iPhone Accounted for One in Four Shipments during Q4, with Samsung seeing Phenomenal Growth, says Juniper Research

·         Apple ships 37 million iPhones in Q4, a quarter of total

·         Samsung keeping pace as market share quadruples since Q1 2010

·         470 million smartphones shipped worldwide in 2011

HAMPSHIRE, UK - 30^th January 2012: Data from leading mobile analyst firm Juniper Research shows that Apple has overtaken Samsung again during the last quarter of 2011. Almost 25% of the 149 million smartphones shipped worldwide in Q4 were iPhones. While Apple overtook Samsung to reach no.1, the Korean giant has increased its market share four-fold since Q1 2010: from 4.7% to 21.7%. Samsung's rise is forcing Apple to continue offering older models to keep ahead according to Juniper.

3GS + 4 + 4S = Success

While Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4Ss within three days of launch, the company's return to top spot was partly driven by continuing to offer the iPhone 3GS -first launched in 2009 - at rock-bottom prices. Juniper believes this an effort to shore-up its defences again a bombardment of standard and premium smartphones from Samsung. Daniel Ashdown, Research Analyst with Juniper Research notes: "The scale of Samsung's product range is saturating the market. Apple has had to counter Samsung's products like the Galaxy Ace in order to maintain the visibility of its brand."

Battle of the Brands Drowns Out Competition

While Apple and Samsung have traded places for the past three quarters, results of other OEMs were more muted. Taiwan-based HTC was the only other member of the top five to see significant year-on-year growth. Juniper estimates, prior to official data, that the company shipped 12.1 million smartphones in Q4. Elsewhere troubled Blackberry-maker RIM's woes will be soothed somewhat as shipments remained steady year-on-year at 14.4 million, down just 0.7%. 2012 will be an important year for Nokia as it looks to fight back with a full-year of Windows Phone 7 launches. The Finnish OEMs smartphone shipments were down 31% y-o-y in the fourth quarter.

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Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.