Samsung Posts $5.15 Billion Quarterly Profit, Claims iPhone 5-like Demand For GS3
Posted by Michael Nace on Friday Apr 27, 2012 Under Android, iPhone 5 OpinionSamsung continues to maintain parity with Apple, posting big quarterly profits. But is Samsung’s claim that the Galaxy S 3 is poised for massive sales really true, or is it a play to garner attention away from iPhone 5 speculation?
In the world of tech, there should be a whole series of DVDs entitled something like iPhone Competitors’ CEOs Gone Wild. In an effort to curtail the unchallenged buzz of speculative Apple products like the iPhone 5, iTV, and Mini iPad, Cupertino’s competitors habitually say the stupidest things. You’ll recall, for example, last September when HTC President Martin Fichter proclaimed that “iPhones are not that cool anymore,” because his daughter’s friends at college told him so.
Then, in December, Nokia’s Director of Portfolio, Product Management, and Sales Niels Munksgaard had this to say, ““What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone.” Oh yeah: Apple has a real problem appealing to the youth demographic.
Today, Samsung made its own pitch for inclusion in iPhone Competitors’ CEOs Gone Wild in their quarterly earnings report by trying to convince themselves and investors that the Samsung Galaxy S 3 is going to be just as popular and successful as the iPhone 5.
In their report, in which they posted an impressive $5.15 billion quarterly profit, Samsung’s senior vice president and head of investor relations Robert Yi had to go and say something silly: ”We anticipate very strong demand for Galaxy S III . . . When there’s strong demand in the market, we don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of marketing dollars to promote sales.” Sounds a little bit like the free speculative buzz that Apple enjoys prior to release of its new products.
Samsung’s earnings do not come as a surprise: we recently reported in another article how Samsung’s early 2012 sales were being buoyed by sales of the Galaxy Note. But we put it into perspective: Samsung sold 4 million Galaxy Notes in one quarter — Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4s units in a weekend. Samsung manages to compete against Apple in earnings based on the fact that they produce a wide range of products, from components (conveniently for the biggest-selling mobile devices in the world) to mobile gadgets of their own.
What’s laughable is that Samsung is looking to characterize interest in the Galaxy S 3 as being likened to that of the iPhone 5. Aside from the buzz surrounding their cryptic tgeltaayehxnx.com promotional site for the GS3, and the anticipation of the GS3′s announcement in London next week — most of which is coming from iPhone enthusiasts who are looking to gauge the GS3 against iPhone 5 speculation — Samsung’s “buzz” isn’t even close to that of Apple and the iPhone 5. This year alone, Samsung has spent copious amounts of money on television advertising. And a quick comparison of the “iPhone 5″ and “Galaxy S 3″ keywords reveals that the the iPhone 5 gets 20,400,000 global monthly searches to Samsung’s 1,000,000 monthly searches for the GS3.
Look, there’s no question that Samsung makes a mean smartphone; no one is contesting that the GS3 will be a natural competitor to the iPhone 5. But for Samsung to claim interest in the GS3 to be anything like the iPhone 5 is laughable. And by suggesting that they “don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of marketing dollars to promote sales” is trying to channel the synergistic power of the iPhone 5 rumor mill to bolster interest without Apple spending a nickel.
Dream on, Samsung.
By Michael Nace
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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April 27th, 2012 at 9:59 am
Thought I’d start the day off with some Samsung hate.
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April 27th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I think its so funny how much people “hate” the competition to their phone. My wife has an iPhone and I have an Android. There are a lot of things that I really like about my phone that Apple doesn’t have or do, while there are many things I also like about the iPhone that Android doesn’t have. The biggest thing I’m seeing though is that Android has come a long way over the years and is a good (if not better) competitor to the iPhone especially when you consider the price of services. All around, you pay more for Apple’s services.
I love all the competition in the tech world today. If the next iPhone blows away all competitors then its a win for all consumers because then Android phones will step it up and come out with something better over time and then causes Apple to come out with an even better iPhone. If it weren’t for increased competition the next iPhone would probably just be a refresh of the 4S. Apple can’t pull a stunt like that again and expect to maintain market share in such a fiercely competitive industry. If the GS3 has iPhone 5-like demand, then iPhone users should be glad because then Apple will get the hint that they can’t improve just a couple of features when they have the capability to do soooo much more.
I was going to buy the last iPhone but it wasn’t very impressive to what was already out. I seriously hope that the new iPhone blows everything away so that I’ll finally have enough incentive to buy one.
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April 27th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
@mike-The iphone 5 will not be a refresh of the 4s. They seem to be on a schedule where they release a new model, then refresh it once, then move on again. And yes android has come away. But it seems less and less people are supporting their androids. They buy the phones because they have some big feature over the iphone, but thats just one feature. The benefit of the iPhone is that though it may not have the “best” equipment, it utilizes pretty high tech ones that rank at the top. So you end up with a phone that has money built into every part, not just the camera, processor, or screen.
