Losing a court battle to Apple (AAPL) and facing a new competitor in the iPhone 5 doesn’t appear to have hurt sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S3 smartphone.
In fact, a study released Tuesday suggests that sales of Samsung’s flagship phone were at their highest when rival Apple was grabbing the headlines.
Since the end of July, Galaxy S3 sales have surged at three specific moments, according to Localytics, an app analytics company.
The first and highest jump in new Galaxy S III activity came from Aug. 21 to Aug. 27, the same week that Samsung suffered a $1-billion defeat to the Cupertino, Calif., company after a U.S. court found several of its devices infringed Apple products.
“The deluge of post-litigation press coverage both drove general attention to Samsung and suggested that Samsung devices were similar enough to iPhones to be an option for many consumers,” said Localytics on a blog post.
The next high for the Galaxy S3 came Sept. 11 to Sept. 17, and as you may recall, that’s the same week Apple announced the iPhone 5.
“Apple’s announcement was quickly followed by hundreds of stories comparing the two phones, most of which again suggested they were similarly capable,” Localytics’ post said.
But Localytics says Galaxy S3 sales slowed the week prior to the iPhone 5’s announcement Sept. 12, which the company interpreted as people waiting to hear about the new Apple device before deciding which phone to purchase.
The third largest jump came Sept. 18 to Sept. 24, which includes the day the iPhone 5 went on sale. During that time, Samsung ramped up its marketing against the Apple device with a notable newspaper ad that compared the two devices and a commercial that poked fun at Apple fans waiting in line for the iPhone 5.
Localytics estimated the sales data based on how many new Galaxy S3 devices used its clients’ apps from July 31 through Monday.
Samsung has not released sales figures for the periods that the company measured.