It is a statistic that will worry virtually all smartphone makers: despite having less than 20% of the global smartphone market share, Apple somehow raked in 92% of the entire operating profits attributed to global smartphone sales in the first quarter of this year.
Even more worrying is the accompanying statistic: this surge follows from last year’s trend, where Apple’s smartphone profits accounted to 65% in Q1 2014. As a comparison, the only other smartphone maker to make any notable profit is Samsung, which recorded a disappointing 15% profit in Q1 2015.
The findings were released by investment firm Canaccord Genuity to the Wall Street Journal. There were plenty of interesting facts to note as well, besides the fact that Android phones bring virtually no profit to most companies. For instance, BlackBerry, long thought to be bleeding money, merely broke even in Q1 this year, while Lenovo – one of the world’s top 5 smartphone makers – recorded a loss after its acquisition of Motorola; Lenovo says it may take up to six quarters before its Motorola business becomes profitable.
HTC, as many would know, didn’t do very well. Its One M9 flagship failed to stir any meaningful interest, resulting not only in disappointing sales, but also its share prices dropping 10% since the M9’s announcement. Microsoft, despite its flagging Lumia smartphone sales, managed to take home 4% of total profits in Q1 2015.
(Image credit: Ars Technica)
The sales records of other companies such as Xiaomi and Micromax, which are privately owned, could not be recorded. However, given their business model of selling its smartphones at close to cost, it is unlikely that they would make any notable difference in the global statistic.
What’s really amazing is in Apple’s ever-increasing profit margins. With an average selling price of $624, 2014’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were Apple’s best-selling iPhones ever, selling 43% more iPhones than the previous year – and at a higher price. As the only maker of iOS devices, and the unerring ability to deliver to its loyal customer base, this trend is unlikely to change anytime soon – Apple has already apparently ordered 90 million units of its upcoming iPhone 6S and that could mean very bad news for all other smartphone players today.
