Samsung's new earnings reports just came out, and they pretty much solidified themselves as the ruling king of all smartphones. Market research firm Strategy Analytics found that, in the third quarter of 2012, Samsung shipped 57 Million smartphone units world-wide, which is more than any company in history! They nearly doubled their profit thanks to this record. Samsung's profit was up 91% over the same quarter last year, with $6 billion in profit on $47.6 billion in sales. Their revenue for Q3 was up 26% from the year-ago quarter, and their operating profit margin grew to 18.8%.
In fact, Samsung’s mobile division accounted for almost two-thirds of the entire company’s profit, and 18-20 million of those 57 Million were Galaxy S III devices. To put it in perspective, Apple announced on Thursday that it shipped a very respectable 27 million iPhones last quarter. Here's a quote from Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston,
“Samsung shipped 56.9 million smartphones worldwide and captured a record 35 percent marketshare [sic] in the third quarter of 2012. This was the largest number of units ever shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single quarter. Despite tough competition in stores and courtrooms, Samsung continued to deliver numerous hit models, from the high-end Galaxy Note phablet to the mass-market Galaxy Y. Apple grew a healthy 57 percent annually and shipped 26.9 million smartphones worldwide for 17 percent marketshare [sic], up from 14 percent recorded a year earlier. Apple had a solid quarter in the important United States market and this helped to strengthen its global performance.”
Source: BGR