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Hard drive shipments recover from floods in Thailand, expected to reach record high
Last year's floods in Thailand caused hard drive shortages after wreaking havoc on a number of electronics manufacturers, but new stats from IHS iSuppli indicate that the HDD market for PCs has fully recovered and is poised to hit an all time high. The firm expects 524 million units for internal use in PCs to ship this year, besting the previous record by 4.3 percent. What's giving the recovery an added boost? According to the analytics group, the extra demand comes courtesy of Windows 8 and Ultrabooks. Unfortunately for deal hounds, the company noted in a report earlier this year that prices aren't expected to dip below the pre-flood range until 2014. If IHS iSuppli projections hold true, total annual hard drive shipments could reach 575.1 million by 2016.
iPhone 5 worldwide sales sorted by region
Sameer Singh of TechThoughts did some number crunching to break down iPhone sales based on geographic location. He approximated shipments for sales and looked at the US, UK, Japan and Asia-Pacific in his analysis. Not surprisingly, he found that demand for the iPhone peaks in the launch quarter and then declines in the subsequent quarters. This trend is seen in the US, UK, Japan and even in Asia-Pacific, which is surprising. Asian-Pacific countries like China are considered to be emerging markets with a large, untapped reservoir of customers. You would expect sales to continue to grow and not reach saturation in one quarter. Singh hypothesizes that the iPhone 5's high price tag is limiting its expansion in China, and claims that the smartphone growth in that region will be driven by low-cost, entry-level handsets. In the past, Apple has been unfazed by results suggesting the iPhone won't successfully break into emerging markets. Tim Cook repeatedly has said in Apple's quarterly earnings conference call that he believes customers will pay more for the high-quality design and improved performance of the iPhone. Cook also pointed out Apple offers the older models of the iPhone at discounted prices. Even though they are a year or two old, the lower-priced iPhones usually offer a better set of features than their entry-level Android counterparts.
IDC: Android and iOS accounted for 85 percent of smartphones shipped in Q2 2012
IDC's Q2 2012 numbers are out and the figures are encouraging, but not spectacular for Apple. According to IDC, Apple shipped 26 million handsets and grabbed 16.9 percent of the global smartphone market. This is a 27.5 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Despite its double-digit growth, the iPhone didn't outpace the overall smartphone market which grew 44 percent year-over-year. IDC says demand for the iPhone has cooled because of rumors surrounding the launch of the new iPhone sometime this fall. iOS also still trails Android which grabbed 68.1 percent of the market share. Samsung was the dominant Android manufacturer and shipped 44 percent of the platform's total smartphones in the quarter. Combined, Android and iOS accounted for 85 percent of all smartphones shipped in the quarter and, as IDC senior research analyst Ramon Llamas says, "the mobile OS market is now unquestionably a two-horse race due to the dominance of Android and iOS." [Via Engadget]
IDC: Android and iOS continue to carve up the world, another record quarter for smartphones
According to IDC's latest figures, Android and iOS now account for 85 percent of the 152 million smartphones shipped in Q2 2012. Google's OS powered 68.1 percent of all smartphones sold -- with Samsung making the hardware behind for just under half of those. Apple's smartphones now claim a 16.9 percent marketshare and while plenty of phone shoppers are holding out for the iPhone's next iteration, iOS still saw double-digit growth in Q2. There's more bad news for both BlackBerry and Symbian platforms, which, combined, accounted for less than 10 percent of all smartphones shipped last quarter. Windows Phone 7, meanwhile, hasn't quite made it to that hallowed third place it reckons it deserves. The mobile OS continues to grow, however, albeit at a gentler rate than both iOS and Android. Microsoft's likely pinning its hopes on the adjustable widgets and meatier specifications of Windows Phone 8 to draw in some new customers this fall.
Canalys: PC and tablet shipments hit new high in Q2 with Apple in the lead, HP next in line
Wondering how the industry fared in the second quarter of 2012? Shipments in the PC sector, which in Canalys' book includes tablets, were higher than ever, totaling 108,708,780 units globally. iPad sales put Apple in the lead, with more than 21 million devices shipped (this figure also includes desktops and notebooks) in Q2, compared to just over 13 million during the year-ago quarter, representing a massive 59.6-percent year-over-year growth. HP, which led the way in Q1, has fallen to the second-place spot, with nearly 13.6 million shipments during the quarter ending yesterday, followed by Lenovo with about 13.2 million, Acer with nearly 10.7 million and Dell with roughly 9.7 computers sold. Manufacturers like ASUS and Samsung are represented in the substantial "others" category, which totals about 40.6 million devices. There's no question that the iPad is behind Apple earning the number-1 slot, and with the upcoming Windows 8 launch, those figures could shift drastically the next time around. Click on through to the source link below for the full Canalys breakdown.
