Consumers worldwide may still have iPhone fever, but it looks like Samsung shipped nearly twice as many smartphones as Apple during the second quarter.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped 50.5 million units in its second quarter -- the largest number of shipments ever made by a smartphone manufacturer in a quarter -- and occupied about 35% of the global market. Meanwhile, Apple shipped about 26 million units during the quarter (about 18% market share).
Samsung's second quarter was a knockout for the company. It reported a record $5.86 billion quarterly profit, up 79% from the same period last year due largely to a strong performance in Galaxy S smartphone sales.
"Samsung has been able to deliver hit models in most major price segments, from the high-end Galaxy Note phablet to the mass-market Galaxy Y," Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Shah said in a statement. "We believe Apple’s lackluster performance was driven by some Apple fans and operators holding off iPhone purchases in anticipation of a rumored new iPhone 5 model around September or October this year."
But together, Samsung and Apple now make up more than half of all smartphones shipped worldwide, up from about 33% last year.
"Volumes have polarized around those two brands," Shah added. "The growth of Samsung and Apple has come partly at the expense of Nokia, whose global smartphone marketshare has halved from 15% to 7% over the past year. This is Nokia’s lowest marketshare level in the smartphone category for a decade."