HTC tops Apple in Q3 US smartphones but predicts weak Q4
Canalys' report on the smartphone market for Q3 also named Samsung the worldwide leader in smartphones with shipments of 27.3 million globally, 4.9 million of which were sold in the US.
Apple's global sales of 17.07 million iPhones included US sales of 4.6 million handsets, placing it third in US smartphones.
However, throughout the third calendar quarter Apple continued to sell its year old iPhone 4 and two year old iPhone 3GS. The company reported that iPhone sales had declined across the quarter as buyers began to anticipate a new model introduction, although chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said he was "pleased" with the 21 percent growth in iPhone sales over the year ago quarter, when iPhone 4 was relatively new.
Looking forward, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook said "I'm confident that we will set an all-time record for iPhones this quarter," and Canalys noted pent up demand for the iPhone 4S, adding, "we expect to see a strong Q4 for Apple."
HTC, on the other hand, has warned that its Q4 sales will actually contract, offering guidance indicating that its smartphone sales will drop to between 12 and 13 million. For Q3, HTC had provided guidance of 13.5 million units, outlook that had appeared to be conservative but which the company narrowly missed.
HTC's chief financial officer Winston Yung blamed his company's weak outlook for the winter on the very competitive environment, specifically noting Apple's iPhone. For the first time ever, Apple's iPhone will be sold on three of the top four US carriers, in addition to new regional carriers.
Previously, Android phones have faced no direct competition from Apple on Sprint's network, and only began to be challenged by the iPhone on Verizon Wireless this spring.
30 Comments
Of course Apple will set an all time record this quarter per Cook- this is the longest time we've ever had to wait to get a new iPhone!
Hello????
It always amazes me that whenever I see smart phones out and about, I see more iPhones than anything else. Certainly more that those of any single other maker. Must be a function of where I live--SoCal, fairly affluent and very trendy. Maybe when I travel to the midwest next summer I'll see it crawling with HTCs.
"HTC tops Apple in Q3 US smartphones using Apple's technology"
It always amazes me that whenever I see smart phones out and about, I see more iPhones than anything else. Certainly more that those of any single other maker. Must be a function of where I live--SoCal, fairly affluent and very trendy. Maybe when I travel to the midwest next summer I'll see it crawling with HTCs.
Traveling on a cruise ship this summer, I saw many, many iPhone 4's both on the boat and in Italy, Greece and Israel. More so the iPhone than any other brand.
While I'm certain Samsung's worldwide smartphone sales were higher than Apple's in the previous quarter, with 4.9 million shipments for Samsung compared to 4.6 million sales for Apple in the US tells me that Apple had a higher sell through than Samsung as I'm sure they had more than 300k units in channel.