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jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,077
19,072
US

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
I see that it has sold 5 million but Samsung says they have shipped 10 million. Is this even a fair comparison since Samsung hasn't said how much they actually sold?
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,077
19,072
US
I see that it has sold 5 million but Samsung says they have shipped 10 million. Is this even a fair comparison since Samsung hasn't said how much they actually sold?

Thye both report the same way....shipped equals sold....
 

Phokus

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 17, 2010
149
0
Thye both report the same way....shipped equals sold....

Actually your link might say otherwise:

Five million seems like a lot, but it's only half the number of Galaxy S 4s that Samsung has moved. However, Samsung's 10 million "sold" number explicitly refers to sales to carriers and retailers. There aren't yet 10 million S 4 handsets in the wild.
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,077
19,072
US
Actually your link might say otherwise:

How so? If any company ships 10 Million phones to a retailer...what happens to those phones? The do not go back to the vendor. They are sold to consumers. If a retailer orders 100K phones from a company...then only sells 75K....logic says they will reduce their order accrodingly. So they will have the inventory they need to meet customer demand. If they are overstocked...they reduce furture orders. This is basic supply and demand...if they shipped 10 Million phones to retailers...those are sales..... Did you think HTC reports their sales number differently?
 

Apollo 13

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2010
679
16
How so? If any company ships 10 Million phones to a retailer...what happens to those phones? The do not go back to the vendor. They are sold to consumers. If a retailer orders 100K phones from a company...then only sells 75K....logic says they will reduce their order accrodingly. So they will have the inventory they need to meet customer demand. If they are overstocked...they reduce furture orders. This is basic supply and demand...if they shipped 10 Million phones to retailers...those are sales..... Did you think HTC reports their sales number differently?

who knows but not all companies use shipped numbers. A lot of companies do use actual sold numbers for their products and HTC could be one of them.
 

tjl3

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2012
595
4
The Xperia line (damn you Sony for not giving us individual breakdowns) is almost at 10m (but for the quarter). It's good to see success across the board. However, I think all OEM's will have an uphill battle now that the GS4 is out.

What is the scarcity like on these phones. I haven't seen a retail outlet that is sold out of GS4's or HTC One's.
 

robanga

macrumors 68000
Aug 25, 2007
1,657
1
Oregon
How so? If any company ships 10 Million phones to a retailer...what happens to those phones? The do not go back to the vendor. They are sold to consumers. If a retailer orders 100K phones from a company...then only sells 75K....logic says they will reduce their order accrodingly. So they will have the inventory they need to meet customer demand. If they are overstocked...they reduce furture orders. This is basic supply and demand...if they shipped 10 Million phones to retailers...those are sales..... Did you think HTC reports their sales number differently?

That is a fine distinction that companies always play with. Phones sold to retail are always in danger of:

1. Being sold and returned
2. Being sold at reduced margins when they approach end of life and are harder to move.
3. Remaining unsold and having to eventually be returned.

You can bet Verizon for instance does not commit 100% financially to a vendor that the product will sell and there is a certain % of right of return etc. I'm also guessing that part of the negotiations for the S5 will include returns (if any) and dispersing that unsold stock. The danger on a popular phone like the S4 is usually on the tail end of things.

Better sales numbers are what is sold to the consumer or non-retail businesses.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
Just waiting for 0dev to come in and declare HTC dead and the One a terrible device that only nerds are fanboying over ... /sarcasm

Because yep only 5 million nerds bought the one... ;););) /further-sarcasm



Seriously this is good news for HTC and actually 'deservedly' so too. The S4 & the HTC One are great devices and its nice to see that the gamble has so far paid off for HTC. /not-sarcasm
 

Assault

macrumors 6502a
Mar 19, 2013
513
0
in the taint
who knows but not all companies use shipped numbers. A lot of companies do use actual sold numbers for their products and HTC could be one of them.

Not in the mobile arena. HTC, Samsung and Apple all report "shipped" numbers. None of them report sales of individual handsets to consumers. As I have stated before, if you want to ignore the facts that's fine, but page 26 of Apple's annual 10-K filing is very clear that they only report shipped numbers.

----------

Just waiting for 0dev to come in and declare HTC dead and the One a terrible device that only nerds are fanboying over ... /sarcasm

Because yep only 5 million nerds bought the one... ;););) /further-sarcasm



Seriously this is good news for HTC and actually 'deservedly' so too. The S4 & the HTC One are great devices and its nice to see that the gamble has so far paid off for HTC. /not-sarcasm

I like the way the One is shaped for how it rests in the hand (much better than the antiquated brick shape of the iPhone!), but can't stand the cold, dead feel of aluminum (or how hot it can get if you use it in the car as a GPS unit and the sun beats down on it through the windshield!)
 

