Mobile analyst firm Juniper Research says Samsung is currently shipping more smartphones than Apple. In total, it’s calculated that almost 60% of the 139 million smartphones shipped worldwide in the first quarter of this year were either Apple (35.1 million) or Samsung (46.9 million) devices.
However, although Samsung has built a considerable lead in terms of shipment volumes, it’s not leading in terms of revenue.
Daniel Ashdown, Research Analyst with Juniper Research, said “Apple’s revenues from its ‘mobile division’ continues to remain significantly higher than Samsung’s, even when you take into account the latter’s featurephones”. Apple’s iPhone revenue was $22.7 billion in Q1 ($29.3 billion including the iPad), compared with Samsung’s KRW18.9 trillion (~$17.0 billion) from its entire mobile division. While flagship devices, the Samsung Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note contribute substantial unit volumes, the company’s rise to top spot is evidence of the smartphone’s entry into mass market price points with products like the Galaxy Y.”
Juniper Research forecasts that smartphone shipments will nearly double over the next five years, from nearly 600 million this year to 1.1 billion by 2017.