Apple Feasted On 92% Of Worldwide Smartphone Profits During Q1 2015

Apple has the smartphone sector figured out. That’s not an opinion, but a statement based on the Cupertino outfit accounting for 92 percent of the total profits from the world’s eight biggest smartphone players in the first quarter of 2015. So says Mike Walkley, managing director of Canaccord Genuity, who notes that a year ago Apple’s slice of the profit pie was 65 percent.

Where does that leave Samsung? The South Korean handset maker and Apple’s primary rival snagged 15 percent of the profits. That’s right, Apple and Samsung enjoy greater than 100 percent of the smartphone industry’s profits, which is made possible by the other players — of which there are around 1,000 — breaking even or posting losses.

It’s a crowded field to compete in, and of the more popular names, only Apple has reason to celebrate. Apple also has good reason to reportedly order a record number of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices from suppliers. The demand is there, though what’s interesting about Apple’s position on top of the smartphone totem pole is that it sells less than 20 percent of all handsets.

That means Apple is winning the smartphone game through brand recognition and strategic pricing. Apple has the luxury of charging more for its smartphones, and even though Android dominates the scene in terms of market share, there’s intense pricing competition among Android handsets.

If you missed it, this is a topic we touch on during last week’s Two and a Half Geeks webcast. Our discussion was more focused on Microsoft and whether or not it can turn around its smartphone business, but some of the points are the same. One of those points is that it’s incredibly difficult to challenge Apple in the smartphone space — even Samsung is having trouble despite an overwhelmingly positive reception to its Galaxy 6 and Galaxy 6 Edge devices.

What smartphone brand and model are you rocking these days?