Q3 2012: Samsung Galxy SIII named as top-selling smartphone.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Q3 2012: Samsung Galxy SIII named as top-selling smartphone.

Samsung’s Galaxy S3 overtook Apple’s iPhone 4S to become the world’s best-selling smartphone in Q3, according to Strategy Analytics – though the firm expects Apple to regain the crown in the current quarter.

The South Korean vendor’s flagship Android device clocked up sales of 18 million in the quarter, giving it a 10.7 percent share of the global smartphone market. Sales of the device more than tripled from the 5.4 million shipped in Q2.

“A large touchscreen design, extensive distribution across dozens of countries, and generous operator subsidies have been among the main causes of the Galaxy S3’s success,” said Neil Shah, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Samsung itself only sporadically publishes smartphone sales figures. However, it confirmed earlier this week that the Galaxy S3 has surpassed 30 million global sales since launching five months ago.

Apple is said to have sold 16.2 million units of the iPhone 4S and 6 million of its successor, the iPhone 5, for 9.7 percent and 3.6 percent shares, respectively.

There were 127.6 million smartphones from other vendors shipped in the quarter, says Strategy Analytics, accounting for 76 percent of the market.

“We expect the new iPhone 5 to outship Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in [Q4] and Apple should soon reclaim the title of the world’s most popular smartphone model,” added Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics. 

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Q3 2012: Apple holds first position but drops to a 50,4% tablet market share.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Please click on the charts below to enlarge the view.

Q3 2012: Apple holds first position but drops to a 50,4%  tablet market share.

Worldwide tablet shipments totaled 27.8 million units in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12), according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. The tablet market grew 49.5% year over year in 3Q12 and 6.7% over the second quarter of 2012. Android shipments, led by Samsung and Amazon, surged during the quarter, at the expense of Apple, which saw its share slip notably during the quarter.

"After a very strong second quarter, Apple saw growth slow as both consumer and commercial (including education) shipments declined, and rumors of a forthcoming iPad mini began to heat up," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets at IDC.

 "We believe a sizeable percentage of consumers interested in buying an Apple tablet sat out the third quarter in anticipation of an announcement about the new iPad mini. Now that the new mini, and a fourth-generation full-sized iPad, are both shipping we expect Apple to have a very good quarter. However, we believe the mini's relatively high $329 starting price leaves plenty of room for Android vendors to build upon the success they achieved in the third quarter."

Apple's slowdown put a sizeable dent in the company's commanding worldwide market tablet share, which slipped from 65.5% in 2Q12 to 50.4% in 3Q12. The remaining top five tablet vendors all gained share during the quarter as a result. Most notable was the impressive quarter turned out by Samsung—driven by its ever-growing portfolio of tablets. Samsung shipped 5.1 million tablets worldwide in 3Q12, up 115.0% from 2Q12; that's an increase of 325.0% from 3Q11, when it shipped 1.2 million tablets.

The top 5 was rounded out by Amazon, ASUS, and Lenovo; with all three vendors experiencing sequential growth over 2Q12 while Lenovo and ASUS also saw solid year-over-year growth. Amazon, which did not have product in 3Q11, announced new 7-inch and 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD tablets late in the quarter, and began shipping the new 7-inch HD version (in addition to a refreshed version of the original 7-inch Fire) in mid-September.

This helped grow its worldwide market share from 4.8% in 2Q12 to 9.0% in 3Q12, despite only shipping in the U.S. (the company began shipping into five additional countries in 4Q12). ASUS' share growth was backed by strong shipments of its Google-branded Nexus 7 device; Lenovo's gains were driven by strong shipments in China.

"Samsung took advantage of an opportunity in the second quarter," said Ryan Reith, program manager, IDC's Mobile Device Trackers. "The company offers a wide range of tablet offerings across multiple screen sizes and colors, and that clearly resonated with more buyers this quarter. Its growth to 18.4% of worldwide market share during the quarter represents the first time a competitor has attained this level of share since the original launch of the iPad."

