The smartphone sales war is definitely heating up. While Apple set the tone of the modern smartphone market when they released the iPhone – which was essentially the first “modern” smartphone – back in 2007, Google were quick to release Android, which would eventually overtake the iPhone in market share. Speaking of overtaking, should a Reuters poll prove to be accurate, it would appear that premier Android OEM Samsung may have overtaken Apple in smartphone sales in Q2 of this year.
According to the poll, Samsung is expected to have sold a total of 50 million smartphones in Q2, which is roughly 20 million more than what Apple was observed selling in the same quarter (30.5 million). IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo concurs, and also thinks that Samsung will come out on top in the second quarter. He points out that such high sales are largely driven by the Galaxy lineup of devices, namely the Galaxy S II and the newly released Galaxy S III.
It would be interesting to find out how big a role the Galaxy S III played in these sales. With heavy worldwide advertising, it surely played a substantial role here. Apple isn’t the only company that Samsung has outsold, though. To refresh everyone’s memory, the company sold 3.4 million more phones than Nokia in the first quarter of this year, which to be quite honest isn’t surprising considering how people are more inclined towards iOS, and even Android. They essentially toppled Nokia’s 14-year sales reign in the smartphone market. In the second quarter, Samsung is estimated to have sold a whopping 15.7 million more phones than Nokia, which in turn is a huge number in our books.
Something else that Reuters’ poll noted was the increasing importance of ZTE and Huawei; lower-end mobile device manufacturers that create cheaper phones, targeted towards emerging markets. Given the rise of people seeking lower-priced smartphone devices in such regions, this isn’t too surprising.
What remains to be seen is whether Samsung will maintain its reign. While it’s safe to assume that Nokia won’t be gaining a lead on Samsung anytime soon, perhaps in the latter quarters of this year, Apple may go neck and neck or even overtake it once the next-generation iPhone is announced and released.
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