IDC: Samsung and Apple ship almost half of all smartphones, but Korean manufacturer maintains lead
IDC's latest figures offer some predictable reading. More phones are being sold than ever before; 406 million units were sold in Q2, against 401.8 million in the same period last year -- with a 42 percent increase in smartphone sales. The winners? Perennial court antagonists, Samsung and Apple, with the duo doubling their combined market share over the last two years. Samsung maintains its lead, reaching over 50 million phones sold -- and a new quarterly sales record -- while Apple saw a quarter-over-quarter decline, as buyers presumably wait for Cupertino's latest iteration, or go elsewhere. Nokia, meanwhile, had another "transitional" quarter, with sales of both Symbian and MeeGo devices shrinking, although its Windows Phones proved stronger. According to IDC's figures, Nokia and Microsoft's team-up handset sales have doubled since last quarter. HTC misses out on a top three spot, but its fortunes appear to have improved over the last two quarters, with the IDC pointing the finger at a more streamlined product range from the Taiwan manufacturer. ZTE continues to nip at its heels, reaching the top five thanks to strong entry-level smartphone sales in China, while continuing to inch onto US shores. If you're looking for a full breakdown of all phones sold, dumb and otherwise, read up at the source below.
iPhone estimated to have generated $150 billion in revenue globally
Apple's iPhone launched five years ago this week and to say it has been successful is an understatement. Based on a Strategy Analytics report cited by AppleInsider, Apple has shipped 250 million iPhones cumulatively worldwide and has generated US$150 billion in revenue from these shipments. "The iPhone portfolio has become a huge generator of cash and profit for Apple," said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. He adds, "A quarter of a billion iPhones have been shipped cumulatively worldwide in the first five years since launch and Apple reaches its fifth birthday at the top of its game." Apple now is one of the top smartphone manufacturers and among the top three mobile phone makers worldwide. Last quarter alone, the company shipped 35 million iPhones and this number may increase as Apple expands its business in Asia and other emerging markets.
Sprint warns it's a 'little behind' on Samsung Galaxy S III, T-Mobile staggers its launch
That delayed Canadian Galaxy S III launch may have been a harbinger of US delays to come: Sprint has let Engadget know that it's running a "little behind" on shipments. The company still hopes to get all pre-orders of the 16GB model to customers by the official June 21st release, but warns that orders might slip by one or two days. We also hope 32GB customers weren't planning their schedules around the 21st -- the higher capacity won't ship until the following week. Sprint is citing both "overwhelming demand and limited supply" as the root causes, although it hasn't quantified just how whelmed those sales are. T-Mobile, meanwhile, is telling Galaxy S III buyers in some areas to sit tight. We've directly confirmed through a spokesperson an earlier leak from TmoNews that claimed Magenta will only focus June 21st retail sales on the "top 29 markets," most of them major cities. If you fall outside of those areas, you'll have to wait until shortly afterwards to pick one up, the provider tells us. As it stands, AT&T, US Cellular and Verizon still haven't committed to exact release dates and are currently off the hook.
IDC: Nokia moved just 2.2 million Lumias this winter, but stay tuned
Although we know that Nokia had a wince-inducing first quarter, the company was hush hush on how many of its Windows Phone-packing Lumias had shipped out. We still don't have official word, but IDC estimates that Nokia delivered 2.2 million of the devices to shops (not necessarily to customers) between January and March. If the total is accurate, Lumias would represent less than a fifth of the 11.9 million smartphones shipped by Espoo over the season and wouldn't have Apple or Samsung quaking in their boots just yet. The research team is careful to warn that the spring and summer will be the real litmus tests: a healthy Lumia 900 launch in the US could easily spike that number. Our one certainty is that Nokia will still have to sell a lot of 808 PureViews if it wants to keep its smartphone sales humming in the short term.
NPD Q1 2012: Apple still king of the mobile computing hill thanks to iPad
NPD DisplaySearch is declaring Apple to be the undisputed champion of the mobile PC business for the first quarter of the year. The fruity phone flinger shipped (shipped, not sold) 17.2 million mobile PCs in the time, a figure that contentiously includes the iPad. Second place was taken by HP, which packed off 8.9 million units -- enough to put it at the top of the Laptop-only chart. It's a familiar story over on the tablets leader-board, too. Cupertino pushed out 13.6 million iPads to maintain first place, while Samsung took the silver medal after packing off 1.6 million of its numerous Galaxy slates. Surprisingly, Amazon only needed to ship 900,000 Kindle Fires to take third, although given that the bookseller never discloses its numbers, we have to take that last number with a dash of disbelief.
