We reported a while back that Samsung had officially overtaken Nokia to become the world's largest phone manufacturer, however, up until now, Apple still held the top-spot for smartphone sales with its iPhone. Now, however, Juniper Research has revealed, based on Samsung's second quarter earnings, that the firm has successfully sold 52 million smartphones in a single quarter, more than double that of Apple and its iPhone.
Whilst the GALAXY S III was most certainly a contributor, shifting 10 million units in this period, sales have been strong all around thanks to the popularity of the GALAXY brand in all price brackets and, increasing levels of Android adoption. These figures pair well with Samsung's quarterly earnings, which show an operating profit of £3.76 billion, up proportionally from the same period last year.
It's suggested that Apple will have to pull something really special out of its hat in order to regain its lost ground in the smartphone market, though, unless it can shift considerably over 26 million iPhone 5s when the new handset first launches, it seems that the title of King will remain out of the firm's reach for the foreseeable future; mind you, iPad sales are forming an increasing proportion of Apple's mobile market, which could be an area of focus, however the Californian firm will have to be on the lookout for Microsoft and its Surface tablet, along with a large line-up of Full HD tablets heading to market in the coming months.
