Samsung Galaxy S 3 Sales Top iPhone
Samsung Galaxy S III topped the iPhone 4S in the third quarter of 2012, becoming the world's best-selling smartphone.
Samsung shipped out 18 million Galaxy S III smartphone's in the third quarter for 11 percent of the total smartphone market, according to statistics from Strategy Analytics.
Apple's iPhone 4S sold less, although it wasn't too far behind with 16.2 million devices shipped. The numbers might reflect the fact that many customers were likely waiting for the late September release of the iPhone 5, according to PCMag.com. Although the smartphone world praised the iPhone 5 when it first debuted, Android fans flocked to the 4.8-inch Galaxy S III.
"A large touch-screen design, extensive distributions across dozens of countries, and generous operator subsidies have been among the main causes of the Galaxy S3's success," Neil Shah, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.
Samsung on Monday confirmed that it has now sold 30 million of the smartphones overall.
Samsung first unveiled the Galaxy S III during the company's London event in May 2012. The phone launched in Europe later that month and was released in the U.S. in June on all major carriers.
The iPhone 5 was released on Sept. 21 at the end of the third quarter. Strategy Analytics estimated that Apple has already shipped about 6 million iPhone 5s.
"We expect the new iPhone 5 to out ship Samsung's Galaxy S3 in the coming fourth quarter of 2012 and Apple should soon reclaim the title of the world's most popular smartphone model," executive director Neil Mawston said.
According to Apple, they sold 26.9 million iPhone's during the third quarter, though they did not specify which iPhone models made up the calculation.
