With demand for the iPhone 4S still climbing, Apple has claimed a monumental 80 percent of all smartphone profits in the last quarter of 2011, as reported by Canaccord analyst Michael Walkley. The share of profits saw a steep rise from the previous quarter when they stood at 56 percent. This surprising statistic is even more monumental considering the fact that Apple controls only 8.1% of the smartphone market.
As compared to the 20 million iPhones sold in the September quarter, Apple sold 37 million iPhones in December and earned a stupendous $13 billion, thanks mainly to the launch of the iPhone 4S during the Christmas holiday season. Walkley also raised his price target for Apple’s shares on Thursday, bringing it up from $650 to $665 per share. The estimates for the sale of iPhone have also been increased from 30.1 million to 32.6 million units, while for the entire year they have been raised from 140 million to 148 million units.
Walkley went on to say that according to their January sales data the iPhone was continuing its winning streak from December by outselling all other phones on all the carriers- Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. The analyst also stated that an iPhone 5 with LTE and a larger display could propel iPhone sales even higher than estimated for the second half of the year.
Trailing far behind Apple’s enviable position is Samsung, claiming 15 percent of total profits, considerably lower than the 26 percent in the previous quarter. Its share of Android customers, however, went up from 35 percent to 39 percent in the December quarter. The remaining 5 percent was taken up by HTC who snapped up 3 percent of the earnings, with Nokia and RIM following with 2 percent. Motorola and LG ended the quarter on neutral terms while Sony Ericsson reported a loss of 2 percent.
While Apple and Samsung together reign supreme over the mobile phone market, companies such as Nokia and RIM have been struggling to catch up. Nokia is currently in the middle of a transition to the new Windows Phone OS from its old Symbian OS while RIM has been facing problems with dwindling sales and a looser grip on the market. The latter has also undergone a major change in management with a new CEO, Thorsten Heins, taking over from the co-founders.
