Analyst: Apple iPhone 4S remains top smartphone in U.S.
The Apple iPhone 4S continued its strong sales momentum last month according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley. The analyst told his clients on Monday that "Our March checks indicated the iPhone continues to extend its market share gains. In fact, we believe iPhones are outselling all other smartphones combined at Sprint and AT&T and selling at roughly equal volume to all Android smartphones at Verizon."
Besides Apple, Walkley's analysis shows that Samsung also had a red hot March. He estimates that the Korean based manufacturer's strength across all smartphone price tiers will lead to a 15% global gain in shipments sequentially in what is usually a weak March quarter. This Apple-Samsung battle can be seen by looking at the top smartphones at the top four major U.S. carriers. Those mobile operators that offer the Apple iPhone 4S are being led by that model. At Sprint and AT&T, the runner-up is the Samsung Galaxy S II which also leads the way at T-Mobile. The latter, of course, doesn't offer Apple's smartphone. Other strong selling Samsung models include the Samsung GALAXY Note for AT&T and the Samsung GALAXY Nexus at Verizon.
source: Barron's via AllThingsD
"We believe cumulative Android smartphones may have represented over 50% of total smartphone sales at Verizon for the first time since the iPhone 4S launch. In fact, our checks indicated sales of the iPhone 4S at Verizon were not as strong in terms of total smartphone share at AT&T and Sprint. We believe this was due in part to the LTE promotions at Verizon and the fact many Verizon customers recently bought the iPhone 4 that launched only one year ago and are locked into a two-year contract and thus not eligible for a subsidized iPhone 4S. Further, Verizon store managers are clearly incentivized to sell LTE smartphones. However, despite the LTE promotions at Verizon, the iPhone 4S remained by far the top-selling smartphone at Verizon on an individual SKU basis."
At Verizon, the analyst said that last month Android sales may have topped 50% of all of the carrier's smartphones sales for the first time since the launch of the Apple iPhone 4S. The analyst says this could be due to a large number of Verizon's Apple iPhone 4 users still locked into their 2-year contract and unable to upgrade to a subsidized iPhone 4S. Still, the Apple iPhone 4S was the number one individual model at Big Red with the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX in second place.
The Apple iPhone 4S remains the top selling smartphone in the U.S.
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