Samsung overtakes Nokia in handset sales, as anxiety greets Galaxy S III

Galaxy S III smartphone

The latest report from Strategy Analytics has pronounced Samsung leader in handset marketing, just as Galaxy Note sales soars into profit with high expectation on Galaxy S III smartphone.

Part of the report made available to ITRealms Online by MobileWorld, showed that strong smartphone sales led to record operating profit at Samsung for the first quarter (Q1) as the South Korean company exceeds Nokia’s record of world’s largest handsets vendor.

Noteworthy is that Samsung could not break out device sales figures as at the time of filing this report, but Strategy Analytics estimated that the firm shipped 93.5 million units in Q1 2012.

This gives Samsung a 25.4 per cent share of the global market ahead of the 82.7 million units reported by Nokia (22.5 per cent) and Apple’s 35.1 million iPhones (9.5 per cent).

It was also gathered that this was the first time Nokia is being overtaken from the number-one spot in the past 14 years.

Further, Samsung’s operating profit reportedly reached an all-time high of KWR5.85 trillion, representing a 98 per cent increase year-on-year. While the revenues rose 22 per cent to KWR45.27 trillion, even as the net profit almost doubled to KWR5.5 trillion.

ITRealms Online investigations revealed that Samsung’s IT & Mobile Communications unit accounted for over 70 per cent of operating profit (KWR4.27 trillion) and over half of sales (KWR23.22 trillion), offsetting weaknesses in some of Samsung’s other divisions.

The electronic device company while reacting to this development noted in a press statement made available to ITRealms Online that growth in shipments of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Note and Galaxy S II and other premium mobile devices yielded high returns, with significant growth in China, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa.
 

The firm also confirmed it would unveil the next Galaxy device at an event in London by Thursday, May 3, expected to be the long-awaited Galaxy S III smartphone.
 

Tom Kang, director at Strategy Analytics, emphasized that they expected Apple to grow further in the second quarter of the year, but the upcoming launch of Samsung’s new Galaxy S III flagship model could slow iPhone’s growth in some regions if it is well received by operators and consumers.

Remmy Nweke

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