HTC's U.S. Smartphone Shipments Top Samsung And Apple In Q3 2011

In a recent report, Samsung had topped Apple to become the world's largest smartphone maker for Q3 2011. Now, in a report studying smartphone sales in individual countries, Samsung has once again shipped more phones than rival Apple inside the United States.

But that only makes them numbers two and three: HTC has taken the lead in the U.S. smartphone market, becoming, for one quarter at least, America's biggest handset maker,

The numbers of handset shipments in America for Q3 2011, according to research firm Canalys:

1. HTC (5.7 million)
2. Samsung (4.9 million)
3. Apple (4.6 million)

The research also confirmed the findings of an earlier report by Strategy Analytics; both companies pegged Samsung as the leader in the worldwide smartphone market for Q3 2011.

It is HTC that is the biggest story here, however, as the Taiwanese handset maker had a huge quarter, with both its high-end and low-end offerings taking the top spots in the States. Perhaps bolstered by its August purchase of Beats by Dre audio -- and by consumers waiting for Apple to release its newest iPhone -- HTC shipped almost 25 percent of all smartphones in America last quarter.

Shipments are different than sales, of course: Shipments refers to the number of devices that the manufacturers send out to re-sellers and not the number of devices that customers actually buy in stores. At least one prominent tech writer has called into question the correctness of declaring a company a "winner" based purely on shipment numbers.

Regardless, Canalys is calling HTC the victor of Q3. Don't expect them to be calling HTC's name in Q4, however: With record-breaking sales of the iPhone 4S already reported, and HTC publicly stating that they are going to ship far fewer phones this winter, HTC's reign atop the American smartphone rankings is bound to be short-lived.

Comments

[ehjay]

11:49 PM on 11/01/2011

Chinese eBook giant Hanvon Thursday unveiled an array of new products for the U.S. market, including more than 10 eBook readers and electromagnetic touch tablet devices, at the International Consumer Electronics Show

[mcloughlinpromo]

10:58 PM on 11/01/2011

HTC boom.

[Steven Travis]

08:20 PM on 11/01/2011

These numbers would be a lot more believable if the analysts showed us the raw data. This along with the previously released Samsung report are speculation on the parts of the analysts with no data to back said speculation up.

[theveggiedude]

08:03 PM on 11/01/2011

Shipping phones is one thing, but what about actual sales? Are there any numbers for that?

[Steven Travis]

08:50 PM on 11/01/2011

My understanding is that only Apple releases those numbers. Samsung doesn't even release numbers but basically talks about percentages. Until I see some data these numbers are suspect at best.

[sbennett53]

07:45 PM on 11/01/2011

"And America's Top Smartphone Maker Is..." That was a trick question, right? Clever. Everybody knows there aren't any smart phones made in America, silly. Now that I think about it, other than, say, cheeseburgers, do we actually make anything in America anymore? No, I didn't think so. It's appears more obvious every day that we'll be waiting along time for those job numbers to improve. There's a certain sense of irony here: while Americans struggle with steep losses in personal wealth earning potential and financial security, Americas proud and patriotic multi-national corps (and the top 1-2%) are actually doing very well indeed. In fact, they're sitting on loads of cash and those companies are hiring right now!! You can find work, you just need to want a job bad enough, to be in the right place at the right time... you know, like China or India or Indonesia!! America, you go girl!

[munki]

07:35 PM on 11/01/2011

I have EVO... battery does not last long and ghost dialing despite the lock.
I am not happy with it so I went back to the basic one... BB - which is not the best at this time either...
I am ready to try iPhone4s but will wait as I like to get feedback before jumping into any phone as I did with HTC Evo... drains battery like I have never seen...

[PhillyKing]

01:05 PM on 11/02/2011

if u want good "smartphone" battery life then get the iphone4 not the 4s

[GCitizen]

03:22 PM on 11/02/2011

If you want multi-day battery life, then keep your BB or get a basic Sanyo or Nokia. All smartphones with big touch-screens have to be charge once a day with regular usage.

[jt1980]

08:17 PM on 11/02/2011

Pretty much. As soon as you really use smartphone function, one phone is not that much different than the others battery-wise. My old Nokia smartphone (N95) can last up to 7 days on one charge, but if I started accessing the web with it, I'd need to recharge within an hour. Neither the iPhone 3 and the Samsung Galaxy S that I have can withstand more than a few hours of active use.

[Louis Bernardi]

07:34 PM on 11/01/2011

I own a Blackberry, ps3 and wii. I'm more into PC gaming, and I'd be a "linux fanboy" except Windows is actually phenomenal and linux seems to crash too much in my experience. Blackberry has an antiquated OS and that's fine, if it keeps the phones relatively cheap

[MIKEinNYC]

06:43 PM on 11/01/2011

I have an HTC Android smartphone. It's the best phone I ever had.

One tiny but important caveat. The standard battery almost got me through a day with moderate use. That was unacceptab­­le to me so I bought an extended battery which more than doubles my battery life, (1500 mAh versus 3500 mAh for the extended.) I paid 10 bucks for it on a popular website and that price included a new matching back to accommodat­­e the extended battery which is a teeny-tiny bit thicker and a wall charger for the battery.

