Apple iPhone: cell market share small but profit share huge

February 06, 2012, 10:42 AM ?

Apple makes just under 9% of all cell phones worldwide, but iPhones pull in 75% of profit made by all makers.

Thanks to Horace Dediu of Asymco for this analysis, which tracks the worldwide cell phone market. And worldwide, Apple's iPhone accounts for 8.75 percent of total volume of units sold. Not too impressive for all the hype. But impressive, maybe amazing, is Apple's current share of profits from their handset manufacturing business: they take three of every four dollars, worldwide, of handset profits.

This is up from 39 percent in the second quarter of 2010, so the rise has been meteoric. And since smart phones cost far more than "feature phones," Apple also grabs more revenue than anyone else: 39 percent. Second to Apple, in both profit and revenue, is Samsung, at 16 percent of profit and 25 percent of global revenue. Good numbers, but not nearly Apple numbers.

Amazing

Remember Apple's unveiling of the OG iPhone? Their goal was 1% of global phone market-share (10M units) by 2008.
r00fus on asymco.com

You're not selling a device. You're selling User Experience and the ecosystem that's built around it. The competition has yet to learn this.
*LTD* on macrumors.com

Apple is actually fighting a two-front war with both the traditional manufacturers and the carriers, who are natural allies (with the carriers dominating the alliance). And Apple is *winning*.
Walter Milliken on asymco.com

Crystal ball

Once Apple signs with China Mobile, it's total world domination (75% of profits will look like a joke one or two years from now).
Nicu_Mihalache on fortune.cnn.com

I believe the iPhone will continue to gain market share, raising it from around 8.7% perhaps to as much 30% or more of the entire mobile phone market. The iPhone 5 may stimulate another huge market share surge later this year.
Secular_Investor on asymco.com

At what point are carriers forced to re-negotiate their terms with Apple, or even drop the iPhone altogether? Apple is doing extraordinarily well, but they may also be killing the golden goose.
elko on fortune.cnn.con

Scrambling responses

But it looks to me as if Apple has transitioned from being a disruptor of the mobile phone business and into a sustainer of the new pocket computer-cum-phone.
Walt French on asymco.com

NOK, back in 2007, was pulling in 55% of the profits.
RadarTheKat on fortune.cnn.com

good luck copying that, samsung
M-O on macrumors.com

Will these numbers have an impact on the Apple-Foxconn production safety issues?

Source: http://www.itworld.com/networking/247476/apple-iphone-cell-market-share-small-profit-share-huge

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