Apple has clawed back share in the smartphone market by beating Samsung to the top spot for the last quarter.Despite their last quarter win Samsung has taken the crown as the biggest selling smartphone Company during 2011.
Samsung displaced Apple to take the No. 1 slot despite big demand for the new Apple 4S with voice-recognition capability between September and December.
Apple said that they sold 37 million units during the last quarter.
Samsung doesn’t disclose smartphone sales figures, but research firm Strategy Analytics said on Saturday that Samsung shipped 36.5 million units during the October-December period, giving it a market share of 23.5%, slightly behind Apple’s 23.9%.
The Wall Street Journal said that the slight win by Apple comes as the two technology companies are embroiled in patent litigation across the globe after Apple accused Samsung last year of copying the iPhone and iPad designs. Samsung countersued, alleging Apple violated various patents related to its telecommunications standards.
“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,” said Wayne Lam, senior analyst at market-research firm IHS iSuppli. “Samsung advanced tremendously in 2011 because of its strategy of offering a complete line of smartphone products, spanning a variety of price points, features and operating systems. This enabled Samsung to move past perennial market leader Nokia and to slightly exceed Apple’s total for the year.”
Nokia Corp., the world’s biggest cellphone maker by volume, shipped 19.6 million smartphones in the quarter, putting it in third place with a market share of 12.6%. Nokia’s share of the market slipped from 28.1% a year earlier as a lackluster touchscreen smartphone portfolio and limited presence in the large U.S. market caused market share losses, Strategy Analytics said.