"Competitors are turning up the pressure on market leader Apple," Reith added. "With the recent introduction of a number of Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets, consumers now have a third viable tablet platform from which to choose. However, price points are critical in tablets, and Microsoft and its partners will have a tough time winning a share of consumer wallet with price points starting at $500." 

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Q3 2012: Android Marks Fourth Anniversary Since Launch with 75.0% Market Share in Third Quarter, According to IDC .

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Please click on the charts to enlarge the view.

Android Marks Fourth Anniversary Since Launch with 75.0% Market Share in Third Quarter, According to IDC

01 Nov 2012

 The Android smartphone operating system was found on three out of every four smartphones shipped during the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12). According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, total Android smartphone shipments worldwide reached 136.0 million units, accounting for 75.0% of the 181.1 million smartphones shipped in 3Q12. The 91.5% year-over-year growth was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4%.

"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," said Ramon Llamas, research manager, Mobile Phones at IDC. "In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition. In addition, the combination of smartphone vendors, mobile operators, and end-users who have embraced Android has driven shipment volumes higher. Even today, more vendors are introducing their first Android-powered smartphones to market."

"The share decline of smartphone operating systems not named iOS since Android's introduction isn't a coincidence," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. "The smartphone operating system isn't an isolated product, it's a crucial part of a larger technology ecosystem. Google has a thriving, multi-faceted product portfolio. Many of its competitors, with weaker tie-ins to the mobile OS, do not. This factor and others have led to loss of share for competitors with few exceptions."

Mobile Operating System Highlights.

Android, having topped the 100 million unit mark last quarter, reached a new record level in a single quarter. By comparison, Android's total volumes for the quarter were greater than the total number of smartphones shipped in 2007, the year that Android was officially announced. Samsung once again led all vendors in this space, but saw its market share decline as numerous smaller vendors increased their production.

iOS was a distant second place to Android, but was the only other mobile operating system to amass double-digit market share for the quarter. The late quarter launch of the iPhone 5 and lower prices on older models prevented total shipment volumes from slipping to 3Q11 levels. But without a splashy new OS-driven feature like Siri in 2011 and FaceTime in 2010, the iPhone 5 relied on its larger, but not wider, screen and LTE connectivity to drive growth.

BlackBerry's market share continued to sink, falling to just over 4% by the end of the quarter. With the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet to come in 2013, BlackBerry will continue to rely on its aging BlackBerry 7 platform, and equally aging device line-up. Still, demand for BlackBerry and its wildly popular BBM service is strong within multiple key markets worldwide, and the number of subscribers continues to increase.

Symbian posted the largest year-on-year decline of the leading operating systems. Nokia remains the largest vendor still supporting Symbian, along with Japanese vendors Fujitsu, Sharp, and Sony. Each of these vendors is in the midst of transitioning to other operating systems and IDC believes that they will cease shipping Symbian-powered smartphones in 2013. At the same time, the installed base of Symbian users will continue well after the last Symbian smartphone ships.

Windows Phone marked its second anniversary with a total of just 3.6 million units shipped worldwide, fewer than the total number of Symbian units shipped. Even with the backing of multiple smartphone market leaders, Windows Phone has yet to make a significant dent into Android's and iOS's collective market share. That could change in 4Q12, when multiple Windows Phone 8 smartphones will reach the market.

Linux volume declined for the third straight quarter as did its year-over-year growth. Samsung accounted for the majority of shipments once again, but like most other vendors competing with Linux-powered smartphones, most of its attention went towards Android instead. Still, that has not deterred other vendors from experimenting, or at least considering the open-source operating system, as multiple reports of Firefox, Sailfish, and Tizen plan to release new Linux-based experiences in the future.

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Q3 2012: Samsung dominates smartphone market. Nokia on free fall.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Q3 2012: Samsung dominates smartphone market. Nokia on free fall.

The latest smartphone market share rankings from analyst firms make grim reading for one-time giant Nokia; a statement from Strategy Analytics today notes that Nokia has slipped outside the top three global smartphone rankings for the first time in history, while IDC goes a step further and claims the firm has exited the top five.

