Telecommunications

Samsung blow to Apple

Staff Writer

 ·25 Jan 2013

New data out on Friday (25 January) shows that Samsung extended its lead over Apple and Nokia in global smartphone shipments, capturing 30.4% (20% in 2011) marketshare in 2012.

Market research firm, Strategy Analytics revealed that Samsung sold 213 million smartphones last year, while rival Apple shipped 135.8 million smartphones worldwide for a 19% marketshare, broadly flat from the 19% level recorded in 2011.

Global smartphone shipments grew 43% annually to reach a record 700 million units in 2012, Strategy Analytics said.

The growth of Samsung and Apple has continued to impact Nokia. The group retained its position as the world’s third largest smartphone vendor for full-year 2012, but its global marketshare has declined to 5% from 16% in the prior year.

“Nokia’s Windows Phone portfolio has improved significantly in recent months, with new models like the Lumia 920, but we believe the vendor still lacks a true hero model in its range that can be considered an Apple iPhone or Samsung S3 killer,” Strategy Analytics said.

The research notes that Apple grew as much as 46% in 2012, boosted by growth in developed regions like North America, “but this was offset partly by its limited presence in high-growth emerging markets such as Africa”.

Global vendor smartphone shipments (millions of units)

Global vendor smartphone market share (% rounded)

Financial results

All three companies have published financial results this week, the latest being Samsung, which revealed that operating profit increased 89% for the fourth quarter ended December 2012, to 8.84 trillion Korean won ($8.3 billion).

Its Mobile Communications unit generated a 4% rise in revenue with growth driven by “solid” sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note ll. The division accounted for 62% of overall profit, up from 55% before.

Earlier in the week, Apple reported revenue of $54.5 billion in Q1 2013 financial results for the quarter that ended in December 2012.

The tech giant said it sold 22.9 million iPads, 47.8 million iPhones, 5.3 million iPods, and million 4.1 Macs.

While the company reported quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, it wasn’t enough to alleviate market concern over the group’s loosened grip on the smartphone market.

Apple’s shares fell more than 12% on Thursday, shaving $50 billion from the company’s market value. Market analysts said Apple’s growth would depend on new products.

Nokia, meanwhile, reported a full year loss of 2.3 billion euros (US$3.07 billion), but the group posted a profit of 439 million euros (US$586 million) for the final three months of the year.

The company sold a total of 86.3 million devices during the quarter, including 4.4 million Lumia smartphones.

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