IDC crowns Samsung the biggest phone maker by shipments for Q1 2012
Research firm IDC is reporting that Nokia has been dethroned as the world's biggest phone maker by Samsung. In the first quarter of the year, Samsung shipped 98.3 million mobile phones, with Nokia and Apple in second and third place. In the smartphone-only charts, the Korean company shipped 42.2 million of its Android and Windows Phone handsets, while Cupertino shipped 35.1 million and Nokia shipped a paltry-by-comparison 11.9 million. Samsung, Apple and companies outside the top 5 all made big gains in the smartphone space, while Nokia, RIM and HTC all felt their numbers drop. Unsurprisingly, companies with big stakes in dumb phones suffered, with Nokia and LG losing big chunks of their market share to the big two and stalking horse ZTE, which has bested LG for fourth place. After the break, we've got the official tallies that you can pore over.
iPad online shipping times drop to one week
Apple's inventory of the new iPad is holding up well, especially in the US. Unlike the iPad 2 which faced shortages when it launched, the new iPad is readily available. Most US retail stores have at least one model of the iPad in stock and the online store is steadily improving shipment times. As noticed by CNET, shipping times for the iPad are now at five to seven days, down from one to two weeks. While the US is doing well, iPad supplies overseas are a bit more constrained. Online stores in the UK, Italy, France, Germany and other European countries still list a one to two week wait time for the new iPad. [Via CNET]
Gartner: Apple takes third place in US PC shipments for Q1 2012
Gartner released its quarterly shipment estimates for the PC market in Q1 2012. The results show that Apple is in third place with a 10.6 percent market share. The Cupertino company trails HP and Dell which has a 29 percent and 22.3 percent market share, respectively. Gartner calculates that Apple shipped 1.6 million Macs in Q1 2012, which is a 3.8 percent increase from the same quarter in 2011. It doesn't beat HP which increased 6.6 percent year over year, but it is better than the overall US PC industry which declined 3.5 percent. These numbers include desktop PCs, notebooks and mini-notebooks, but does not include media tablets like the iPad.
iPhone shipments overtake BlackBerry in Canada, RIM now runner-up in its hometown
Heads up, RIM. The bad news train is coming to your backyard and only Mr. Heins can get you off the track. It appears not even local loyalties are enough to bolster the BlackBerry brand back into its former hometown glory. According to research provided by Bloomberg and IDC, Waterloo's Canadian prospects are dimming, as that chunk of revenue, which amounts to about seven percent of its total earnings, has begun to wither, putting the company in second place behind Apple. Last year alone, iPhone shipments in the region outstripped BlackBerry by nearly one million and its recently reported fiscal performance isn't helping to brighten the picture, either. With its 3rd quarter domestic sales down 23 percent and US revenue plummeting by almost half, the once prominent king of the smartphone sector has a long uphill battle ahead. For the company's sake, let's hope its annual BlackBerry World showcase, less than two months away, and anticipated BB 10 devices can turn its financial frown upside down.[Image credit via Life of an Architect]
iOS still holds edge in worldwide tablet shipments, despite Kindle Fire launch
The tablet market heated up in the last quarter of 2011 when Amazon went head-to-head against Apple with its Kindle Fire. Many expected the Fire to make a dent in the sales of the Apple iPad and the latest IDC numbers suggest their expectations were correct. Though overall iPad shipments increased, the iPad's market share fell in the final quarter of 2011 due to the Kindle Fire. IDC says Apple shipped 15.4 million units in Q4 2011, up from 11.1 million units in Q3 2011. This increase was offset by shipments of the Kindle Fire which climbed to 4.7 million units. In the end, Apple grabbed a 54.7 percent market share, down from 61.5 percent in Q3 2011. Amazon grabbed 16.8 percent and became the number one Android tablet maker. Behind the two market leaders are Samsung with a 5.5 percent market share and Barnes & Noble with 3.5 percent. Pandigital, which makes inexpensive Android tablets, rounds out the top five. [Via The Verge]
iPhone is top-selling cellphone in Japan
A report in the Mainichi Daily News suggests the iPhone 4S is the top-selling mobile phone in Japan. The iPhone 4S is reportedly beating out handsets from local favorites like Fujitsu-Toshiba, Sharp and Panasonic. According to IDC Japan estimates, the iPhone grabbed 26.6 percent of all mobile phone shipments in the October-December 2011 quarter. Fujitsu-Toshiba claimed the second spot with 18.3 percent of shipments and Sharp ranked third with 15.7 percent. Total mobile phone shipments in Japan climbed to 10.65 million units in the year-ending quarter. The iPhone 4S went on sale in Japan starting in October 2011. Early sales were strong and the iPhone climbed to the top of Japan's handset market within a few weeks. The handset is sold by local carriers SoftBank and KDDI. [Electronista]
IDC: iPhone becomes top-selling cellphone in Japan over the Fall quarter, gives Sharp a run for its money
Think the iPhone is popular in the States? Well, the device is taking off in Asia as well. Based on a report from research firm IDC Japan, Apple snagged the largest share of mobile phone shipments in the country for the quarter at 26.6%, ending the market dominance of local manufacturers. Popularity of the iPhone 4S rose during the period from October to December and propelled the device maker past Fujitsu / Toshiba's mark of 18.3% and third place Sharp, coming in at 15.7%. Sharp still owned the top spot for 2011, though, with 20.1% of total shipments while Apple finished the year third with 14.2%. For more stats on the Japanese smartphone market, hit the source link below to read on.
