Report: Apple, Samsung Have 50 Percent Of Smart Phone Market
by Joe White
June 16, 2012
A new report from ABI Research claims that Apple and Samsung share 50 percent of the smart phone market, along with 90 percent of the profits from that market.
Both companies shipped a massive number of smart phones in Q1, 2012: Samsung, the report notes, shipped 43 million handsets while Apple shipped 35 million. Just to put that in perspective, Nokia and RIM each shipped under 12 million (11.9 and 11.1 million units, respectively), around a third of Apple's total iPhone sales in the first quarter of this year.
Indeed, the report notes that it's bad news for Nokia and RIM, who appear to be incapable of competing with Samsung and Apple:
Nokia witnessed a 40% sequential decline in shipments and may soon be passed by ailing RIM in shipments despite the BlackBerry maker's 20% sequential decline in shipments. "At this point in the year, Nokia will have to grow its Windows Phone business 5000% in 2012 just to offset its declines in Symbian shipments," says Michael Morgan, senior analyst, devices, applications & content.Somehow, I think that's just not going to happen. Apple's 35 million iPhone shipments are slightly down from the Q4, 2011 figures, during which 37 million smart phones reached customers. However, do remember that the release of the iPhone 4S during this quarter clearly had an effect on the results, and - as ABI Research notes - 35 million iPhone shipments, though less, is "still impressive." Below, we've included a chart showing the Q1, 2012 smart phone shipments for each individual manufacturer - take a look at the figures, and if you have an opinion be sure to post it in the comments. Source: MarketWatch Via: Cult of Mac
