Google is no slouch in this department, other than assuming that Apple is pre-caching like mad.

Apple Maps just look nicer, with better fonts and better cartography. Perhaps it fits an existing stereotype, but Apple seems to have gone the extra mile to make their product look good.

In fact, the only obvious loss is navigation via local transit, with Google has, but Apple lacks.

Re:Android is the reason...

[Scowler]

Here's one feature where iPhone 5 wins: performance/speed. Just browse the web on both phones, and see for yourself.

Re:Apples missing features

[R3d M3rcury]

From what I've seen, Apple maps work very well if you enter the address. Apple's searching is what totally stinks.

So if you use Google to find the closest Verizon store and copy and paste that address into Apple Maps, you're home free.

North Korea's dictator agrees with you...

[Andy Prough]

...wholeheartedly.

Re:Misleading Parent Post.

[mjwx]

As reported:
Samsung Galaxy S3 — 18.0 million units
Apple iPhone 4S — 16.2 million units
Apple iPhone 5 — 6.0 million units

Now let's look at it in an actually meaningful way:
Apple iPhone 4S & 5 — 22.2 million units
Samsung Galaxy S3 — 18.0 million units

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20121108005702/en/Strategy-Analytics-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-Worlds-Best-Selling

Why are you comparing one model of Samsung phone too all models released by Apple?

All Apple smartphones = 22.2 million units.
All Samsung smartphones = 157 million units.

Source

But nice try to fudge the numbers.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[Anonymous Coward]

Completely different, man. Apple apologists used to say that Android surpassing the iPhone in sales was irrelevant because "you're comparing a single, expensive model to hundreds of models in all price ranges, so OF COURSE the single model will lose. It's only fair to compare the only model of iPhone to a single Android model, and Apple remains ahead".

Now, the best selling Android model surpasses the best selling iPhone model. Apple apologists say this is irrelevant because "Apple sells more than a single model, so you must compare the SGS3's sales to the sum of all iPhone models to make it fair. And by that cherry-picked measurement, the iPhone is still ahead!"

Your comment about different groups saying different things have NOTHING to do with a single group changing their position so blatantly. Specially because comparing "single model vs all models" is meaningless: you either compare "all models vs all models" or "single model vs single model". Or, "all models within a price range to all models within a price range", but given the sales of other high end Androids such as the Note, that would go bad for Apple too.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[CAIMLAS]

Meanwhile, there are a dozen other phones people might be waiting for in Android land, as it seems like a new one comes out every other day. Each of these phones have their own strengths (and weaknesses) and people pick the one that fits their needs best (often based on price but not always.)

Market numbers aren't broken down by "Android 4.1" vs. "iPhone 4" they're broken down by device, despite any inherrent software feature differences. It makes comparisons all but useless if you're trying to compare things concretely.

Re:Apple sells techno-fashion.

[Voyager529]

The Sense dialer dials when I tap a number, and gives me a menu when I long-press it. Samsung's dialer requires several more taps to dial a number from the recent list

Samsung: Slide left to dial, slide right to send a text. Alternatively click one and raise to your ear to dial.

Didn't know about the sliding; I'll have to try that.

The Sense e-mail clients is one of the few that has CONSISTENTLY worked well with Exchange. Frequently, my phone gets push e-mail before my desktop Outlook client, and has since the first iterations of Android with Sense, even when stock Android had stability issues with it.

Never had issues with the stock email client, maybe your exchange server is fucked?

My Exchange server is fine, thanks for asking =). Android's native Exchange support got a LOT better with the FroYo update; 2.1 and earlier had lots of known issues with Exchange. Sense's E-Mail client was stable and effective even when Android's native stock Exchange stack wasn't. While more a historical point than a presently applicable one, I'm simply saying that HTC got that right when Google got it wrong. Besides, my personal taste is in favor of the Sense mail client, though both are definitely usable at this point. Finally, I admittedly don't know how well stock Android natively handles multiple Exchange accounts on different servers; I've had better luck using third party clients like Touchdown than either stock Android or Sense.

The Weather clock is one of the most often imitated looks - Fancy Widgets, Beautiful Widgets, and HD Widgets all have variants of it, and it seems to do a fine job at balancing between needlessly refreshing and being out of date.

Don't care for it myself, Samsung has something similar, billions of clones on the market, hardly a reason to buy an HTC.

I'm not saying that I'd purchase a phone or not based on a not-to-difficult-to-acquire widget...but clearly there's a good idea if everyone is cloning it, and the idea goes back to TouchFLO3D on Windows Mobile 6.1.

The Ring unlock is one of the handiest ways to jump right to a specific function...the 'reverse ring' is becoming standard in a lot of ICS/JB ROMs, and admittedly it's not the most intuitive things to pick up at the very first glance, but I've yet to see an unlocker I prefer.

Samsung puts icons at the bottom of the lock screen that you can drag to access functions, and they are configurable.

Not if you have a grid password, it doesn't. Sense gives you a ring and functions regardless...and they're configurable, too.

HTC Sync is a lot more stable than Samsung Kies

I don't think anyone uses either of them. Calendar syncs with Google/Exchange, sync media by dragging files or just sync with Picasa/Facebook or whatever.

Touchwiz does not differ from stock Android much, being mainly a light weight skin and some optional apps you can easily ignore. Sense just makes your phone slow.

There is indeed a market for this kind of functionality if Markspace can sell The Missing Sync and can keep the lights on. I'm not the only one of my friends that is starting to have a concern about how much data Google has on me, and Hosted Exchange is relatively expensive when compared to desktop applications that already exist. The data caps on low-tier data plans make it worthwhile to use a USB cable when convenient to do so, and the transfers are still generally faster than any kind of untethered connection...besides, a USB cable charges your phone during the sync, instead of using the battery at an increased rate. I think that both manufacturers could do well to flesh out their desktop applications more, namely enabling more streamlined iTunes syncing, batch backup/restore of downloaded applications, and texti