Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) still leads the smartphone industry in many ways, however they have some real competition from Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) regarding revenues. Yonhap News Agency recently shared data from Strategy Analytics for smartphone sales and discovered that Samsung’s sales moved ahead of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during Q1 2013. This was the first time that ever happened.
Samsung And Apple Ranks During Q1
While Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) raked in $22.95 billion during Q1, Samsung raked in $23.62 billion. According to the Global Post, “Samsung sold smartphones worth US $23.62 billion in the January-March period, regaining the top spot lost to the iPhone maker in the fourth quarter of last year.” The report added, “The Korean smartphone maker held the top spot during the September-December period but was dethroned by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), which enjoyed robust demand for the U.S. firm’s iPhone 5.”
This will likely create even more tension between both companies. Apple has been claiming that Samsung stole their patents and subsequently took the South Korean tech giant to court over the matters. Although this is good news for Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930), it’s not such good news for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). However, it’s certainly not too late for the Cupertino-based tech giant to get back the lead, especially if the next iPhone exceeds expectations.
The iPhone 5S is expected to arrive sometime during the late summer or early fall. There are also rumors that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will release an iPhone Mini to corner the budget market. Apple set the standards for smartphones but now they have lost their momentum and it may take more than a few upgrades for them to get back on top. People have high expectations for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and although the company has never really let anyone down, there is still plenty of room for improvement. If anything, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) should take a few notes from this so they can learn from it. As a company, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still strong and will most likely prevail.
