If Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was to have a real competitor in the smartphone market, it would have to be Samsung. TheNextWeb reports that Samsung’s Android flagship smartphone Galaxy S III surpassed the ten million mark within it’s first two months of sales. This roughly translates to 190,000 units a day. Interestingly enough, sales for the third generation Galaxy S reached it in less than half the time the predecessor did.
Last month, Shin Jong-kyun (president for Samsung) said he expected the Galaxy S III would reach to ten million units in July. The boost can probably be attributed to the fact it went on sale in the United States and other important markets. At the end of July, the Galaxy S III will be available from 296 carriers in 145 countries throughout the world.
How do these numbers compare with the sales of Apple’s iPhone 4s? Within the first twelve hoursof the announcement, there were over 200,000 preorders through AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Moreover, AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) sold out of their pre-order stock by October 8th 2011. The next day, there was a one to two week estimate on when new preorders could be filled. Those numbers seem small compared to the nine hundred preorders received the first two weeks after the unveiling of the iPhone 4s.
On October 2oth, AT&T went over the one million mark for activations of the iPhone 4s.
Samsung is proving to be a tough competitor for Apple, and these numbers are pretty indicative of that. The good news is, that Apple still has a big chunk of the smartphone market and come the launch of their highly anticipated iPhone 5, they will have another chance to break records. Perhaps one reason for Samsung’s big success is that people are tired of waiting for Apple’s next phone and they didn’t want to wait, or maybe people wanted something a little different. Either way, I don’t think that should have too much of an effect on future iPhone sales.
For now, it’s expected the Samsung Galaxy III sales should remain strong. When Apple finally releases their sixth generation iPhone, it should become pretty interesting to see how both phones fair in terms of sales. Will Apple rise to the top and take the crown again, or will Samsung stay intact in their spot? With all the rumors and speculation of the iPhone 5’s aesthetic changes, there is a pretty good chance that Apple will come out on top, as people often gravitate to things that are shiny and new.
