Samsung could become the world’s largest phone manufacturer after surpassing 300 million handset sales this year. The company reports that it had sold the gargantuan amount as of “late November” and gives it a month to further embarrass last year’s tally of a mere 280 million units.
“We look forward to extending this success going into 2012,” Samsung Mobile Communications Business chief JK Shin told reporters.
Breaking it down, it means that Samsung averages NINE handset sales a second and around 820,000 a day and shows the dominance that Android’s market leader is seeing. Observers think this might be enough for them to pass Nokia’s total sales that are expected to be very shy of the 450 million it sold last year.
Much of the success comes off the fresh super-amoled goodness the Galaxy line of devices bring to the table. There’s a reason Apple has lawsuits coming out of every orifice with the sole intention of halting the rise of what is their biggest threat on the Android side of the table.
Apple is seeing the rumor mill go into overdrive as the buzz surrounding the new iPad moves up the gears. Taiwanese blog Digitimes reports the device will be out in the first quarter of 2012 with manufacturer Foxconn Electronics expected to scale back production of the iPad 2 in January. This is to pave the way for the new version of the market-leading tablet PC with 10 million units set for production in Q1 2012. Analyst Kevin Chang added: “Production of the new iPads is expected to reach 9.5-9.8 million units in the first quarter of 2012, estimated sources in the supply chain.”
Sales of the iPad in 2011 are expected to top out at 40 million and the next dilemma for consumers is whether to buy the current version or wait for the iPad 3. Depends whether you’re one of those people that lives for the moment or the one playing the long game.
