Sam Oliver
Samsung reported its record earnings on Friday, with its operating profit hitting $4.5 billion in the December quarter on strong sales of its smartphones. But while smartphones were key in Samsung's success during the holidays, actual unit sales of smartphones were not publicly revealed.
Based on the data released by Samsung, Dongbu Securities Co. took a stab and estimated that the company sold 32 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, according to Bloomberg. In all, Samsung is estimated to have sold 300 million handsets — both smartphones and "feature" phones — in 2011.
Samsung's numbers will be closely compared to Apple, when the iPhone maker releases its sales figures for the holiday quarter on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The December quarter includes the launch of the iPhone 4S, and Apple executives have already said they expect to set a new record for iPhone sales.
Apple's current record for quarterly iPhone sales is 20.3 million, but industry watchers expect that the company will handily beat that sum in the just-concluded December quarter. Those expectations were bolstered this week when Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., revealed it sold 4.2 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011, nearly doubling its previous quarterly figure.
Verizon's strong numbers, along with a record setting pace from AT&T, prompted one Wall Street analyst to forecast that Apple could report sales of 35.3 million iPhones in the December quarter. If that prediction proves accurate, it's a number that would best Samsung's estimated 32 million smartphone sales in the holiday quarter by more than 3 million.
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109 Comments
They sold 32 million smartphones.
The didn't sell 32 million Android smartphones, nor did they sell 32 million Galaxy phones. Too bad Samsung doesn't give a breakdown by phone type.
They sold 32 million smartphones.
The didn't sell 32 million Android smartphones, nor did they sell 32 million Galaxy phones. Too bad Samsung doesn't give a breakdown by phone type.
They did announce when the Galaxy 2 crossed the 10M sales mark about 8 weeks in (I think), but you're correct that none of these guys make a habit of breaking down sales by model, not even Apple. That's probably a little bit more detail than any of them feel the need to publicly announce.
^ They sold 3 million GS2's in 55 days and 10 million in the first 5 months, according to Samsung themselves. Add in Galaxy Note sales and you come up far short of 32 million.
They did announce when the Galaxy 2 crossed the 10M sales mark about 8 weeks in (I think), but you're correct that none of these guys make a habit of breaking down sales by model, not even Apple. That's probably a little bit more detail than any of them feel the need to publicly announce.
It's too bad that Apple doesn't break down their iPhone sales... then we'd know which ones were using iOS...
[that's sarcasm in case anyone didn't get it...]
^ They sold 3 million GS2's in 55 days and 10 million in the first 5 months, according to Samsung themselves. Add in Galaxy Note sales and you come up far short of 32 million.
Samsung has dozens of iterations of the same phones and tablets, with different names marketed worldwide. They could EASILY sell 32 million when you combine them all. Or are you thinking only in terms of the US?