“A report out today from Juniper Research [states that] Samsung was the biggest smartphone maker in terms of global shipments in Q1 2012, but when it came to making money, Apple was still on top,” Ingrid Lunden reports for TechCrunch.
“In Q1, Samsung is estimated to have shipped 46.9 million smartphones, compared to Apple’s 35.1 million iPhone devices,” Lunden reports. “When considering revenues, however, the tables turn: Apple’s mobile revenues (which include the iPad) were $29.3 billion, while Samsung’s (which include all its mobile products, including feature phones) were just over half of that amount: $17 billion.”
Lunden reports, “And while Apple is beating Samsung in terms of pure revenue, it’s likely also to be beating Samsung in terms of profitability of those devices. When Apple reported another blockbuster quarter when it released its earnings last week, it noted that its gross margin had reached 47.4 percent. Samsung’s margin, on the other hand, was at 12.9 percent.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s unit sales numbers are real and reported. Samsung’s are not and are simply estimated by various outfits such as Juniper, IDC, Gartner, IHS iSuppli, Strategy Analytics, etc.. Said estimates for Samsung’s smartphone units for Q1 2012 run the gamut from 32 million to the above 46.9 million. Quite the range. Any articles claiming Samsung leads Apple or vice versa in smartphone unit shipments are speculation and not fact. As with Amazon and their unreported Kindle unit numbers, only Samsung knows for sure and they’re not saying.
Apple dominates in smartphone profit share and has for quite some time now. Those numbers are clear. Unless Samsung releases their unit sales numbers, there is no factual measure of smartphone market, or unit, share. They are all just estimates.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Apple remains #1 global smartphone leader; Samsung overtakes beleaguered Nokia for cellphone lead – April 27, 2012
With 8.7% market share, Apple reaps 75% of mobile phone profits – February 3, 2012
Why not skip reality completely and just report analysts’ whisper numbers? Better yet, just make up profit margins, from company PR firms.
Real artists sell! : P
I doubt that they even sold 32 million.
You cannot purchase a Samsung smartphone, anywhere in the world, for less than $400. Ask these shyster to show you a model smartphone that is not older than a year old and made by Samsung that costs lower than $400. They cannot.
Go figure, even the IHS number, 32 million multiplied by $400 gives you $12.8 billion. Go to the Samsung report. The section of their IM division that includes smartphones, tablets, feature phones and other mobile devices, had revenue of $16 billion.
The shysters also claim that the high-end models are the top-sellers. If this is the case the ASP would be at least $500 not $400. On 32 million, this is a total of $16 billion. Are they paying people to buy the rest of the mobile devices.
Baloney. WS must be very angry at OHS. They are breaking their version of omertà. Hell hath no fury like a WSvshyster scorned.
It doesn’t matter how many units Scamsung shipped – or sold – or made. Apple’s margins are 4x and the sheer number of different models Samsunk offers is staggering – like 20x Apple’s.
http://themacadvocate.com/2012/05/01/samsung-now-sells-the-most-smartphones-maybe-also-leads-market-in-landfill-reservations/
BWAHAHAHA! 😆
But Lion doesn’t run on iOS devices! 😀
To tech journalists, market analysts and Samsung: Which would your rather have?
A) Apple’s smartphone sales?
or
B) Samsung smartphone sales?
Well DUH!