Scrub175

macrumors 6502
Apr 25, 2012
487
13
Port St Lucie FL
Very good numbers that could have been much better had this device launched on Verizon. I'm an iPhone fan but the HTC one had me scratching my head.
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,370
8,952
a better place
(or how hot it can get if you use it in the car as a GPS unit and the sun beats down on it through the windshield!)

Now you see - this is where living in Ireland comes in handy. We only get to see the sun for 8 hours in any given year :p Seriously were on our 5th or 6th terrible summer here and praying for some relief... :D
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,077
19,072
US
That is a fine distinction that companies always play with. Phones sold to retail are always in danger of:

1. Being sold and returned
2. Being sold at reduced margins when they approach end of life and are harder to move.
3. Remaining unsold and having to eventually be returned.

You can bet Verizon for instance does not commit 100% financially to a vendor that the product will sell and there is a certain % of right of return etc. I'm also guessing that part of the negotiations for the S5 will include returns (if any) and dispersing that unsold stock. The danger on a popular phone like the S4 is usually on the tail end of things.

Better sales numbers are what is sold to the consumer or non-retail businesses.

Who says the phones are returned? Do you have that info? Kinda like the HP TouchPad and BestBuy....BB orderd a great deal of them and then could not sell them. Thye did not just send them back to HP....they reduced the price and had a fire sale. But then you know what....those still counted as sales....
No one ever said a sale at a reduced or subsidized price was not a sale. If it reaches the retail channel then it is counted as a sale. No one was talking about hard to move product at EOL....the HTC One and Galaxy S4 do not fit that space. Are you sure that phones are returned to the product maker after EOL? Are sure they don't become the next "free with 2 year activation"?
Large retailers can always move inventory around geographicaly as well to avoid overstocks in one location. Especially if a product is slowing down in sales and approaching EOL.

----------

Very good numbers that could have been much better had this device launched on Verizon. I'm an iPhone fan but the HTC one had me scratching my head.

Exactly....HTC is missing sales by not being on Verizon....for whatever reason....
 

Scrub175

macrumors 6502
Apr 25, 2012
487
13
Port St Lucie FL
Who says the phones are returned? Do you have that info? Kinda like the HP TouchPad and BestBuy....BB orderd a great deal of them and then could not sell them. Thye did not just send them back to HP....they reduced the price and had a fire sale. But then you know what....those still counted as sales....
No one ever said a sale at a reduced or subsidized price was not a sale. If it reaches the retail channel then it is counted as a sale. No one was talking about hard to move product at EOL....the HTC One and Galaxy S4 do not fit that space. Are you sure that phones are returned to the product maker after EOL? Are sure they don't become the next "free with 2 year activation"?
Large retailers can always move inventory around geographicaly as well to avoid overstocks in one location. Especially if a product is slowing down in sales and approaching EOL.

----------



Exactly....HTC is missing sales by not being on Verizon....for whatever reason....

And the Droid DNA is not a suitable replacement.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Not in the mobile arena. HTC, Samsung and Apple all report "shipped" numbers. None of them report sales of individual handsets to consumers. As I have stated before, if you want to ignore the facts that's fine, but page 26 of Apple's annual 10-K filing is very clear that they only report shipped numbers.

Only difference is SOME of Apple's reported numbers are direct sales and they maintain a large retail store chain and sell through their website as well.

But other than that, I would guess nearly all OEM's report shipped numbers as sold. We can then look at the carrier sales to gain insight into percentages for each model within a certain line and so forth (i.e. iPhone 5 vs. 4S vs. 4 or GS4 vs GS3).

The arguments over this topic are childish....who cares if one reports different or if one sold more. It always boggles my mind to see Fandroids scream about Apple iPhones sales making sure everyone knows they report shipped numbers and conversely Apple fanboys cry that Samsung only reports shipped phones as if large warehouses of GS4s exist in the middle of no-where.

Samsung and Apple sell a freaking crap-boat ton of smartphones. HTC selling/shipping 5 million since launch is HUGELY successful given analysts estimated 3.5 million after the first QUARTER.

We can't compare anyone to Apple or Samsung at this point. Apple maintains the top selling smartphone line in the world and Samsung is the largest smartphone maker overall in the world. They can do things other OEM's can't - and to measure one's success on the successes of Apple and Samsung is asinine.
 

robanga

macrumors 68000
Aug 25, 2007
1,657
1
Oregon
Who says the phones are returned? Do you have that info? Kinda like the HP TouchPad and BestBuy....BB orderd a great deal of them and then could not sell them. Thye did not just send them back to HP....they reduced the price and had a fire sale. But then you know what....those still counted as sales....
No one ever said a sale at a reduced or subsidized price was not a sale. If it reaches the retail channel then it is counted as a sale. No one was talking about hard to move product at EOL....the HTC One and Galaxy S4 do not fit that space. Are you sure that phones are returned to the product maker after EOL? Are sure they don't become the next "free with 2 year activation"?
Large retailers can always move inventory around geographicaly as well to avoid overstocks in one location. Especially if a product is slowing down in sales and approaching EOL.

