Samsung Passes Apple for No.1 Spot in Smartphone Sales
All hail King Sammy.
Apple might have sold four million iPhone 4Ses in the first weekend of availability while suing Samsung in courts around the world, but Samsung isn't letting Cupertino's success get in the way of its plans for smartphone domination. Reuters today reports that Samsung has surpassed Apple in smartphone sales to become the world's number one smartphone manufacturer.
Samsung saw a huge increase in smartphone shipments this past quarter, reporting a 44 percent jump in smartphone shipments for the period of July-September. Reuters cites research firm Strategy Analytics in reports that Samsung's smartphone shipments rang in at 27.8 million in Q3, nearly four times what they were a year ago, while Apple's iPhone sales shrank by 16 percent, hitting 17.1 million units, in Q3. Samsung's share of the smartphone market in the third quarter was 23.8 percent, a full nine points higher than Apple's. It's likely Apple experienced a drop-off in iPhone sales after June because customers were expecting a new iPhone and awaiting the October launch of the iPhone 4S before buying, while Samsung's having a number of strong smartphones across several carriers helped shift the units.
Speaking to analysts, Samsung's head of investor relations, Robert Yi, said that he is cautiously optimistic about Q4 when industry demand 'is traditionally at its peak.' Yi said that Samsung expects sales of mobile devices to remain strong and shipments of flat-panel TVs to increase.
*Image via Engadget

The apple fan is trying really hard to keep his reality from crumbling. So we'll just wait for more sales data.
Congratulations!
Phones are never free they are subsidized by the retailer. So, a free samsung phone is paid for by AT&T, Verizon, or whoever is selling it. Samsung gets it's money either way.
Me 3!!!!!!!!!!!!
The apple fan is trying really hard to keep his reality from crumbling. So we'll just wait for more sales data.
Why? Do you own Samsung stock?
Come to think of it; I dont know anyone who owned a Samsung phone...
This droid fan is trying really hard to make himself feel good, by putting down the apple fan. He gains satisfaction through the market share in the mobile phone sector
These are global numbers. I suspect the numbers are vastly different if you focus on NA, but that isn't the point of this article.
It's not even that I like Apple products, but that this is a meaningless statistic. It's like saying that Wal-Mart had more sales volume than Macy's. The more surprising statistic is that Apple was ever able to have the number 1 spot in the first place...
...but I don't expect you to understand grown up matters, not when you have so many Pokemon left to catch!
Its in the article, buddy - Samsung sold more phones than Apple did. That doesn't make getreal's point any less valid, especially if you consider what the price difference is in the phones (usually about $50 on Verizon's website). If Apple is making an extra $50 per phone, then is it really a big deal if Samsung surpassed them?
23% isn't triple of 9.3%, my friend...read the chart in the article.
And how much do these "free" phones cost Joe Consumer when he "buys" two for his ten year old brat kids, rather than dumping $100+ on one of the two Apple phones?
Apple is, has been, and always will be a differentiator and nothing else when it comes to strategy. Samsung is filling the role of low-cost and best-cost provider, so if it isn't leading in marketshare, it is doing something wrong.
@STravis, If you want to take a bunch of negatives you say something like this. No one could even say that Steve jobs was a great guy in these comments. I tried before.