Strong sales of the iPhone 5 have helped Apple grab more than a quarter of the global LTE device market last quarter, despite the handset’s short time on sale. The Cupertino company now commands 27% of the market share, while arch rival Samsung’s 40% share means it maintains the top spot for the seventh quarter in a row.
However, increasing competition from its rivals means Samsung’s share has quickly slipped by more than 10% from 50.9% in the previous quarter.
Samsung kept us waiting a long, long time for the Galaxy S III. We expected it to arrive at CES 2012 back in January, and when that didn’t happen, we hoped for a release at Mobile World Congress the following month (which Samsung didn’t bother turning up to). As it turns out, the Korean company’s flagship smartphone didn’t get its grand unveiling until May.
We may not be in for the same wait next time around, however. Samsung is already teasing “something new” for CES 2013, sparking speculation that the Galaxy S IV will be arriving as early as next month.
Android is no longer top dog in the U.S.
The iPhone 5 has become Apple’s fastest-selling iPhone yet, with 5 million units sold during its first three days of availability. More than two months after its debut, the handset is still facing a one-week shipping delay via the Apple online store. In fact, the device is selling so well that it just helped iOS overtake Android’s market share in the United States.
Samsung successfully had the iPhone 5 added to its patent infringement complaint against Apple earlier this month, but the Korean electronics giant hasn’t quite finished there. It’s now going after Apple’s latest iOS devices, and has requested that the iPad mini, the new fourth-generation iPad, and Apple’s latest iPod touch are also brought into the case.
The iPhone 4S loses its crown to the enemy.
The Samsung Galaxy S III, this year’s hottest Android handset, has overtaken the iPhone 4S to become the world’s best-selling smartphone. One in every nine smartphones sold during the third-quarter of 2012 were Galaxy S IIIs, helping Samsung ship an estimated 18 million units during the three-month period.