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April 27th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
@undefeatable – I agree with you. I guess my overall point is that manufacturers (Motorola, HTC, Samsung, etc.) who utilize Android as their OS seem to be doing a much better job of creating solid phones all the way through. Take a look at the reviews of the Droid Razr Maxx. The biggest thing about Android was that the user interface wasn’t the most impressive layout. Thanks to the “Go Launcher” app I have the sleekness of the iPhone UI, with the customization capability that Android provides. It’s the best of both worlds. Having played with both an Android and iPhone extensively, i’m not convinced that iOS is any better. I don’t think that Apple has a competitive edge in the OS anymore (and I would actually argue that Android and its apps have the advantage), so to me it really comes down to the hardware.
I am well aware that they seem to be on the cycle of doing a new model and then a refresh. I’ve been an avid iPhone follower for years. No offense Nace but I think 9to5mac does a better job of giving relevant, less biased information. In my opinion, Apple won’t be able to keep that cycle going. The iphone 4S has been so extremely successful because it has been released on so many new carriers and in new countries. But it didn’t have that much to it that warranted the hype that it got. Most people agree that the 4S was a major let down. By the time it finally came out, many people got it anyways because they had already waited almost 2 1/2 years for a new phone and needed to upgrade, or new subscribers on other carriers were excited to finally get an iPhone that they didn’t really care. When the iPhone 4 came out it was about a year ahead of every other phone. The 4S was only maybe a couple months ahead. That’s why I say the 5 needs to totally crush the competition. With the availability of the iPhone on so many carriers and now worldwide, Apple can’t rest on its laurels unless people are truly willing to buy a lesser phone just because of the integration that they have with other Apple products.
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April 27th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
“No offense Nace but I think 9to5mac does a better job of giving relevant, less biased information.”
No offense taken, Mike. I would agree that 9to5 Mac is probably less biased, and they very well may be better journalists that I am, since I am not a journalist. And 9to5Mac breaks news — this blog rarely does. I enjoy finding different angles on the stories that everyone else simply repeat. but in the process, it does make me more biased, I admit.
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April 27th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
I failed to leave my other comment for you as well. I have been reading your blog off and on for over a year, so I must give you credit for that. There’s a reason why I continue to check your blog, especially when the new iPhone is on the horizon.
Side note: I know a guy who’s nephew works for Apple. This apple employee said that he can’t give out any information about the new phone but that it will be worth the wait. This employee also doesn’t own an iPhone (because Apple doesn’t provide one to him for free) but says he is definitely getting one when the new one comes out. It certainly gets me excited for what is to come. I hope it comes in June, but from all the speculation it sounds like it’s probably more likely for it to arrive in the fall.
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April 27th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
I like 9to5mac too but I have noticed a LOT of info on this site that I’ve never seen on other blogs/forums and that’s why this forum is near and dear to my heart. It’s unbiased, tells it like it is, and doesn’t have off the wall theories that you know will never come into fruition.
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April 27th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
SpasticPat, that is the Best. Gravitar. Ever. If I had been drinking something when I saw it, I would have splorted it out! LOL! You want to walk us through that photo?
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April 27th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
As far as I can tell it’s Steve Jobs giving the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to someone, couldn’t really tell who…
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April 27th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Spastic, I may recommend that you take your phone number off gravatar. Don’t want any spammer to get you!
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April 27th, 2012 at 10:21 pm
Also, anybody else know that Michael has another site? Besides iphone6newsblog, Ipad2newsonline.com is his other!!! Why Is that site still up!? A waste of good money that could make the Mobile site!
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April 27th, 2012 at 10:53 pm
I predict that the Galaxy S3 will be way too big and have short batter life. This kinda reminds me of the whole 3DS vs. PSVITA thing. A bigger screen, cool features, and a lot of power doesn’t always win.
I’ll take a reasonably sized phone with a reasonably sized screen and good battery life over something like the Galaxy S 3 anyday. However, I do kinda like the Galaxy note. I hope Apple comes out with something like that.
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April 28th, 2012 at 12:48 am
@ Undfeatable thanks for the tip, didn’t realize it was actually posted until I re-read it
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April 28th, 2012 at 8:12 am
@Undfeatable: Actually, I let ipad2newsonline go a long time ago — someone else runs that site now. It just never really took off. But there are two other “news blog” properties: ios6newsblog.com and newiphonenewsblog.com.
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April 28th, 2012 at 9:34 am
Lol, did you grab that domain the second you heard about the “new iPad”?
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April 30th, 2012 at 10:24 am
@undfeatable:
I wonder who gave him that idea?
http://iphone5newsblog.com/2012/04/05/next-generation-iphone-june-debut-plausible-but-october-still-the-likeliest-bet/
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