MacRumors points at a Financial Times report (subscription required) asserting that Apple has now officially surpassed Nokia to become the #1 smartphone maker globally. IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker had Nokia ship 24.2 million smartphones versus 18.7 million iPhones. A quarter later, however, iPhone sales have gone through the roof while sales of Nokia smartphones fell down the cliff as the world’s once leading mobile phone maker fights to regain influence. The financial paper explains:
Apple,which just four years ago wasn’t even on the radar, managed to become the world’s #1 smartphone maker with a year old handset, a limited footprint and with just one high-end handset model refreshed once a year. The news must be tremendously humiliating for the people at Nokia who are holding on to their burning platform. Remember how cocky Nokia executives used to laugh off the iPhone and boast in public how Nokia sells a quarter’s worth of iPhones in a week? Apple’s feat isn’t entirely surprising given a Nomura analysis from earlier this month that predicted Apple topping Nokia’s volume by the end of June.
Also of note is how Nokia’s market share in Australia fell spectacularly, from almost 50 percent in the first quarter to less than 25 percent as iPhone became the king of the hill in the country, per IDC. Android devices collectively outsell iPhones due to broader distribution and a wider range of sizes, models and price points, but no single Android vendor has been able to touch Apple in terms of volume. Apple is already the world’s biggest phone vendor by revenues and profit, controlling as much as half the total mobile phone industry’s income. Today, the iPhone is the main driving force behind Apple’s seemingly unstoppable growth, as seen in the below chart, courtesy of Asymco.
Apple reported sales of 20.3 million iPhones in the June quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. They ending the quarter with about 5.9 million units in channel inventory to serve new and existing carriers. Revenue from iPhone and related products and services topped $18.65 billion, representing an astounding 65 percent of the $28.57 billion of Apple’s quarterly revenue. The company’s international sales from the more than 40 million gadgets and computers Apple shipped accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue. AT&T posted earnings this morning, reporting 3.6 million iPhone activations during the June quarter, effectively matching their iPhone activations from March.
