Tides are turning, with Samsung taking the lead from Apple in global smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2012, according to a report released by Strategy Analytics. Apple had taken the lead for the first time in the second quarter, with an 18.5 percent share that’s now dropped to 14.6 percent. The Korean giant in the meanwhile, has raked up a 23.8 percent share of the market in Q3 2011, growing from 17.5 percent in Q2.
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The two companies, who partner on various components for iOS devices, have been in engaged in litigation over smartphone design patents for a while now, and their worldwide sales battle in this context of countrywide sales disputes make for interesting times.
Nokia in the meanwhile, which still held on to a respectable 15.2 percent in Q2, has dropped slightly to 14.4 percent. Overall, smartphone shipments have grown 44 percent, indicating quite an increase in consumer demand opposed to feature phones, reaching a record of 117 million units shipped in the third quarter. Of that stack, Samsung shipped 27.8 million units, while Apple shipped 17.1 million units.