Apple took a whopping 92 percent of smartphone industry profits for Q4 2016

By Christian de Looper Published February 8, 2017

Apple is on a roll. The company took over 91 percent of the smartphone industry’s profits for six straight quarters, and now it has officially extended that record to seven straight quarters, according to a report from Canaccord Genuity. In fact, the company captured a hefty 92 percent of industry profits during the fourth quarter of 2016, despite only accounting for 18 percent of unit sales.

Apple has a history of taking massive profits in the smartphone industry — and in some quarters it has even taken more than 100 percent, something that is only achievable because other manufacturers actually lost money during that particular quarter. As part of the report, six major smartphone manufacturers were surveyed, and four of those manufacturers were profitable.

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So who else took profit? Well, according to the report, Samsung captured 9 percent, while Sony and BlackBerry both captured less than 1 percent. Again, the total figure only sits at over 100 percent because other manufacturers reported loses rater than profits. Those manufacturers, according to the report, include Microsoft and LG Electronics.

Apple’s success isn’t all on its own back — the company also may have benefited from the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall, which saw Samsung’s flagship device for the second half of 2016 coming off the market after users began reporting the Note 7’s battery catching fire.

It’s possible that Apple’s profit streak may break some time soon. According to Canaccord analyst T. Michael Walkley, it’s expected that iPhone sales will slow over the next few months as consumers begin looking forward to a new range of iPhones later in the year.

The last time the report was published, it was noted that Huawei was one of the most profitable smartphone manufacturers, with around 2 percent of industry profits. It’s unclear where Huawei sat in the new report — however, its possible that the company will report losses for the fourth quarter of 2016.

Christian de Looper

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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