iPhone Ousts Samsung Galaxy S3 In World Sales

Some data for Q4, 2012 smartphone sales has been released, revealing that Apple’s iPhone 5 became the best-selling smartphone in the final quarter of last year. Although that in itself isn’t too surprising, many people will be amazed to hear that the iPhone 4S also beat the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Research by Strategy Analytics looked at worldwide smartphone sales and shipments broken down by model, and the iPhone 5 shipped 27.4 million units in Q4, taking the title of top-selling smartphone. To be fair, its important to remember that the iPhone 5 was released just before the beginning of Q4, so it’s not unexpected that its sales beat the Galaxy S3 in that quarter, as the Galaxy S3 was released earlier in the year.

However, Samsung and Android enthusiasts may struggle to accept that even the previous iPhone, the 4S, outsold the Galaxy S3 globally with 17.4 million units shipped, compared to the 15.4 million units of the Galaxy S3.

Sales of the Galaxy S3 have seemingly peaked, probably in anticipation of the Galaxy S4, rumored for release in March or April. It will be interesting to compare these figures again following the release of the S4.

What do you think of these new figures? Did you expect the iPhone 5 to be the top-selling smartphone? Perhaps you thought it would be between the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S3, but did you even imagine that the 4S would beat the S3? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.