Despite Apple announcing strong results for its latest quarter and Samsung reporting some disappointing figures, the tie has been broken and the Galaxy maker has returned to its position atop the smartphone market.
In the fourth quarter of 2014, Samsung and Apple were locked in a tie with about 74.5 million units shipped, according to new figures from Strategy Analytics. But in the first quarter of 2015, Samsung shipped about 83.2 million smartphones and Apple sent out around 61.2 million handsets.
Despite a step up in its shipments and a drop-off in Apple's output, Samsung is still working to rebound from a quarter that saw its market share shrink from 31 percent to 24 percent year over year. Samsung's shipment were attributed to its performance in emerging markets and the constant demand for its lower tier smartphones according to an analyst.
Year over year, Apple rose from 15 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to 18 percent in the latest three-month period. Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have enjoyed enormous success in China, but Samsung has struggled in the Asia Pacific region and other markets, according to Strategy Analytics.
"Samsung continued to face challenges in Asia and elsewhere, but its global performance has stabilized sufficiently well this quarter to overtake Apple and recapture first position as the world's largest smartphone vendor by volume," states Strategy Analytics.
For Samsung's first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, the company's revenue, about $44 billion, was down by about 12 percent and its operating profit of around $5.6 billion was down 30 percent. Still, Samsung remains optimistic about its second quarter and expects increases from the previous three month period, despite preparing for an increase in marketing expenditures.
"With premium smartphone sales entering into full swing, the DS (Device Solutions) Division is expected to see demand in growth for its semiconductor products," says Samsung.
Meanwhile, Apple reported revenue growth of about 27 percent for the second quarter of its 2015 fiscal year. Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed its stellar second quarter earnings to its sales of iPhone, Mac and App Store product.
"We're seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we've experienced in previous cycles, and we're off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch," Cook said.
Apple raked in about $58 billion in revenue in its second quarter and had a net profit of $13.6 billion, up from $45.6 billion and $10.2 billion respectively year over year.
For its next quarter, Apple expects to bring in revenues between $46 billion and $48 billion. The company expects its gross margin to fall between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent.
