S4 sales and manufacture

[DS1331]

I read Sammy counts it's sales figures as what it ships to retailers not actual sales of the phone. Does every phone manufacture do this same thing? Isn't that kind of counting your eggs before their hatched, because I don't think they get all their money until att and ect. Actually sell the phone to the customer right ? Just curious thanks !

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[meyerweb#CB]

Pretty much. Most phones are not sold by the manufacturer directly to the end user. The manufacturers sell to wholesalers or carriers, and don't really have direct visibility into sales to the end-user. The manufacturer also gets paid by the carrier or wholesaler, and that's the relevant number for them from a revenue and profit standpoint.

It's a pretty good proxy, however. Verizon (and other carriers) isn't going to keep ordering new phones from Samsung unless they're selling the ones they already purchased, and expect to sell the new ones.