If you believe the analysts at IDC, Samsung has taken pole position in the Australian smartphone race, overtaking Apple for the first time in the third quarter of this year.
Apple’s annual product refresh held the Cupertino company back, with a dip in sales in the lead up to the iPhone 4S release. Coupled with Samsung’s massive push on the Galaxy S II, the Korean electronics giant managed to take out the top position for the first time.
It’s also good news for Android lovers, who will be happy to know that the mobile OS now accounts for 49 per cent of the Australian smartphone market, compared to the 36 per cent held by Apple’s iOS.
Given the huge sales of the 4S at the end of Q3, it will be interesting to see how these numbers look in three months time…
[IDC]
Agung
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:26 AMFirst! i guess australia isnt lagging in smartphone industry anymore…
TSH
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:51 AM“pole position”, not “poll position”. c’mon, Nick!
<3 Samsung, looking forward to what they come up with for WP7 when Nokia's entry fades a little bit.
kzd
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:04 PMWriter Fail. Article Topic Win.
James
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 11:56 AMOne place where it is lacking (so far), is decent docks!!
Sam
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:01 PMHA! Only because they copied Apple’s ideas in the first place. I would be to embarrassed to own a Samsung product.
kzd
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:13 PMPSS. notifications, siri-like features, tabs on browsers were not created on an iPhone 4
Joel
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:34 PMNotifications = jailbreak community more than Android
Siri = Better than anything Google has out and constantly improving
Tabs on browsers = Something found on every desktop browser, it’s just a normal step to put it on a mobile browser.
Joel
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:52 PMReply for kzd which didn’t work.. must have forgotten to actually hit reply.. eh you get the point lol
Bogan King
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:35 PMReally! Tell me again what Samsung ripped off the iFails? Considering Samsung make almost all the iFail devices it seems a bit odd they would be ripping of there own stuff.
apple fanboy in android world
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:47 PMHow about the packing. iPhone Vs Galaxy S packing box.. onwards . .
light487
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:01 PMHaha.. I assume this is a joke.. the packaging.. haha.. yer.. let’s see Apple sue Samsung over packaging patents next.. :) Very amusing.
S0ULphIRE
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:46 PMIt’s a big issue for me! I always buy my smartphone based on how good the packaging is
…
Johnd
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:23 PM“iFails”….
The equivalent of using the Nazi term in an argument.
You fail!
Rudolph
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 3:04 PMitard, isheep, ifag. take your pick
MotorMouth
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:45 PMReally? Samsung’s design has always been superior, which is why everyone copied their TV style and why so many home theatre systems are just clones of Samsung’s. My Samsung SGH X820 is still the all-time most amazing phone design.
Next year, when Samsung release the first ever flexible phone, the Skin, they will assume thought leadership in the phone market, unquestionable leadership. Trust me, Samsung’s Skin will be more of a game-changer than iPhone and once it’s out, no-one will ever want any other type of phone again. With Apple committed to old-fashioned backlit screens and spending so little money on R&D, I can’t see how they will survive the tsunami of flexible phones with anything like a decent marketshare.
apple fanboy in android world
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:50 PMA point to note: Samsung sells more phones than Apple in Australia. Not Samsung Galaxy S2 outselling iPhone 4S. Samsung sells phones from $100 upwards atleast 20 diff models. Everything put together they outsell iPhone.
light487
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:03 PMYes.. Samsung Phones.. outselling Apple Phones.. the article dos not mention it being only the 4S.. there is more than one iPhone on the market still being even by official Apple stores.
TM
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:55 PMIt says “Smart Phone”. So this is a pretty good effort and would be made up majority of the Galaxy Series – S and SII. Just like the “IPhone” covers 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S …
Imagine if they included the “dumb-phone” statistics – they’d slaughter everyone.
Rudolph
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 3:06 PMyeh they sell more phones and offer more variety at the same time. not everyone needs an iphone and not everyone wants to be another iphone user
its called choice, something non apple companies have done for ages
BenDTU
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:52 PMSigh.
apple fanboy in android world
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:58 PMDon’t be embarrassed… Samsung makes the iPhone’s screens, they make the display for most of the gadgets in the world. iPhones to Sony TVs…
Dre
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 10:26 AMAhh, LG manufactures Apple’s Retina Displays.
Ozoneocean
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:27 PMJust go away.
Mmmmm
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 7:45 PMIt would seem boys and girls that Samsung is the new pretender to the throne just as Apple was. Its not a big deal, its not going to change your position in the world. You guys can prattle on all you like about apple does this and android does that personally I don’t think the average punter out there couldn’t give a hoot. Wether you buy Android or Iphone I don’t give a shit so long as you are happy with it thats great.
Nate
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:06 PM^ typical apple fanboy.
HMac7
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:39 PM+1
Husky
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:11 PMIf that’s the case, a little more Samsung love would be nice. I quite want a Galaxy note if the contracts are good.
Frosty
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:31 PMgot my Galaxy Note by import, great phone and will get ICS in the new year, have owned EVERY iPhone but will be selling my iPhone 4S this week
JB
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 9:21 AMI bought a white Galaxy Note for my wife. A friend if her visited us to, I think, show off her new white Iphne 4s. Guess what she liked Galaxy Note more. My wife has been telling me to sell our Ipad 2 and buy another Note. Well done Samsung
Nathan
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:45 PMI’ve got my eye on the Galaxy Note too.
Just checking my pockets to see if:
a) I can pay for it
b) I can fit the awesome big-screen phone in my there.
Joel
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:14 PMWould like to see the next Samsung Galaxy vs the iPhone 5. Released at the same time and going head to head with sales figures.
