Apple's (AAPL) smartphone market share by unit shipments is declining, but it continues to dominate where it counts: profits.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long estimates that Apple accounted for 103.6% of smartphone industry operating profits in the third quarter. Its share is over 100% because other vendors lost money in the business, resulting in Apple having more smartphone profit than the industry netted overall. In the year-earlier period, Apple grabbed 90% of smartphone profits, Long said in a research report Thursday.
Apple was No. 1 by a mile in smartphone operating profit in Q3. Among major vendors, Samsung was No. 2 in smartphone profits with a tiny 0.9% share, he said. Money-losers in the smartphone business last quarter included LG and HTC, Long said.,
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Samsung ceded market share in smartphone shipments to Apple and Chinese vendors in the third quarter because of its Galaxy Note 7 troubles, Long said. He expects further share loss by Samsung in the current quarter.
Apple captured over 100% of smartphone industry profits for the first time, thanks in part to Samsung's weaker results, Long said.
Samsung had 21.7% of the smartphone market based on units sold in Q3, followed by Apple (13.2%) and Huawei (9.7%), BMO said.
Global smartphone shipments rose 2.1% year over year to 346 million units in Q3, BMO estimates.
Long predicts that smartphone unit shipments will grow at a compound annual rate of 2.6% from 2015 to 2019.
"Emerging markets will dominate smartphone growth, at 4%, while developed markets will decline less than 1%," Long said.
On Wednesday, Strategy Analytics reported that Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Android operating system captured its highest smartphone market share ever in the third quarter. Android accounted for 87.5% of global smartphone shipments in Q3, compared with Apple's iOS, with 12.1% market share.
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