Samsung’s Galaxy S3, for the first time ever, has beaten Apple’s iPhone when it comes to the sales made in the third quarter of 2012. Based on the numbers, the former has sold 18 million units while the iPhone sold about 16.2 million units.
Executive Director of Strategy Analytics, Neil Mawston explains why Samsung’s reign won’t last long, in saying, “Samsung’s Galaxy S3 has proven wildly popular with consumers and operators across North America, Europe and Asia. However, the Galaxy S3’s position as the world’s best-selling smartphone model is likely to be short-lived. The Apple iPhone 5 has gotten off to a solid start already with an estimated 6.0 million units shipped globally during Q3 2012. We expect the new iPhone 5 to out-ship Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in the coming fourth quarter of 2012 and Apple should soon reclaim the title of the world’s most popular smartphone model.”
The numbers also indicate a substantial increase for Samsung since the number of units sold in the second quarter was a mere 5.4 million to Apple’s 19.4 million units of the iPhone 4S model.
With the launch of the iPhone 5 in the third quarter, it seems as if iPhone customers were waiting for its release while the Galaxy S3 made 11% of all smartphone sales, thanks to generous operator subsidies, extensive distribution across several countries but most of all due to a large touchscreen.
Samsung and Apple have also been locked in a courtroom battle in regard to patent infringement in several countries, with the latest case awarding Apple $1.05 billion in damages as Samsung had infringed on its software and design technologies.