Samsung takes smartphone top spot
Strong Q3 results for Galaxy range allow Korean firm to take Apple's crown, while ZTE overtakes iPhone maker in overall handset space
Published: 31 October, 2011
READ MORE: Financial | Handset | Android
Samsung confirmed strong quarterly results for its mobile division and claimed the coveted top spot in the smartphone market, even though it is likely to lose that again to Apple in the current holiday quarter. In Q2, Nokia was finally knocked off its market lead by both Apple and Samsung, with the iPhone maker narrowly beating its rival to the laurels.
The Korean firm said record sales in its telecoms division were "driven by strong sales of Samsung's Galaxy smartphones". While overall handset sales were up by more than 20% compared to the second quarter, smartphones achieved twice that performance, with a 40% rise on Q2, and 300% year-on-year. The latest Galaxy model, the SII, has shipped more than 10m units since it launched five months ago.
In its telecommunications division, which also includes infrastructure, Samsung announced a record operating profit of KRW2.52 trillion ($2.28bn), more than twice the year-ago figure, on revenue of KRW14.90 trillion, up 37% year-on-year. Nearly all of that revenue came from mobile devices - KRW14.42 trillion, up 39%. In the infrastructure business, Samsung said that sales and profitability improved year-on-year mainly because of LTE expansion. The firm is exploiting its market lead in WiMAX to gain deals in the similar LTE technology, as seen at Sprint.
While Samsung did not offer shipment numbers itself, research firm Strategy Analytics says the company became the number one smartphones vendor in Q3 with sales of 28m, well ahead of 17.1m for Apple. In handsets as a whole, Samsung still trails Nokia - by 88m units to 106.6m - but is comfortable clear of number three player LG, on 21.1m.
In the current quarter, Samsung expects the increasing diversity of its Galaxy range to drive expansion - as well as the flagship S models, it has the new Nexus model for Google, and the Galaxy Note handheld, which the vendor says optimistically is "opening a new mobile device category".
The Strategy Analytics study also singled out ZTE for praise - it overtook Apple in the overall cellphone space to become the world's fourth largest supplier with 5% share, in a handset market which grew by 14% year-on-year to reach 390m units.
"ZTE's growth is being driven by competitive pricing of entry level models for featurephones and Android smartphones," said senior analyst Alex Spektor.
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