Apple Controls 86% Of The Mobile Industry's Profits | TechTree.com

Apple Controls 86% Of The Mobile Industry's Profits

Despite Apple selling fewer devices than Samsung in the Sep quarter, it's profits were nearly 5 times more

 

Samsung may still be king when it comes to global smartphone sales, but metrics often obscure the underlying reason why companies really do business – profits. According to one analyst, Apple controls 86 percent of the profits earned in the overall handset market during the 3rd quarter of 2014, proving that being bigger doesn't necessarily mean being better.

The research report put together by analyst Michael Walkley of Canaccord Genuity, adds that Samsung's share accounted for just 18 percent of industry profits, the lowest it has been since 2011. Further, Apple and Samsung put together account for more than 100 percent of the mobile industry's profits, because not all companies were in the green.

The report admits that it omits big rig Chinese manufacturers that are creating tidal waves in the industry, due to the lack of data on sales and profits. Apart from that however, the report serves as a pretty good indicator for the state of the global mobile sector, with LG being the only other manufacturer to have a positive value share in the Jul-Sep quarter.

LG controlled 2 percent of the handset industry's profits, boosted by record sales especially for its flagship G3 smartphone in the third quarter of 2013. BlackBerry and HTC are estimated to have 0 percent share, meaning they just managed to break even. With an estimated operating loss of $185 million, Motorola's share stands at -2 percent.

Microsoft was the other big player that lost during the September quarter, with its mobile arm posting an estimated loss of $341 million, translating to -4 percent share of the handset industry profits. Among these manufacturers, Walkley saw the handset industry's operating income fall 17.3 percent year-on-year, highlighting the success of Chinese manufacturers.


TAGS: Apple, Global Smartphone Market, Samsung, Profitability

 
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