Rich Fiscus
21 Oct 2011 1:14
Since yesterday the web has been full of reports that Samsung may have become the top smartphone manufacturer in the world. Before you buy into the hype, there are a few things you should consider.
Without a doubt, Samsung is the fastest rising star in the smartphone market. Their Galaxy S II Android phone has generated more buzz than any non-iPhone handset in recent years.
Now The Wall Street Journal is reporting Samsung shipped 20 million smartphones in Q3, beating both Apple and Nokia. That's impressive to be sure, but does it really make them the market leader?
The most obvious problem with that assumption is that shipments aren't sales. Based on Apple's recent financial report, we know they sold just over 17 million iPhones in the same period.
If Samsung had actually sold more smartphones than Apple in the third quarter, it seems likely they would have said so. Since they haven't made such a statement, it's probably safe to conclude that's not the case.
In addition, there's the issue of timing. We are talking about a period of time when Samsung had just introduced the Galaxy S II in several countries, and was in the process of launching it in the US. The iPhone 4S launch was still on the horizon.
And let's not forget, Apple is known for selling new iPhones so soon after manufacture that the glue on the screens hasn't finished drying.
That means Samsung was ramping up shipments of a popular new phone while Apple was winding down sales of an old model.
Hype and speculation aside, none of this takes away from what Samsung has accomplished in the smartphone market. They have leapfrogged more established vendors like HTC and Motorola to become the biggest star in the Android world.
But they haven't dethroned Apple - not yet at least.