...or if they do, they're not telling. Reading beyond the headlines and you get a different story - or actually, not much of a story at all (
my emphasis):-
Quote:
|
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co surpassed Apple Inc as the world's top smartphone maker with more than 40 percent shipment growth, and forecast strong sales in the fourth quarter, as it aims to consolidate its lead against rivals...
|
So that's shipments i.e. out of the factory into the 'channel', not sales to customers.
Quote:
|
Shipments of [Samsung] smartphones jumped more than 40 percent from the preceding quarter and 300 percent from a year ago. The growth leapfrogs Apple, which sold fewer iPhones in the third quarter from the previous quarter. Apple's iPhone sales slid to 17.1 million units from the second quarter's 20 million units...
|
So Samsung are making more units and getting them out of the door; good for them. Meanwhile, Apples sold fewer units to customers in the third quarter - possibly because everyone and their brother knew that there was a new iPhone coming out in October - but despite this still sold over 17 million iPhones.
Quote:
|
Samsung didn't provide third-quarter sales figures, but the percentage growth numbers suggested shipments may have risen to around 27 million units from second-quarter's 19 million units...
|
It's anybody's guess what that actually means, but hey, let's not let niggly little details like actual sales figures get in the way, right??