Thought you'd like to know that there is this option.

On my phone, it's the best thing I ever did.

Do that with your iPhone.

[munki]

07:37 PM on 11/01/2011

I did, but the large capacity battery lasted only few months as I traveled all over the world...
I do not buy their excuse of what happened... because I had it in suitcase and got banged around? wow... per my dealer...

[NewmanKitten]

12:26 PM on 11/02/2011

Mr. Newmankitten has the large extended battery and loves it, never runs out of juice. He has big hands and he says it even makes the phone feel better to him. Me, I run a cadre of the regular batteries, since I'm an extreme user, my "phone" is put through very, very heavy use. I am on my third android device, and this one is an HTC Incredible2. It is WONDERFUL. An iphone would never ever keep up, as I'm constantly on the road and can pop batteries in like candy. The batteries run less than $5, again on a popular website, and the chargers are cheap as well. I keep 6 batteries charged every night. I may go through as many as 4 per day, on one of *those* days that last into next week.

[MIKEinNYC]

12:44 PM on 11/02/2011

My point exactly. Thanks.

[mangafreak2128]

05:10 PM on 11/01/2011

Folks, let's not have any fanboy wars. Please?

[munki]

07:39 PM on 11/01/2011

Not wars... but we need to share our experience.
I am happy with iPad2 and BB for now...
I end up buying iPad2 as Android was driving me nuts!

[Capn Scott]

05:07 PM on 11/01/2011

Beginning with the G1...the very first Android phone, HTC has consistently made quality hardware. Their new tablet computer is a sweet piece of hardware also, for $299 at BestBuy.

[DefineReality]

05:16 PM on 11/01/2011

I love HTC but the bloatware that comes on all their products kill the battery life. I went from having an EVO with the standard Sense UI to SavagedZen and my battery went from about 12 hours normal use (or normal to me) up to 43 hours.

[six seven]

05:41 PM on 11/01/2011

HTC also makes WP7 phones. With Windows Phone, all manufacturer and carrier apps can be uninstalled. Zero bloatware.

[Capn Scott]

11:52 PM on 11/01/2011

That's what rooting and roms are for :)

[six seven]

05:18 PM on 11/01/2011

HTC made quality smartphones before the G1.

[fresberg]

05:01 PM on 11/01/2011

I am now on my second HTC phone, and I love it. To me, HTC Sense is as easy, comfortable and friendly to use as my first Apple computers were. Eventually I decided that PCs were so much less expensive than Apple computers that I would switch. Now I like my PC. I have a 4G phone, and it is very fast. I don't have much trouble with the battery because I recharge it every night, and I turn off applications and functions when I'm not using them -- mobile network, wi-fi, etc.. The iPhone might be great, but it costs a whole lot more for stuff I'm not sure I'd use when this is easy enough for me. SO, what I like about the article is that there's still competition, and there's still room for phones like HTCs to be successful now and then.

[deluk]

04:57 PM on 11/01/2011

they've been top in the UK for a while, in fact I must be due a new free one with my contract, I've had my "desire" for two years.

[NerdyStudent]

04:36 PM on 11/01/2011

You know, I don't have a horse in the mobile fanboy wars...

I think they're all pretty much the same...but apparently, to some folks...this kind of battle is bread and butter to their existence.

[devilirius]

03:25 PM on 11/01/2011

Looks like a brick. I like the look and functionality of the iPhone, and Siri rocks. Also, Apple developers are American (even though the phones are made overseas), and I like supporting that.

[inguatu]

03:33 PM on 11/01/2011

Apple hires developers and designers from around the world to develop technology for them. Sheep rarely get it through their thick heads that Steve Jobs didn't invent anything over the past 20 years. He hired any smart person he could to develop the stuff for him.

Instead of taking my word for it, try looking at docs, forums, linkedin and so on to find out names of developers and designers at Apple. They are not all American. Your baseless sense of faux nationalism is sad at best.

The look of the iphone is old. It needs to be refreshed. Siri is a beta, at best. That along with the location services are a reason why the 4s battery sucks. Apple couldn't get it right before the release so they put out Siri as a beta. FACT. Over the past 2-3 years Apple has done a great job of releasing stuff in beta form and cleaning up the code after the fact (Lion, FCPX, ios5, siri). Stick with the sheep mentality. It suits you.

[LittleSanityLeft]

04:23 PM on 11/01/2011

What you say is true though your sheep line at the end was more then a little harsh.

[devilirius]

04:41 PM on 11/01/2011

I just said that I personally like supporting an American corporation. I didn't say anything about anyone else. I have no idea why you went off like a Roman Candle.

[NerdyStudent]

04:29 PM on 11/01/2011

So what if the developers are foreign? By foreign, I mean asian since there seems to be a very strong anti-asian vibe in the tech section.

[cfern]

03:07 PM on 11/01/2011

I am not a fan of the HTC's SenseUI Android skin, and in my experience, Samsung still makes the best smartphones on the planet.