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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.

31 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. Samsung is better than Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's why. :p

    1. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by kav2k · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    2. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by YodasEvilTwin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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

    3. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    4. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    5. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by Ziggitz · · Score: 5, Informative

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

      --
      There is no memory shortage. yes I have heard of XFCE. Go away.
    6. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by jakimfett · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
    7. Re:Samsung is better than Apple by mjwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  2. And if Samsung is the King... by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    --
    A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
    1. Re:And if Samsung is the King... by geekoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  3. Its simply a better phone by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  4. iPhone 4s? by grnbrg · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.

    1. Re:iPhone 4s? by Juba · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:iPhone 4s? by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

      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

    3. Re:iPhone 4s? by fredmosby · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

  5. Re:Purse Phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  6. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by geekoid · · Score: 5, Informative

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

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  7. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by geek · · Score: 5, Informative

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

  8. Re:The Galaxy S III is nice, but.... by claytongulick · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Drinking habits can be dangerous. You can choke on the cloth and the nuns will wonder where their clothes are.
  9. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by oodaloop · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  10. What? by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  11. Re:Purse Phone by Picass0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  12. I have to wonder... by Minwee · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...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?

  13. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by CDS · · Score: 5, Informative

    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!

  14. Re:But iPhone 5? by wile_e8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  15. Re:Nice Slashvertisement by Ziggitz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kinda hard to shill a free product.

    --
    There is no memory shortage. yes I have heard of XFCE. Go away.
  16. Do you guys want another monopoly? by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

  17. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  18. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by oxdas · · Score: 5, Informative

    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/

  19. Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone by Wheely · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  20. Re:Purse Phone by Picass0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.