Does Apple Or Samsung Wear The Crown For World's Top Smartphone Maker?

NEW YORK (AP) — Smartphones are the hottest gadgets in the world. But who's the biggest smartphone maker? We don't really know.

Samsung, Apple's chief competitor, gives only vague indications of how many it makes, which means industry watchers come up with widely diverging estimates. Apple Inc. reports its iPhone sales down to the thousands. In the January to March period, it shipped 35,064,000. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. may have sold 32 million, 37.5 million or 44.5 million, depending which analyst you believe. The company itself refuses to say.

What's at stake, of course, are bragging rights. More accurate sales figures from Samsung would also be useful to competitors and to partners like wireless carriers and retailers.

When it reported first-quarter results Friday morning, Samsung said only that overall phone shipments (including "dumb" phones) were down more than 10 percent from the fourth quarter, and that smartphone sales were about the same percentage of the company's overall sales as they have been before.

The problem is that Samsung hasn't reported any hard sales figures in a long time, so analysts are applying these vague hints to their own estimates, which in turn are based on vague hints from previous quarters.

There's even a debate about what Samsung's few guideposts really mean. Jan Dawson, an analyst at Ovum, says the analyst community is split over the interpretation of Samsung's reported "300 percent" increase in smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2011, over the third quarter of 2010. A 300 percent increase means a quadrupling, but did Samsung really mean that? Or did sales triple, and they made the common mistake of calling that a "300 percent increase?"

The two schools of thought account for some of the widely diverging estimates, Dawson believes. Analysts and reporters haven't been able to get Samsung to clarify the issue.

Wayne Lam, an analyst with IHS iSuppli, likens the process of estimating Samsung sales to "using compasses instead of GPS." His estimate for first-quarter smartphone sales is 32 million, which would put Samsung behind Apple.

IDC Corp., a research firm that tracks phone sales, postponed the release of its quarterly phone sales ranking. It was originally scheduled for just after Samsung's report, but analyst Ramon Llamas said "additional insight" was needed.

Analysts agree that in terms of overall phone sales, including non-smart ones, Samsung outdid long-time No. 1 Nokia Corp. in the first quarter. But they differ on the margin of victory. Finland's Nokia said it sold 82.7 million phones. ABI Research's Michael Morgan puts Samsung at 83.4 million, only just ahead. Strategy Analytics has it at 93.5 million.

The estimates differ by 10.1 million phones, roughly enough for all the adults in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Samsung is not alone in espousing vagueness. Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC Corp. recently stopped reporting how many phones it makes, possibly because its sales are in decline.

"The bottom line is Samsung and Apple are definitely consolidating at the top," Lam said. "The lead will trade back and forth a bit."

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Comments

[tendril]

06:05 AM on 04/30/2012

We are far from being able to chose "the best" smart phone. They all disappoint on some level. Just think about "the old days" when connections were dropped (oh, that still happens a lot) and phones couldn't do much more than dial others. We still loved out phones and couldn't live without them. As consumers I think we should hold phone technology to a high standard. We are making Apple and Samsung billions of dollars. I want more reliable technology for my money.

[gregory57]

07:51 PM on 04/29/2012

Samsung makes the processor and the memory for the Iphone. Apple may be the brand, but without Samsung, an Apple is just something in the produce aisle.

[tendril]

06:06 AM on 04/30/2012

Excellent point.

[DomainDiva]

04:55 PM on 04/29/2012

The company that has the most people camping out to get the new products wins.

[WSAY]

01:44 PM on 04/29/2012

How is this a story?

[waukonwhite]

12:19 PM on 04/29/2012

How quickly the fortunes of tech companies can change now days. It's quite amazing to watch the market play out on a global level and companies like Nokia and RIM fall to the wayside. HP with the Palm is interesting story in it's own right.

And there is so much more to come. Will Microsoft succeed with Windows Phone or throw in the towel? What will Google do with Motorola? Can Apple continue on it's path of growth without Jobs? Will the Asian manufactures mature to a point where they are innovators instead of copycats. Grab a bag of popcorn, this should be a good show.

[Hardy Blacklord]

08:42 AM on 04/29/2012

Apple does not make phones, Foxconn makes their phones.

Samsung is still bigger than Foxconn.

[WSAY]

01:43 PM on 04/29/2012

Rationalize much? I guess Foxconn doesn't make iPhones either. The employees make the phones!

[gregory57]

07:52 PM on 04/29/2012

Samsung actually makes key components for the Iphone. Processor? Memory?

They also make the "Retina" display for the new Ipads.

[jabailo]

11:32 PM on 04/28/2012

All that matters now is Facebook.

A product either helps Facebook, or gets in the way.

If phones are too expensive, it means people can't get to Facebook.

If computers are too busy and cumbersome, people can't use Facebook.

Operating systems, browsers, and other tools must deliver the customer to Facebook.

Those that cannot will be replaced.

Serve Facebook and keep the customer satisfied!

[Lordcron]

08:50 PM on 04/28/2012

The two companies have a short lived lead if you ask me. It only takes a well thought out and hansome phone to take one or both of these players out of first and or second place and someone else will take there place.

LG is one to watch in the coming future as well as HTC wanting it's shine to return.

[Monte924]

05:00 AM on 04/29/2012

I don't know. I think Apple has given themselves an advantage that helps keep them on top by having their own OS. Anyone who likes Apple's OS has no alternative but to stick to apple, and they will stay so long as apple maintains decent quality; Apple would have to fail hard for anyone to jump ship. Samsung on the other hand, they use android like everyone else; if someone else comes out with a better phone, then there is little reason for customers to stick to samsung and not go with the other manufacturer.

[Onutz]

02:17 PM on 04/29/2012

((I think Apple has given themselves an advantage that helps keep them on top by having their own OS.))

Apple also has the best customer service I've ever experienced! What other company's tech support will spend the entire day on the phone with you, as if they enjoy every minute of it?

[Shah Sameer]

02:50 PM on 04/28/2012

The lead will trade back and forth a bit http://bit.ly/J0bqcZ

[Mauryan]

01:22 PM on 04/28/2012

Cheap! Numbers do not mean anything. What matters is who comes up with the new first product, who opens a new frontier. Samsung is a follower in that regard and not a leader. They can make godzilion products if they want. My respect is always for those who lead.

[zeth006]

01:38 PM on 04/28/2012

Still doesn't make you less the worthless spectator.

[thirdray]

12:29 PM on 04/29/2012

Apple may make the "New" first but Samsung makes it much better. I will take much better over first every time.

[Onutz]

02:08 PM on 04/29/2012

((Apple may make the "New" first but Samsung makes it much better. I will take much better over first every time.))

That's why Apple don't rely on test focus groups, because people would have demanded better, and better "brick Treos" if Jobs had not innovated a brand new category for devices.