Q4 results put Apple as numero uno smartphone manufacturer

Technology heads, Apple and Samsung have been at loggerheads with each other over an ongoing patent battle spread across the entire world. While most would expect the brands to compete healthily in terms of product sale numbers, the two have been bitterly bickering in courtrooms. Apple has always been at a strong position, as far as their smartphone sales have been concerned, but Samsung has proved to be a worthy opposition to them and have cannibalized their market to a great extent. But as per the latest release posted by Apple, which shows their fourth quarter sales numbers, it appears that Apple is back on top as the number one sales manufacturer in the world.

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Apple has recently announced the financial results for their fiscal 2012 first quarter, which spanned 14 weeks and ended on December 31, 2011. In the announcement they have stated that they have sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, which represents a 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Speaking on these numbers, Apple CEO, Tim Cook said, “We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.” Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO also chipped in by saying, “We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter. Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50.”

Earlier on this month, Samsung had announced their fourth quarter results and they had forecasted that they had shipped 35 million smartphones in this period. However, according to a report by Business Insider, the actual sales numbers for Samsung smartphones were in the region of 32 million. For Apple to beat them and retain the top spot as the world’s number one smartphone manufacturer, the Cupertino brand needed to sell more than 35 million handsets. And according to the results, it appears that they have just done the same with 37.04 million handsets being sold.