In November it was reported that Samsung’s Galaxy S III, taking advantage of a lull in sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S ahead of the iPhone 5 launch, had taken the crown for global smartphone shipment numbers in Q3 of 2012. Now Apple has reclaimed the title, thanks to both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.
Unsurprisingly, the firm’s latest figures published today find that Apple easily reclaimed the title for the fourth quarter of the year with the iPhone 5 seeing shipments of 27.4 million units for 12.6% of the market.
Not only did the iPhone 5 top the market, but the iPhone 4S also saw more shipments than the Galaxy S III, as shipments of the previous-generation iPhone actually saw an uptick in the fourth quarter after Apple cut pricing.
The iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 combined accounted for 1 in 5 of all smartphones shipped worldwide in Q4 2012. Strategy Analytics estimates that Samsung’s Galaxy S III was the world’s third best-selling smartphone model, shipping 15.4 million units globally, capturing a 7% share in the fourth quarter of 2012.
It should be noted that the numbers used are estimates, as Apple does not break down iPhone sales by model, and Samsung doesn’t release shipment data for handsets at all.
Samsung is expected to announce its new Galaxy S IV handset in March, so the back and forth contest for “king of the hill” is sure to continue between the two companies.
