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Apple Continues To Dominate The Smartphone Profit Pool
By: Forbes | March 2, 2018

Investors and analysts tend to be concerned that Apple’s iPhone lags Google’s Android smartphones substantially in unit market share. While any product needs to sell enough to be viable, the other side of the equation is the device’s profitability. It is incumbent on the company that holds the profitability high ground that it maintains the functionality and brand that allows it to be the leader, as there is always the scenario that a very profitable product will have its margins competed away. The bottom line is that while Apple only captured 19% of smartphone shipments per IDC in the December quarter, it seized 87% of the profits per Canaccord Genuity. (Note that I own Apple shares).

iPhone units were about 15% to 20% of the market over the past year

IDC estimates that Apple shipped the most smartphones of any company in the December quarter. It sold 77.3 million iPhones, which was down 1.2% vs. a year ago. However due to the company’s December 2016 quarter having 14 weeks it really had a 6.4% increase in units sold on a per week basis. This led to a 19.2% share for the quarter.

Samsung was a close second in the December quarter shipping 74.1 million smartphones, down 4.4% year over year, for an 18.4% share. Huawei was in third place shipping 41 million smartphones for a 10.2% share. The fourth and fifth positions were also Chinese companies. Xiaomi had a 7.0% share, followed by OPPO at 6.8%.



For the full year Samsung was the unit share leader. It shipped 317.3 million smartphones, up 1.9% from 2016, and captured 21.6% of the market. Apple was a distant second at 215.8 million iPhones for a 14.7% market share. Huawei was third at 10.4%. OPPO came in fourth at 7.6% and Xiaomi was fifth at 6.3%.



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https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/03/02/apple-continues-to-dominate-the-smartphone-profit-pool/?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix&yptr=yahoo#24ffef8a61bb

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