Data from Strategy Analytics states Samsung shipped 56.9 million smartphones worldwide in the third quarter of 2012, the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single quarter. Apple grew a healthy 57 percent annually and shipped 26.9 million smartphones worldwide for 17 percent market share, up from 14 percent recorded a year earlier. 

Samsung and Apple combined now account for over half of all smartphones shipped worldwide, up from around one-third a year ago.

Strategy Analytics says Nokia shipped 6.3 million smartphones worldwide for a 4 percent marketshare in Q3 2012, dipping from 16.8 million units and 14 percent share in Q3 2011. 

“Nokia will need to ramp up sharply its Windows Phone volumes if it wants to recapture a top-three smartphone position in the next one to two quarters,” commented Neil Shah, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics.

The news from IDC is even worse for Nokia. "Nokia's exit from the Top 5, where it had resided since the inception of IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker in 2004, was precipitated by the rise of Samsung and Apple globally and high-growth vendors like Huawei in China, where Nokia was the dominant player as recently as the third quarter of 2011," notes a statement.

Both analyst firms differ slightly in their calculations for overall global smartphone shipments. IDC claims the total vendor market shipped 179.7 million units in Q3 2012 compared to 123.7 million units in Q3 2011, a 45.3 percent year-over-year growth rate. Strategy Analytics estimated that global smartphone shipments grew 35 percent annually from 120.0 million units in Q3 2011 to 161.7 million in Q3 2012.

Related post: 3Q 2012: WorldWide smartphone and mobile phone market share. Samsung leading.Charts.

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Q3 2012: Android Captures Record 41 % Share of Global Tablet Shipments. Closed the gap on iPad.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesùs.

Q3 2012: Android Captures Record 41 % Share of Global Tablet Shipments. Closed the gap on iPad.

Exhibit 1: Global Tablet Operating System Shipments and Market Share in Q3 2012 [1]

Global Tablet OS Shipments (Millions of Units)	Q3 '11	Q3 '12
Apple iOS	11.1	14.0
Android	5.0	10.2
Microsoft	0.4	0.4
Others	0.7	0.1
Total	17.2	24.7
Global Tablet OS Market Share %	Q3 '11	Q3 '12
Apple iOS	64.5%	56.7%
Android	29.2%	41.3%
Microsoft	2.3%	1.6%
Others	4.1%	0.4%
Total	100.0%	100.0%
Total Growth Year-over-Year %	288.6%	43.4%

---

[1] Shipments refer to sell-in. Numbers are rounded. The definition of tablet does not include e-book readers.

According to the latest research from our Tablet & Touchscreen Strategies (TTS) service, global tablet shipments reached 25 million units in the third quarter of 2012. Apple iOS slipped to 57 percent global market share, allowing Android to capture a record 41 percent share.

Peter King, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global tablet shipments reached 24.7 million units in Q3 2012, rising a sluggish 43 percent from 17.2 million in Q3 2011. Demand for tablets slowed due to ongoing economic uncertainty and consumers holding off purchases in anticipation of multiple new models, like the iPad Mini, during the upcoming Q4 holiday season. Apple shipped a disappointing 14.0 million iPads worldwide and captured 57 percent share in the third quarter of 2012, dipping from 64 percent a year ago. Apple’s slowdown allowed the Android community to make gains and Android’s global share of the tablet market now stands at a record 41 percent.”

Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Android captured a record 41 percent share of global tablet shipments in Q3 2012, jumping from 29 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments doubled annually to 10.2 million units. No single Android vendor comes close to Apple in volume terms at the moment, but the collective weight of dozens of hardware partners, such as Asus, Samsung and Nook, is helping Google’s Android platform to register a growing presence in tablets.”

Other findings from the research include:

• Global tablet shipments grew just 43 percent annually in Q3 2012, compared with 289 percent annually in Q2 2011. This was the weakest growth rate since the modern tablet industry began in Q2 2010;
• Microsoft captured a niche 2 percent global tablet share in Q3 2012. The imminent release of the new Windows 8 operating system will likely drive Microsoft tablet volumes higher during the Q4 2012 holiday season.

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