Next-gen iPads squeezing air freight shipments from China
Rumors have been going around for the past two weeks noting that the next generation iPads are on their way to the U.S. from Chinese plants under strict security. Now Mac Rumors is reporting that shipping representatives for other firms are finding that they can't ship their products, as air freight companies are apparently overwhelmed with boxes of iPads. Shipping rates have increased by 20 percent in one week, with Apple apparently gobbling up as much air freight capacity as possible at premium rates. One supposed iPad 3 part number has allegedly made it to the U.S., while another Apple SKU -- MC744LL/A -- for an unknown product (new Apple TV?) is also making the rounds. Another Apple blog, AppleInsider, concurred with the information from Mac Rumors, noting that air cargo rates with DHL have also jumped due to capacity constraints that are presumably being caused by Apple. With shipments in high gear already, there's mounting evidence that the new iPad may be available very soon after the announcement on Wednesday. Apple fans had to wait two weeks after the announcement of the iPad 2 to receive the first devices; perhaps the wait won't be as long this time.
NPD: Apple grabs over a quarter of the mobile PC business in Q4 2011 (including iPads), HP tops with laptops
Just what is a "mobile PC" these days? According to market research firm NPD, that category now includes both tablets and laptops -- and by that definition, Apple is unsurprisingly way ahead of its competitors. Based on its preliminary numbers, Apple shipped 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011 (nearly 80 percent of which were iPads), which was enough to snag a market share of 26.6 percent (and keep it in the top spot for the year). In contrast, the four companies rounding out the top five relied almost entirely on laptops to fill their numbers, with HP coming in at just under a 10 percent market share, followed by Dell, Acer and Lenovo. Looking just at laptops, however, HP comes in first with a 15.5 percent market share, while Apple falls to fifth with just over eight percent. As for tablets, Apple is estimated to have a 59 percent market share for Q4, followed by Amazon at 16.7 percent (based on shipments of 5.3 million), and Samsung, ASUS and Barnes & Noble each in single digits. Additional numbers can be found in the press release after the break and at the source link below.
Canalys: More smartphones than PCs shipped in 2011
2011: the year Smartphones supplanted computers, at least according to the bundle of spreadsheets that just arrived from Canalys Research. Vendors shipped (shipped, not sold) 488 million of the devices, compared to 414.6 million "PCs," which erroneously includes Tablet PCs of all shapes and sizes. Looking at Smartphones exclusively (IDC's numbers from yesterday concerned all mobile handsets), Apple remains king of the hill having shipped 93.1million iPhones. Samsung is close behind, with 91.9 million and Nokia is kicking along in third with 19.6 77.3 million. For all of the doomsaying around RIM, it's nestled in fourth, although Canalys chose not to include its numbers. Framing the research as "PCs versus Smartphones" isn't the wisest, given the fragmentation and hybridization prevalent in the market today. Drilling down into those numbers, we learn that 63.2 million tablets were pushed out last year, cannibalizing netbook shipments (dropping 34.5 percent in a year), but desktop and laptop movements remained relatively stable. We've included the full report and the most relevant table of data for your perusal and insight (hint: there's no points for saying netbooks are on the way out). Correction: Nokia sold 19.6 million phones in the last quarter, but sold 77.3 million in total last year.