It’s really the most accurate way to do it.
apple fanboy in android world
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:53 PMYou could compare total product cycle units against each other. iPhone 4 vs Galaxy S, iPhone 4S Vs Galaxy S2, iPad 1 vs all Galaxy Tabs put together (through in the ACERS, Toshibas, Xoom as well…
Sam
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:46 PMYour closed parentheses asked me to tell you she misses her other half and wants him to come home.
joedy Ssmith
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:17 PMtill Samsung offer a decent software solution to manage my data/music on a mac and the Android store is as good as the ios store, ill stick with iPhones
MotorMouth
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:54 PMJoedy, AFAIK you don’t need any software to manage the data on an Android phone, you just use the same tools you use to manage data on the Mac itself. i.e. Finder. I’m sure Samsung ship Kies or whatever they call it now but you don’t need to use it if you don’t like it. As for stores, I think most of us have used iTunes and for many of us, like me, it is one of the primary reasons we don’t want an iPhone. iTunes is bloated and horrible.
apple fanboy in android world
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:01 PMHow about buy it once and use on all your devices + regular updates automatically. I bought Tomtom for $99. I use it on my iPhone, my Mrs’ iPhone, our iPad. Legally. How does that work out in Android? Where is the software you have bought?
Ben
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:35 PMYou don’t need tomtom. Android has free built in turn by turn navigation with traffic and spoken prompts. You can even cache parts of the map offline.
soupiejr
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:41 PMBoom. Headshot.
Productive Web Apps
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:41 PM^ At apple fanboy…. the android market remembers all your purchases to install them on different devices. No problems at all. I bought a new SGII and all my purchases could easily be transferred across. Didn’t even have to plug it into the computer to”sync” it with itunes.
Death to itunes..
chris
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:04 PMSummed up beautifully! iTunes is the MAIN reason i dislike apple.. As for organising?? Let me know how the hell the copy a Ministry of sound album to my iPhone without it making 30 separate artists with one song in each.. yep they managed that well…. And software? Android doesn’t need any bloatware to look after your stuff on pc. Store it as you would using whatever media player you prefer (itunes is not a media player, it reminds me of limewire and playing a song within it once i downloaded it.. pfft) Drag and drop songs like a thumb drive. Couldn’t be easier.
jimmy
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:07 PMthere is no more to be sid about how crap iFAIL is. huaweii 4 lyf homiez!
Andrew P
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:07 PMSelect all the songs from the album, right click > Get Info > Options > Part of a compilation. Change it to yes. The album will now come up in order.
light487
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:10 PMiTunes is fine if you want a consolidated app for everything. Samsung KIES is decent enough, it consolidates everything except for integrating the App Market. However when all you want to do is go into your storage, rip out a couple of files or put some files on it.. you can’t do this with the iPhone. You can access the camera folder for all the pictures but everything else is locked away in secured memory. I know there are programs out there that can get around that in much the same way that iTunes does but…
…at the end of the day, if I want to get to a particular file without loading up applications to access my device, Android phones can do it but iPhones can not.
Namarrgon
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 4:48 PMIf you actually prefer iTunes, try Doubletwist? Works with lots of devices, and even uses your iTunes database if you want.
BenDTU
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:52 PMAny figures on what smartphone penetration in Australia is sitting at? I’d be curious to know.
Nick Broughall
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:53 PM65 per cent
apple fanboy in android world
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:55 PMdoes that include the cheap $60 Huawei upwards to Nexus Galaxy?
BenDTU
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:00 PMWow – that’s really significant!
kzd
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:38 PMThanks for not posting my rant. you suck
Beavis
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:50 PMHe said “penetration!’ He he… he he…
MotorMouth
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:05 PMApple’s problem is that they are positioned as a premium product. In a mature market they were always going to end up being a niche player. To expect otherwise would be like expecting BMW to be the top selling car brand. Even if you accept that they make a better product, which is not worth getting into, the volume end of the market is always where the best value lies. Samsung have a range of products that occupy the full spectrum so it is natural that they would do better.
BTW, this info, with a little more detail, was published in the SMH weeks ago.
Andrew
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 1:15 PMI don’t think the title is correct. If you read the IDC report Samsung is the leading smartphone manufacturer in the combined ANZ region, with much of that due to its lead in NZ. If looking at Australia only, Apple is still in the lead with 36% market share. Samsung is the #1 Android manufacturer, and from what I have read elsewhere they have 50% of the Android market share, which translates to 25.5% of the Australian smartphone market.
Sam
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:03 PMInteresting. Can you provide a source please? I would like to read more.
Johnd
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 2:27 PMOf course, nobody actually read the real article. IDC reports on shipments, not sales.
All those Samsung smartphones sitting in boxes in store warehouses unsold count in the IDC figures. Apple only reports on actual sales.
Namarrgon
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 5:13 PMSo when IDC report that “Apple iOS, in second place, holds 36% unit share”, I presume that’s also shipments, not sales, right?
Johnd
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 9:21 AMNope. Apple never reports shipments, only sales. So the other problem with the IDC report is that it isn’t even comparing the same numbers. This is something the people who pay for the report have been complaining about for a while (which probably is one of the reasons IDC is losing paying customers).
noko
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 3:55 PMDo these figures include the Google phones as well? The popularity of the Nexus S is severely hampered by the Vodafone exclusivity, so interested to know how the Galaxy Nexus performed.
Jester
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 4:43 PMWell I just signed up with Telstra for my new Galaxy Nexus, it arrives Friday. Can’t wait!!! About time I upgraded from my Nexus 1.