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Q4 iPhone sales reportedly topped all Android phones combined

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:43PM EST
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Apple’s monster holiday quarter is the talk of the tech world, with the technology giant having just reported the second most profitable quarter ever among U.S. companies. The company’s $13.06 billion in fiscal first-quarter profit on revenue that surpassed $46 billion is staggering, and iPhone shipments that surpassed 37 million units played a huge role in Apple’s record-setting quarter. While market share is a statistic many deem unimportant, another impressive entry in Apple’s laundry least of first-quarter feats may be one of its most impressive yet: with just three models currently available, Apple’s share of the smartphone market may have surpassed that of Android in the fourth calendar quarter of 2011. Read on for more.

According to new data from analysts at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the record-breaking launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S drove iPhone sales that surpassed combined Android smartphone sales in the fourth calendar quarter last year. Apple shipped 37.04 million iPhones last quarter, which lifted the company’s smartphone market share up to 44.9% according to Kantar analyst Dominic Sunnebo. The figure is roughly double Apple’s market share in the same quarter a year earlier.

In the same quarter, Kantar estimates that the combined market share of all Android phones slid to 44.8% from 50%. “Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover,” Sunnebo told Reuters.

Samsung become the No.1 smartphone vendor by shipment volume in the third quarter last year, but that title is expected to have been retaken by Apple by a wide margin in the fourth calendar quarter of 2011. Samsung is scheduled to report earnings for its holiday quarter on Friday.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.