Profit Competition
Samsung Electronics and Apple together soaked up 97.1% of the total profits generated in the global mobile phone market.
According to October 21 data from market research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics and Apple took 48.8% and 48.3% of the gross profits in the second quarter of this year, respectively. They were followed by LG Electronics (0.5%) and Sony (0.5%).
As recently as two years ago, Apple accounted for 61.6% of the global mobile phone market profits, while Samsung Electronics’ percentage stood at 19.1%. However, in the second quarter of this year, Samsung Electronics recorded US$5.2 billion in operating profits in the market overtaking Apple for the first time by a margin of US$0.6 billion.
With the duopoly in the global handset market becoming permanent, other mobile phone manufacturers face a serious challenge. Motorola and Nokia have already been acquired by Google and Microsoft, respectively. HTC and Blackberry are on the verge of takeovers, too.