Apple Vs Samsung: Apple – How Does Cupertino Fit Into This Growing Market?

Apple Vs Samsung: Although it feels as if the battle between Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung has been going on forever, the fact of the matter is that things are just now beginning to heat up.

Not only are the two companies fighting it out in courtrooms all over the world, but the same holds true in both the smartphone and tablet markets.

To better understand the direction in which handset sales are going, which includes smartphones from both Apple and Samsung, we don’t have to look any further than a recent report by ABI Research.

ABI is reporting that an “estimated 405 million handsets, including 197 million smartphones, were shipped in the first quarter of 2013.”

This has to be good news for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), right?

While smartphone shipments are on the rise, with a year over year increase of 38 percent, feature phones saw a year over year decrease of 5.2 percent. Overall, shipments of handsets saw an increase of 12 percent year over year.

The majority of this growth is due to an increase in the strength of the smartphone market.

As we know, there are many competitors in this space but the battle is between Apple and Samsung for the top spot.

As noted by ABI Research senior analyst Michael Morgan, handset and smartphone shipments were soft once again in the first quarter. This is not much of a surprise, being that this is a trend we have been seeing for many years.

He did add this nugget of information, giving an idea of where Apple and Samsung stand:

“Samsung accomplished strong smartphone growth while Apple dismissed a troubling mix of slowed growth and declining margins as a sign that the older iPhone 4S was in high demand.”

If you read that, it is easy to get the feeling that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trailing Samsung and needs to do something quick.

In fact, this is a point that ABI senior practice director Jeff Orr touches on:

“With major product announcements teased for Q3, Apple risks falling behind the innovation curve unless the next iPhone is more revolutionary than evolutionary.”

That is a lot of pressure on Apple, but Orr is probably right. The Cupertino based company needs to do something to get back in the game. Other companies, such as Samsung, are bringing new devices to the market while it sits back and watches.

Samsung may be seeing strong growth, but all eyes remain on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its next iPhone. What do you expect to see?

Check back here for more updates on Apple Vs Samsung.

DISCLOSURE: I have no positions in any stock mentioned.

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