Unfortunately for Samsung, falling smartphone sales figures have been an ongoing problem.
>Samsung’s mobile phone sales have been taking a hit this year. It’s a downward trend that started during last year’s holiday quarter and has persisted throughout 2018. Both IDC and Strategy Analytics report that Samsung’s smartphone sales have dipped around 13 percent in the recent quarter. That follows a 10 percent decline in Q2, a 2 percent drop in Q1, and a 4 percent dip in Q4 2017. It’s a clear sign that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy S9 devices haven’t been competitive at the high-end
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/2/18055094/samsung-smartpho...
I don't disagree that there's a larger trend going on, I'm just saying that this isn't a particularly good data point because there are other underlying factors.
The numbers that were just released are for their fiscal fourth quarter which covers sales through the end of September, so we are talking about a couple of days worth of sales in 2017 with only the (then) new iPhone 8 variants for sale but not the iPhone X and a couple of days worth of sales in 2018 with only the iPhone XS variants for sale but not the iPhone XR.
I don't really see any calendar related difference for Samsung's flagships between 2017 and 2018.
I don't see any of that being greatly material when you look to explain the difference between a tiny year on year smartphone sales increase for Apple and a massive year on year smartphone sales drop for Samsung.