Samsung, you may remember, recently surpassed Apple as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, according to a survey from Reuters.
It’s true that 10 million of just one phone model is small compared to the sales of the iPhone 4S last quarter, when Apple announced that the smartphone had sold 35.1 million units.
But analysts are expecting a slower quarter for the iPhone 4S this quarter as consumers hold off on buying a phone until Apple reveals its next version of the iPhone. Apple faced this same problem ahead of the launch of the iPhone 4S last October, when consumers were simply waiting to see whether it would be worth upgrading to the new version of the phone — or if the older version would get a price cut — and slowed sales ahead of the new phone’s release. Last October, the company missed analysts’ estimates for the first time in years, shortly after the death of the company’s co-founder and iconic chief executive Steve Jobs.
According to analysts’ reports, Apple may again be seeing a slowdown as the global and U.S. markets wait for the company’s next best thing.
Portfolio manager Tim Lesko told Reuters, “I expect Apple to beat Apple's guidance, but I don't know whether they will beat Wall Street's guidance.”
It’s probably worth pointing out here that while Apple’s next iPhone is, as yet, completely unconfirmed, it is widely expected to hit store shelves in October.
Just because the iPhone hasn’t been confirmed by Apple, of course, doesn’t mean that we’re not already hearing plenty about it from the host of blogs all but dedicated to ferreting out Apple rumors. The next phone is expected to have a more radical redesign than the iPhone 4S (though people said that about the 4S, too) with a bigger screen and a thinner profile.
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