Analyst Pegs iPhone Share of Phone Industry Profit at 104 Percent

Patric Seitz, Investor’s Business Daily:

Apple’s smartphone market share by unit shipments is declining, but it continues to dominate where it counts: profits.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long estimates that Apple accounted for 103.6% of smartphone industry operating profits in the third quarter. Its share is over 100% because other vendors lost money in the business, resulting in Apple having more smartphone profit than the industry netted overall. In the year-earlier period, Apple grabbed 90% of smartphone profits, Long said in a research report Thursday.

Apple was No. 1 by a mile in smartphone operating profit in Q3. Among major vendors, Samsung was No. 2 in smartphone profits with a tiny 0.9% share, he said. Money-losers in the smartphone business last quarter included LG and HTC, Long said.

A very different story than the one painted by the aforelinked “Android has 88 percent market share so Apple is in trouble” story.

★ Friday, 4 November 2016