Samsung's Galaxy S III Steals Smartphone Crown From iPhone

zacharye writes "The best-selling smartphone in the world is no longer an iPhone. New data released on Thursday by market research firm Strategy Analytics finds that Samsung's Galaxy S III was the world's top-selling smartphone model in the third quarter this year, displacing Apple's iPhone for the first time in years. Samsung announced earlier this week that cumulative Galaxy S III channel sales reached the 30 million unit milestone and according to Strategy Analytics, 18 million of those were shipped in Q3 2012. During the same period, Apple shipped an estimated 16.2 million iPhone 4S handsets, slipping into the No.2 spot for the quarter..." Also at Slash Cloud.

Samsung is better than Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why. :p

Its simply a better phone

[badboy_tw2002]

While I'm sure the apple maps thing didn't help, the SIII just seems more sleek and modern. I've had a few android phones and they've always seemed like "almost but not quite" compared to Apple. In this latest round, head to head with the IPhone5 you can't really make an argument based on interface, design, screen size, speed, app quality, etc. Its all there, and I can't help but feel like Apple got complacent. Android has seen revolutionary upgrades to its OS, IOS hasn't taken the big leaps and now they're paying for it.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[geekoid]

Becasue Q3 2012 is the last completed set of data available.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[geek]

These are third quarter sales. If I'm not mistaken the iPhone 5 was a fourth quarter release.

Re:iPhone 4s?

[Solandri]

It's not supposed to be a fair comparison. It's supposed to be 2012Q3 sales figures. The press is trying to spin it into a story. If you want just the raw numbers from TFA:

Galaxy S3: 18 million
iPhone 4GS: 16.2 million
iPhone 5: 6 million

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[CDS]

Which also explains why the numbers are lower for apple. The Galaxy S3 was released in June, if I remember correctly. They had the entire quarter for sales of their new crown jewel. With the iPhone 5 rumored to be coming, everybody was waiting for October and NOBODY was buying a 4S in Q3!

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Ziggitz]

Were you trying to be ironic by linking to a site that contains zero original content?

Re:iPhone 4s?

[blind biker]

Galaxy S II: 28 Million
Galaxy S3: 18 million
iPhone 4GS: 16.2 million
iPhone 5: 6 million

Expanded TFY. Because, you know, we want to have fair comparisons, right?
Source. [gsmarena.com]

This is a surprise or news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Like Ive always said...

ANYTHING apple offers there is another product that in terms of hardware is just as good but most of the time better, there is another product that does not restrict what the customer can do with it to only what apple wants to let you do with it, there is another product that performs better, and all the whole the other product is always cheaper than apple.

But people dont care about that stuff. Apple users are generally smug, pretentious, morons who overpay for a inferior product just so they can have a logo on their product. Proof and point: people who use apple products dont call their cell phones a cell phone, they call it a iphone. They dont call their tablets a tablet, they call it a ipad. They dont call their mp3 players a mp3 player, they call it a ipod. They dont call their computers a computers, they call it a imac or macbook. They make sure that when they talk about a product they own they make sure everyone knows its a apple product. They want people to know "Hey! I bought a apple product. I overpaid for a inferior device because I am a slave to popular trends!"

Re:iPhone 4s?

[fredmosby]

According to that article 28 million is the total sales for the SII over 23 months. The other numbers are the Q3 2012 sales, which covers just three months.

Re:Why is the comparision made against the iPhone

[oxdas]

Android marketshare was 75% of worldwide sales last quarter, compared to 15% for iOS. This time last year the numbers were 58% for Android and 14% for iOS.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/ [cnet.com]

Re:Samsung is better than Apple

[Coolhand2120]

So if I write a book you can copy it? If I create a game you can copy it? If I make a movie you can copy it? I don't think so. IP does exist. People can copy/steal IP. In this case, Apple has what they claim is their own original IP. But said IP has been in the public domain for too long to be their IP, so their claims are invalid. But IP certainly exists.

Re:Purse Phone

[Picass0]

So you're saying the iPhone has NFC file transfer? Where's your SD card slot? How about a standard micro USB connector instead of the Apple proprietary plugs? Apple's much vaunted "retina display" is 1,136 x 640 and lower resolution than the Galaxy S3's 1,280 x 720 resolution. iPhone requires you to install iTunes to access your phone from your PC (and screw you, Linux users). Samsung, like all android phones, just plugs in and acts as a USB drive. Or you can wireless tether to your PC with an Android. The iPhone 5's camera is 8mp and has ugly purple flair problems, G S3 is also 8mp and features image stabilization. G S3 has longer battery life than the iPhone 5. Where the iPhone's stylus pen? How about showing me some sweet widgets or desktop mods on you iPhone? Let's see you install 3rd party apps without rooting your phone.

You think this is just about screen size? You're not paying attention.