Apple really knows how to make a buck.
During the third quarter, Apple generated 91% of the smartphone market’s profits, setting a new quarterly record, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Tuesday. Apple secured $8.5 billion of the worldwide smartphone market’s $9.4 billion in profits during the period.
Apple was far ahead of China-based Huawei, which was able to nab 2.4% of the smartphone market’s profits with its $200 million handset net income. Vivo and Oppo, two other Chinese smartphone makers, captured the smartphone market’s remaining profits during the quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.
Apple’s (AAPL) profit was due in part to the successful launch of its iPhone 7 in September. However, the iPhone 7 was only available for a few weeks in the third quarter, meaning much of Apple’s profits came from older handsets, including the iPhone 6s and iPhone SE.
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Earlier this month, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a research note that Apple had secured all of the smartphone market’s profits during the quarter. His calculation, which takes into account companies that lost money during the period, found that Apple also benefited from the demise of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7.
“Samsung had a weak third quarter, owing to halt and recall of the Galaxy Note 7,” Long wrote to investors. “After registering the highest operating margin since early 2014 last quarter, Samsung’s profitability fell to near-breakeven levels in September. Samsung’s market share slipped to 22% of global smartphone shipments in the quarter, and we model share to fall to the lowest level since mid-2011 next quarter.”
It’s notable that Samsung, which has been one of the more prominent smartphone makers in the world for the last several years, didn’t even make it into Strategy Analytic’s roundup of companies that generated a sizable profit last quarter. In earlier quarters, Apple and Samsung combined to capture most, if not all, of the smartphone market’s profits.
While Strategy Analytics didn’t discuss Samsung’s troubles during the quarter, the company did say that the Chinese smartphone vendors were able to deliver appealing products while Samsung was dealing with the Galaxy Note 7 fallout.
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“Huawei, Vivo and OPPO have not only improved their smartphone product lineups this year, they have also enhanced their operational abilities and kept a tight lid on expanding distribution costs,” Linda Sui, Strategy Analytics director said in a statement.
Still, the data suggests every other company has a long way to go to catch Apple in generating smartphone profits. Better yet for Apple, its record-breaking profits came despite iPhone unit sales slipping 5% and revenue sliding 13% during its last fiscal quarter ended Sept. 24.
