In the race for global smartphone sales, Apple and Samsung have pulled away from the rest of the field over the past two years. But in terms of grabbing overall market share, Samsung has been in a league all its own.
Apple’s share of the market began trending upward with the release of the iPhone 4S in October 2011, but shipments were down in the second quarter of this year compared to the first, with many consumers apparently waiting for the new model. According to IDC, the company’s once-a-year release cycle has historically led to a drop in sales in the two quarters leading up to the introduction of the next generation of its phone.
Year-over-year, iPhone sales numbers are still increasing, though. It shipped nearly 26 million phones during the second quarter of 2012—up from 20.4 million in that quarter in 2011, according to IDC. Samsung, meanwhile, shipped 50 million phones during the second quarter—up from just 18 million a year ago.
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