Apple once more dominates global smartphone profits, though less dramatically

The latest estimates from Strategy Analytics show that Apple continues to take home the lion’s share of total profits in the worldwide smartphone market. While Apple’s slice of the profits has fallen from the 92%+ it has achieved in previous years, it still hit an impressive 79.2% last year, reports Korea Herald.

Apple captured 79.2 percent of global smartphone profits last year, according to the latest research by Strategy Analytics on Wednesday, highlighting the US technology giant’s ability to maximize pricing and minimize production costs. The global smartphone industry was estimated to have posted total operating profits of $53.7 billion last year, with Apple’s operating profit standing at $44.9 billion, the research showed.

Samsung took a distant second place, while Chinese brands – despite their rapid growth in market share – are still barely profitable, says the company …

In comparison, Samsung’s smartphone business posted an operating profit of $8.3 billion last year, accounting for 14.6 percent of the global profits. Samsung is still reeling from the global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which was discontinued in October last year over safety concerns.

Huawei posted an operating profit of $929 million last year, accounting for 1.6 percent of global profits. OPPO took 1.5 percent of the global profits, while its rival Vivo accounted for 1.3 percent, according to the research.

Apple’s profit margin was 32.4% for the year, while Samsung ‘s margin was 11.6%.

At one point, Apple was said to have taken 103% of all profits in the mobile phone sector, the figure of more than 100% made possible by a calculation that factored in the losses made by most brands. After a slump in iPhone sales, the company reported a record quarter for its fiscal Q1 2017, which covers the final quarter of calendar year 2016.