Samsung puts bite on Apple in phone wars

By Claire Smith
Published on Saturday 29 October 2011 01:24

KOREAN company Samsung has overtaken Apple in sales of smartphones for the first time, according to market reports.

Samsung shipped 27.8 million units in the last quarter compared to 17.1 million for their US rivals – an increase of 40 per cent.

The Korean firm now has a 23.8 per cent share of the global smartphones market compared to Apple’s 14.6 per cent, according to data from research firm Strategy Analytics.

Neil Mawston, director at technology specialists Strategy Analytics, said: “Samsung’s rise has been driven by a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services, memorable sub-brands and extensive global distribution.

“Samsung has demonstrated that it is possible, at least in the short term, to differentiate and grow by using the Android ecosystem.”

A total of 117 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter of this year, up 44 per cent from the same period last year. Some analysts believe Apple fans may have slowed down global sales for the brand by waiting for the release of the iPhone 4S and that the company’s market share will increase in the run-up to Christmas. However, Apple faces fresh competition in the premium market with the launch next month of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first phone to run on the new operating system android Ice Cream Sandwich.

The rise of Android operating systems, used by Samsung smartphones and others, is a big factor in breaking the dominance of Apple, which only uses its own iPhone operating systems.

Josh Welensky, technology writer for The Scotsman, said he was not surprised Apple had been toppled.

“It is not unexpected – it is thanks to the success of the Android operating system,” he said.

“Price is a big factor. The cheapest Android phone you can get new costs about £100 or £10 a month compared to a new iPhone, which is a minimum of £25 a month.

“But iPhone is still cooler. They don’t have anything to compete with the apps store or iTunes and it is more user friendly.”

Recently, Apple and Samsung have been engaged in patent battles as each company tries to develop the technology for the new generation of mobiles.

Finlay Carmichael, director of the Dundee-based software company C2, which makes phone apps, said Android, which is owned by Google, was making it attractive for developers to create new apps. “If you are selling at the Apple store, Apple take 30 per cent, whereas with Android you get the full revenue. Apple is a closed system – their operating system will only run on their systems, whereas Android runs on all sorts of devices.”

He said he could understand why smartphone buyers were shopping around.

“With an iPhone, you have got a limited number of phones on the market,” he said.

However, he added that iPhones were still highly desirable products.

“Apple is a premium brand, it is the one people want to have in their hand,” he said. “To me, Samsung phones might be very powerful but they are a bit techy and geeky.

“You don’t get the sleekness and the design that you get with an Apple.”

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