Apple and Samsung Accounted For 103 Percent Of Handset Profits in 2012
It has become common knowledge over the last years that Apple and Samsung have conquered the highest peaks and the top 2 rankings in the handset market, and there is no doubt that it is a well deserved rank for them to hold. Extrapolating, we can automatically also attribute the same rankings when it comes to their operating systems: the famously known iOS and Android, who have had a great contribution to taking both brands to the highest peaks in their field. Leaving this domination of both companies aside, we should also implicitly focus our attention to another one of the top elements leading to their ultimate success: their emerging profits, and hence the motor keeping all the wheels turning. Both companies also rule and preside over the mobile arena in terms of profit. But why exactly is this a fact?
Well, to begin with, let’s clear the most important aspect out: both Apple and Samsung are together responsible for a 103% of handset profits in 2013. Ok, but how? Perhaps the most important explanation to take into consideration here is that they are constantly in full domination of the handset world simply because there has been almost no or moreover – a negative level of growth and development in no less than 6 handset maker companies (out of the total of eight leading handset makers). We actually have a report in this sense that places Apple as accountable for 68 percent of the earned 2012 handset profits, and if we look at this closely we realize that it leads to up to more than a double percentage than Samsung, whose phone profits in all of 2012 reach a percentage of 34. So there is a visible difference between Apple and its South Korean competitor, Samsung.
But let’s also see the bigger picture and look into the other competitors on the market. Firstly, if we take Nokia as an example – we will immediately note its -2 percent drop of handset profits in the year 2012, so there has been a stagnation in its profit during the last quarter of 2012. While things might have been much more on the positive side for Sony and Motorola, we can unfortunately not say the same thing for LG, which has had not such a great end of the year, marking a -1 percent drop. And what about HTC? Well HTC was placed as the third most profitable company in the handset makers at the end of the year, but do not get all that excited. Its profit was only of 1 percent and the company had a lot of difficulties to even achieving these numbers. So it is very easy to detect how big the gap in profits is for the other makers in comparison to both Apple and Samsung.
If you are wondering if Apple has encountered a constant growth in profits along the year of 2012, well the answer is pretty easy. Not really. The peak of the profits for the iPhone maker was associated to the holidays season, and this was very obvious to all of us I am sure. According to AppleInsider, it is exactly during the holidays season when Apple reached almost three-quarters of industry profits, so this is huge! How can we explain this? One of the main catalysts has surely been the gifting of Apple’s iPhone, as its launch coincided with the perfect time to help profits for the upcoming fourth quarter. But this is not necessarily the perfect recipe, and things have been quite different when it came to the second leader on the handset market. Samsung did not witness the same boost of profit during the holiday season, but on the contrary. It has had a drop to 29 percent in handset profits. All in all – it has been Apple who used its strategy successfully and gained (without any struggle whatsoever) the first rank in profits during the holidays.
Let’s also catch a glimpse of the online usage of Apple’s iPad, of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and of Samsung’s wide range of Galaxy tablets. Well things are pretty clear and perhaps unexpected here as well. First of all, according to the Chitika ad network, when it comes to online usage percentage, Apple ranks first with its iPad and has scored a percentage of 81. How cool is that? First place again. So now that we have the first one out there, let’s roll with the next places. The second in line is the Kindle Fire and Amazon has managed to get up to a 7.7. percent with it, which is indeed pretty far from the first ranking. But the third place is held by a 3.9 percent of usage between the months of December and January with the wide range of Samsung Galaxy tablets, so the most important 3 places have been filled.
Seeing now how Apple is ranking first in all the tops we have presented, a question – or better said a dilemma suddenly pops up in my mind, and I am sure that yours as well, so I will simply voice it here. Could it be that this was simply a coincidence or luck on behalf of Apple that it scored best in everything for the year of 2012? Will it keep it up like this and raise the flags higher and higher from now on? It seems that everybody is of the belief that this has not been a mere stroke of luck. Analysts have it that both Apple and Samsung shall keep up the good work and remain unbeaten in the domination for best handsets and profits for the upcoming years as well, and I do tend to agree. It will take the other companies a good struggle not only to surpass their domination, but also to even be able to get to their level. It is not only about a good delivery strategy, a good line of products, but it is also about continuity and user satisfaction. It seems that Apple and Samsung have nailed all the chapters right and I will surely grant Apple credits for being able to constantly surprise and surpass our expectations.