----------





Exactly....HTC is missing sales by not being on Verizon....for whatever reason....


Having worked with the industry, you'd be surprised how much product gets returned. Some of it can be reconditioned. (AT&T Sells a lot of reconditioned on their site) and yes, shifted to other geographies, fire-sales etc. All i am saying is the value of a sale ( while technically a sale ) varies by manufacturer and model. Sales is a bell curve and timing means a lot.

Even the feds through Sarbanes-Oxely (the disaster that it is) requires that for public companies, all sales revenue meet certain criteria in order for the Mfr to claim it as 100% revenue.

So why don't they show the more interesting number, which is sell-through? Because its volatile as well and effected by timing, competitive announcements and would give them more visibility and less flexibility to reverse a negative trend. Also unless everyone reports sell-through you look worse than they do.
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,077
19,072
US
Having worked with the industry, you'd be surprised how much product gets returned. Some of it can be reconditioned. (AT&T Sells a lot of reconditioned on their site) and yes, shifted to other geographies, fire-sales etc. All i am saying is the value of a sale ( while technically a sale ) varies by manufacturer and model. Sales is a bell curve and timing means a lot.

Even the feds through Sarbanes-Oxely (the disaster that it is) requires that for public companies, all sales revenue meet certain criteria in order for the Mfr to claim it as 100% revenue.

So why don't they show the more interesting number, which is sell-through? Because its volatile as well and effected by timing, competitive announcements and would give them more visibility and less flexibility to reverse a negative trend. Also unless everyone reports sell-through you look worse than they do.
Not sure about the SOX reporting for phone sales....usually there is some kind of financial company involved in SOX reporting. But even the companies that report on sell through...are they adjusting for returns. Refurbs as you said? i don't think they do. I do agree that sales are always a changing figure....but if you do not state shipped to retailers as a preliminary sales figure....then you would not report sales until the EOY. that is the only time you could adjust for any returns buy backs or redurbs as you call them....but then a refurb is still sold.....you only count them once....not when shipped and then again if they are resold.
I still tand by my original statement...shipped is sold....
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Only difference is SOME of Apple's reported numbers are direct sales and they maintain a large retail store chain and sell through their website as well.

Right, about 1/5 of iPhone sales are to end users from Apple stores... in the US, that is. No doubt much less in the rest of the world, where there are far fewer company stores.

iphone_sales_by_outlet.jpg

Having worked with the industry, you'd be surprised how much product gets returned. Some of it can be reconditioned.

Always makes me wonder how many of Apple's reported sales are lower priced refurbs. They must sell millions each year.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Right, about 1/5 of iPhone sales are to end users from Apple stores... in the US, that is. No doubt much less in the rest of the world, where there are far fewer company stores.

View attachment 413597



Always makes me wonder how many of Apple's reported sales are lower priced refurbs. They must sell millions each year.

Ya, I knew it wasn't a majority or anything, but they do have SOME sales numbers. That was all.

And I don't know about you, but most of the time I feel BETTER actually getting a refurb.....from what I've heard and read, the refurbs are more stringently QA'ed than the ones that come off the assembly line first.
 

Tinmania

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2011
3,528
1,016
Aridzona
Now you see - this is where living in Ireland comes in handy. We only get to see the sun for 8 hours in any given year :p Seriously were on our 5th or 6th terrible summer here and praying for some relief... :D

I'll trade you one of your bad summers for one of ours. Not looking forward to hoping it will "cool down" to below 43C/110F.

Michael
 
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Tinmania

macrumors 68040
Aug 8, 2011
3,528
1,016
Aridzona
I'll see your dry, 115F - and raise you 105F with 90% humidity..... :p
As someone who has lived in Houston and spent a lot of time in the Rio Grande Valley--in the summer--I say.... NO THANK YOU. ;)

I'll take 115 dry over 105 with humidity any day!

Michael
 
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jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
As someone who has lived in Houston and spent a lot of time in the Rio Grande Valley--in the summer--I say.... NO THANK YOU. ;)

I'll take 115 dry over 105 with humidity any day!

Michael

Ya - used to go to Arizona during summer vacation. I MUCH preferred the 120 degree days to our summers....lol

Still hotter than hell though.
 
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