Apple’s iPhone outstrips Samsung but not in UK

ALMOST one in four of the 149 million smartphones shipped during the final three months of 2011 was an iPhone, a new report reveals.

The iconic Apple brand overtook Samsung as the most popular handset maker in the period, despite the Korean manufacturer increasing its market share to 22 per cent – from just under 5 per cent two years earlier, according to mobile analyst firm Juniper Research.

Meanwhile, a separate report from uSwitch.com found comparing the brands’ two main products, Samsung is leading the UK market.

The uSwitch.com Mobile Tracker, which ranks the UK’s most popular handsets based on live searches and sales, shows that the iPhone 4S still has not managed to garner the same level of popularity as the Galaxy S II for the ninth consecutive month.

“The popularity of the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy S II is a clear indicator that Apple and Samsung are at the top of their games,” said Ernest Doku, technology expert at uSwitch. “However, both have vastly differing strategies to tackle the mobile market.”

He added: “Apple unveils a single annual update to their iconic iPhone, taking strong yet incremental steps forward in hardware and features each time, with both a slick marketing machine and rabid fanbase driving global interest behind each launch.

“For the rest of the year, software-driven updates and new services via iTunes fuel the flames of consumer interest in the latest iPhone… until the next iteration that is.

“Conversely, Samsung has leveraged the Android mobile operating system to assault the market with a range of smartphones to suit all wallets, from entry-level to high-end that give the best competition a run for their money.”

But Juniper said it believed Samsung’s rise is forcing Apple to continue offering older models to keep ahead. While Apple sold four million iPhone 4Ss within three days of launch, its return to top spot was partly driven by continuing to offer the iPhone 3GS – launched in 2009 – at rock-bottom prices.

“The scale of Samsung’s product range is saturating the market. Apple has had to counter Samsung’s products like the Galaxy Ace in order to maintain the visibility of its brand,” said Daniel Ashdown, research analyst with Juniper.

While Apple and Samsung have traded places for the past three quarters, take-up of other brands fell off at the end of last year. HTC was the only other of the top five to see significant year-on-year growth. Juniper estimates HTC shipped 12.1 million smartphones in the final quarter.

Elsewhere, Blackberry-maker RIM saw shipments remain steady year-on-year at 14.4 million, down just 0.7 per cent.

Finnish brand Nokia, due to fight back with a year of Windows Phone 7 launches, saw shipments drop 31 per cent compared to the same period in 2010.