A new report from Canaccord Genuity estimates Apple grabbed 92% of the profit in the world’s smartphone market, while recording only 20% of actual smartphone sales. The Wall Street Journal attributes this to Apple’s “ability to command much higher prices for its phones.”
Samsung was second in the profits race, tallying 15% of the profits, which does total more than 100%, but that’s due to the other phone makers either losing money, or only breaking even.
Canaccord estimate that when the iPhone first broke into the market, Nokia held almost two-thirds of the smartphone market’s profits. However, it was a different picture by 2012, with Apple and Samsung splitting the industry’s profits 50/50.
Canaccord says Apple’s current profit dominance is a combination of increased iPhone sales, and the higher prices for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, released last fall. Data collected by Strategy Analytics shows Apple sold 43% more iPhones than the year before, and an average price of $659, up from $624 a year before.
