Last week several companies announced their financial results for Q4 2011 and Apple seems to have resumed its leading position in the top of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world. Apple said that sold 37 million iPhone terminals, but Samsung did not, but it was estimated that a delivered with 1 million fewer terminals and was ranked second. This is the second study of a market analysis company that claims that Apple is the largest producer of smartphones in Q4 2011, but no one has 100% reliable figures because Samsung refuses to provide them.
Apple in the fourth quarter of 2011 shipped 37 million smartphones worldwide, up 117% from 17 million in the second quarter. This represented the strongest sequential quarterly growth among the top-5 smartphone brands. Apple's strong performance allowed it to slightly exceed Samsung's total of 36 million. Apple in the fourth quarter took the top spot in the market, displacing Samsung, which dropped to second place. Previously in the third quarter, Samsung had usurped Apple to take over the number one rank, which Apple had achieved for the first time in the second quarter.
Even in Q3 2011, Samsung did not specify how many smartphones it sold, but it was estimated that 28 million terminals were PROVIDED by the Korean company and that placed it then on the first place in the top of the biggest smartphone manufacturers. The difference between sales and deliveries must be made because Apple actually sold 37 million iPhone terminals while Samsung would be delivered 36 million smartphones through its own distribution network. We won't know the truth about actual sales very soon, but now Apple seems to be in the top again.
