iPhone 4S
iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S each outsold the Galaxy S3 in Q4
February 20, 2013: 7:32 AM ETFor the first time, Apple has the world's No. 1 and No. 2 bestselling smartphones
Click to enlarge.
FORTUNE -- Drilling a little deeper into sales data than the larger tech research firms, Strategy Analytics on Wednesday released the chart at right, which breaks smartphone sales down by model number.
The data show that Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 5 overtook Samsung's Galaxy S3 by some 12 million units in the last quarter of 2012 to become the world's bestselling smartphone.
That's not terribly surprising. What is surprising is that according to Strategy Analytics the iPhone 4S -- discounted by Apple when the new model came out -- also overtook the Galaxy S3.
Meanwhile, in other Apple news, the Financial Times reports that Foxconn, Apple's largest supplier, has put a hold on hiring and is cutting back on iPhone 5 production. Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson offers three possible reasons:
- Apple might be gearing up to build a new version of the iPhone. They have already been plenty of leaks about the iPhone 5S.
- Apple could be switching manufacturers.
- Apple could be screwed, dealing with a saturated smartphone market.
"Yikes. More likely Apple bad news," tweeted Henry Blodget, Carlson's boss, making it clear how he's going to spin the story.
UPDATE: Bloomberg reports: "Foxconn halted recruitment until the end of March after more employees returned from the Chinese New Year break than a year earlier, Bruce Liu, a spokesman for the Taipei-based company, said today in a phone interview. The decision wasn't related to iPhone 5 production, he said, refuting an earlier report in the Financial Times that linked the hiring freeze to a slowdown in orders for the handset." See Apple Falls After iPhone Builder Foxconn Halts Hiring.
UPDATE 2: Apple may be to blame for Foxconn's hiring freeze after all.
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How Tim Cook is changing Apple
Steve Jobs' successor is making his mark and trying to keep the Apple magic going.
FORTUNE -- In February of this year, a group of investors visited Apple as part of a "bus tour" led by a research analyst for Citibank. The session started with a 45-minute presentation by Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, and the 15 or so investors who attended the session were treated to Apple's unique brand MORE
Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large - May 24, 2012 5:00 AM ETPosted in: Apple, Apple dividend, Apple TV, Foxconn, iPad, iPhone 4S, Mike Daisey, Samsung, Steve Jobs, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Tim Cook -
Siri takes a star turn
Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel signal a shift in Apple's marketing strategy
As anyone who has lived with an iPhone 4S for more than a few weeks can tell you, its voice-activated personal assistant can be -- to put it kindly -- a little flaky. But Siri is still one of the device's marquis features -- something the iPhone can do that none of its rival smartphones can match.
So Apple (AAPL) MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 17, 2012 7:01 AM ET -
ChangeWave: Demand for iPhone 4S still rising
Six months after its release, 56% of future smartphone buyers say they're getting Apple's
The 4,413 consumers polled in ChangeWave Research's March survey are not exactly a representative cross-section of the buying public. They're primarily American (87%) and almost all early-adopter types. But as ChangeWave members they do tend to indicate which way the technological wind is blowing.
And according the bar chart above, it's blowing Apple's (AAPL) way. Despite growing competition MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 11, 2012 12:15 PM ET -
The day Steve Jobs phoned Siri
He wasn't particularly fond of the name, recalls co-founder Dag Kittlaus
Three weeks after his Siri app was approved for sale on the App Store, Dag Kittlaus was told to expect a call from Apple senior vice president Scott Forstall. The phone rang:
"Dag, this is Steve Jobs."
That, according to NetworkWorld's Yoni Heisler, was the beginning of the chain of events that led to Apple (AAPL) buying Kittlaus' company for $200 million and making MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 28, 2012 12:25 PM ETPosted in: Apple, Dag Kittlaus, iPhone 4S, Mobile, NetworkWorld, Scott Forstall, Siri, Steve Jobs, Yoni Heisler -
Apple's iOS devices: Selling 'em as fast as it can make 'em
The company is ramping up production at ever more impressive rates
Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook often says about the company's iOS devices that it is selling them as fast as it can make them.
In that context, the chart published Tuesday by Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster illustrates what may be Cook's most impressive achievement as COO: The rate at which he has been able to ramp up production.
Five years ago, it took MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 20, 2012 8:05 AM ET -
Apple: 3 million iPads in 4 days
First weekend sales exceed the iPad 2, but not the iPhone 4S
Eight hours after Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook pronounced himself "very thrilled" with what he described as "record weekend" sales of the third-generation iPad, the company issued a press release clarifying what record the new iPad had broken.
It wasn't Apple's all-time best hardware launch. That record is still held by the iPhone 4S, which sold 4 million units in MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 19, 2012 5:46 PM ET -
Apple just doubled its addressable market in China
China Telecom, the country's No. 3 carrier and No.1 Wi-Fi provider, gets the iPhone
"We've been very, very focused on China," Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook told the audience at last week's Goldman Sachs technology conference.
One result of that focus became clear on Monday, when China Telecom (CHA), China's No. 3 mobile carrier and No. 1 Wi-Fi and fixed-line provider (total subscribers: 216 million), announced that it will begin taking iPhone 4S preorders next MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 21, 2012 7:00 AM ETPosted in: Apple, China, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, iPhone, iPhone 4S, Morgan Stanley -
iSuppli: Amazon shipped 3.9 million Kindle Fires last quarter to Apple's 15.4 million iPads
According to this report, the iPad's chief competitor was not the Fire but the iPhone 4S
Amazon (AMZN) had a one-time shot to loosen Apple's (AAPL) hold on the worldwide tablet market, and it grabbed a 14% share last quarter according to a report issued Thursday by IHS's iSuppli.
Although the iPad managed to hold on to a 57% share, that was down from 64% in Q3 and less than IHS had MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 16, 2012 11:02 AM ET -
Apple's new Siri ad: Remind me to do WHAT again?
Would that the iPhone's intelligent assistant were as smart as the latest TV ad suggests
Based on my experience with the iPhone 4S, Apple (AAPL) is doing something very un-Applelike in its TV ads for Siri -- over-promise and under-deliver.
Case in point: The last instruction the woman gives her voice-activated assistant in the TV ad that debuted Thursday night. "Remind me to do this again," she tells Siri on a beach MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 10, 2012 9:39 AM ET
