Samsung and Apple battle for smartphone crown

A dogfight took place at the top of the smartphone league table as Apple wrestled first place back from rival Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The latest figures from market watcher IHS iSuppli, which saw Apple make number one for the first time in Q2 2011, and Samsung number one in Q1, also crowned Samsung king of the smartphone market for the whole year – the first time the South Korean electronics giant has taken the title.

IHS iSuppli’s figures also demonstrate a step up in the battle between the rival Apple iOS and Google Android operating systems. For Q4 Apple shipped 37 million smartphones globally, up 117 per cent from 17 million in the second quarter. Samsung was close behind with 36 million.

Wayne Lam, senior analyst, wireless communications at IHS, said: “Apple’s introduction of the 4S in the fourth quarter unleashed tremendous pent-up demand for the iPhone as consumers awaited the arrival of the latest model.

“This caused the company’s smartphone shipments to surge, allowing it to retake market leadership by a slight margin. However, Apple and Samsung continue to run neck and neck in global smartphone shipments, setting up a tight battle for leadership that will continue throughout 2012.”

For the whole year, Samsung shipped 95 million smartphones – a whopping 278 per cent increase from the 25 million shipped in 2010.

“Samsung advanced in 2011 because of its strategy of offering a complete line of smartphone products, spanning a variety of price points, features and operating systems,” Lam said. “This enabled Samsung to move past perennial market leader Nokia and to slightly exceed Apple’s total for the year.”

But snapping at its heels was Apple, shipping almost 93 million units, up from 47 million in 2010.

Conversely, other Android licensees Sony Ericsson and Motorola failed to match Samsung’s strong performance for the year.

Lam added: “The relatively small growth of Sony Ericsson and Motorola may indicate that the Android smartphone market is becoming too crowded as the various licensees compete for limited consumer mindshare and shelf space.”