It has been reported that HTC has now joined the ranks of Samsung in moving over Apple in terms of shipments of its smartphones. However the figures don’t include the sales of the newly released iPhone 4S which should comfortably get Apple back on top again. HTC, based in Taiwan, reported the shipments of around 6 million smartphone units in the United States this year, which was much above the 5 million units of iPhones sold by Apple in the same time. Samsung, too, was reported to have overtaken Apple after it exceeded Apple’s shipments by more than 300,000 units.
However, it should be noted that shipments differ from sales. Companies such as HTC and Apple often report only the shipment amounts and not the number of devices actually sold, even as Apple has persistently maintained that it ends up selling almost every single smartphone that it ships, other than the ones specifically put away for inventory.
Samsung, HTC and other rivals of the Cupertino, California based company are very often reported to ship large stocks of their products; however they also ultimately have to cut down the prices of these in order to clear out their unsold stocks as the life-cycle of the device reaches its end. On the other hand, even as the shipments of Apple are currently much behind those of its competitors, it is likely that it will catch up.
Samsung and HTC have both gained from a head start over Apple’s iPhone 4S after various delays led to the postponement of the phone from this summer until October. The 4S, however, made up for the delays with the phone having shipped 4 million units in just the first few days of its release.
The popularity of the phone and the delay in supply that it has led to could backfire if the customers who are turned down by Apple turn towards the other new phones which are being released during this holiday season, which include the Droid Razr and the Galaxy Nexus. HTC enjoys an advantage over Apple as it has a much larger range of phones available to its users. The Taiwan based company offers a number of cutting edge smartphones like the HTC Evo 3D, Thunderbolt, Sensation and HTC Inspire 4G. HTC also effectively targets the mid-range market with devices which end up attracting a bigger market.
