Samsung ships more smartphones than Apple, but how many have they sold?

Have sales of the Galaxy S II (practically an iPhone 4 clone) allowed Samsung to pass Apple as the top smartphone vendor?

If the analysts are to be believed, Samsung did just exactly that, surpassing Apple during the third quarter with 27.8 million smartphone shipments in contrast to Apple’s 17.1 million. These numbers account for Samsung capturing 23.8 percent of the global smartphone market (in shipments) and Apple with 14.6 percent, this according to a report from Strategy Analytics market research firm.

It’s important to note that Samsung didn’t actually announce any official numbers, but rather claimed shipments were up 40%, leading to speculation of 28 million units from analysts.

First of all lets address the idea Samsung’s growth and Apple’s decrease in market share during Q3 is a surprise. The delayed launch of the iPhone 4S was an obvious reason for would-be iPhone purchasers to hold out for the new model, something that carriers and Apple themselves admit contributed to the lower than expected 17.1 million units sold.

Wait a minute…did I say sold? Ya, that’s right, Apple SOLD 17.1 million units, while Samsung SHIPPED 28 million (maybe).

We know Samsung probably sold more than Apple since they announced shipments are up 40%, but how many of those estimated 28 million units were actually sold? Since Apple sells out of new iPhone stock as fast it ships it, pretty much everything Apple ships gets sold and thus Apple almost always reports their numbers as an amount of devices “sold”.

As The Loop points out, “Samsung could ship 100 million phones, but that doesn’t tell us how many they actually sold.”

Suppose that the sales number match the shipment numbers, the question becomes can Apple catch up? If the iPhone 4S launch is any indication, the answer is yes. Now that a delayed iPhone 4S launch isn’t holding back sales from new purchasers, Apple is selling the 4S literally as fast as they can make it.

The device broke records with four million units sold in its debut weekend (which is over double the amount iPhone 4 sold). With adoption of the iPhone 4S just about as good as it gets, and previous models getting price decreases following its launch, Apple couldn’t possibly be in a better position to outpace Samsung during Q4.

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