Apple Inc. (AAPL) Lags Behind Nokia, Samsung In Overall Market Share

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s market share has been a major focal point all year long, and now research shows something very interesting. The company is in third place in overall market share of handset sales for the second quarter.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Lags Behind Nokia, Samsung In Overall Market Share

Nokia beats Apple in overall handsets

Stifel analysts Sanjiv R. Wadhwani, William C. Peterson and Mike Lin issued a report to investors this week with analysis of overall handset sales during the second quarter. They cite research conducted by ABI Research, which covers the total smartphone and feature phone market during the second quarter. Of course Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) remains in the top position with a 27 percent share of the entire handset market.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) (BIT:NOK1V) (HEL:NOK1V) is in second place with a 15 percent share of the overall market. Meanwhile Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) lags far behind in third place with a 7 percent share. However, the analysts note that the company does not compete in the feature phone market, while Samsung and Nokia are both leaders in the feature phone market.

The analysts also say both Nokia and Samsung’s feature phone sales alone outpace Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s 31.2 million units during the second quarter of the year. In addition, they note that the results from ABI Research are on a sell-in basis rather than the sell-through statistics released by Gartner for the second quarter.

Apple’s trade-in program begins

This week Apple announced the nationwide rollout of its iPhone trade in program at Apple stores in the U.S. The program enables users to trade their old iPhones for store credit. The program is being rolled out just in time for the release of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is undoubtedly trying to make sure that its fans remain loyal to the brand.

For Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fans who don’t have access to an Apple store, Best Buy is also offering an iPhone trade in program, although it works a bit differently than Apple’s does. Customers are able to trade in their iPhone 4 or 4S and get half off an iPhone 5. Of course this puts those hoping to get a discount on an iPhone 5S out of luck, at least for now.

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