Ondrej Holzman Apple's record-breaking Christmas season took the top spot among smartphone makers, but Samsung returned to the top spot in the previous three months. While Apple was able to sell in the first fiscal quarter of 2015 61,2 million iPhones, Samsung sold 83,2 million of its smartphones.
In the fourth quarter they sold Apple and Samsung around 73 million phones and according to various estimates, they were vying for the top spot. Now both companies have revealed the results for the last quarter, and Samsung clearly took back its previous lead.
In Q2 2015, Samsung sold 83,2 million smartphones, Apple 61,2 million iPhones, followed closely by Lenovo-Motorola (18,8 million), Huawei (17,3) and other manufacturers together sold 164,5 million smartphones.
But although Samsung sold the most phones, its share of the global smartphone market fell year-on-year. A year ago it held 31,2% of the market, this year only 24,1%. Apple, on the other hand, grew slightly, from 15,3% to 17,7%. The overall smartphone market then grew by 21 percent year-on-year, from 285 million phones sold in the first quarter of last year to 345 million in the same period this year.
The fact that Samsung returned to the top spot after the Christmas season is not particularly surprising. Against Apple, the South Korean giant has a much larger portfolio, while in Apple they are mainly betting on the latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. However, it was not only a positive period for Samsung, as the company's profits from the mobile division otherwise fell significantly year-on-year.
In its financial results for Q2 2015, Samsung revealed a 39% year-on-year drop in profits, with the mobile division contributing a significant portion. It reported a profit of 6 billion dollars a year ago, but only 2,5 billion this year. The reason is that most of the Samsung phones sold are not high-end models like the Galaxy S6, but mainly mid-range models of the Galaxy A series.
Source: MacRumors
Photos: Kārlis Dambrāns
