Galaxy S III passes Apple's iPhone 4S, becomes top selling US smartphone
For the first time since it launched last October, Apple's iPhone 4S was not the top selling smartphone in the U.S., as the newly released Samsung Galaxy S III took the top spot in the month of August.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Galaxy S III's August lead ends a ten-month stretch in which the iPhone 4S, launched in October 2011, held the top US slot — and it lands just as Apple has sent confirmed invites for a September 12 event at Yerba Buena Center, with Nano-SIM shipments to carriers reported as unconfirmed rumor ahead of an expected new iPhone. The timing matters because Samsung's win comes against a device at the end of its cycle, not against fresh competition.
The story traveled unusually widely on pickup: CNET and Techie Buzz each ran it twice, alongside 9to5Google, SlashGear and MacDailyNews — meaning both the Android and Apple camps treated the ranking flip as news. It also lands mid-litigation, with Apple having filed days earlier for reconsideration of Judge Koh's scheduling decisions on post-trial injunctive relief, so the two companies are fighting over market share in court and on carrier shelves at once.
First-order effects
- Samsung enters September holding the US sales crown for the first time in the 4S era, giving its carrier partners a flagship with proven demand to merchandise through the fall.
- Apple's 4S loses its default top-seller status while running out its cycle, raising the stakes for whatever Apple announces at the confirmed September 12 Yerba Buena event.
Second-order effects
- Carriers now have leverage to feature the Galaxy S III in holiday-quarter promotions against an aging iPhone, pressuring Apple's pricing and inventory positioning until a successor ships.
- Samsung's momentum strengthens its hand in the parallel patent fight, since injunctive relief sought by Apple before Judge Koh is aimed directly at the products driving these sales.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US smartphone leadership becomes a rotating crown decided by refresh cadence — Samsung's spring Galaxy launches against Apple's fall iPhone launches — rather than a durable franchise for either vendor.
- The duopoly tightens: with the top two slots trading between Apple and Samsung, the meaningful competitive question shifts to which ecosystem locks in the most subsidized upgrade cycles.
The trend: US smartphone leadership is turning into a two-vendor rotation set by Apple's and Samsung's opposing product calendars, with each company's flagship peaking in the gap before its rival's refresh.