Apple and Samsung 'rule the roost' with 90% of mobile industry's profits
UBS Investment Research published a note on Thursday in which it estimated that Apple and Samsung will enjoy 90 percent of the mobile handset industry's earnings before interest in taxes. In addition, the two companies are said to currently account for more than 50 percent of total industry revenues.
Samsung and Apple's share of profits are expected to grow as Samsung's margins are projected to improve to the high teens. Apple's margins, meanwhile, lead the industry, allowing it to take 75 percent of mobile phone profits with just 9 percent of units sold.
UBS has increased its estimated iPhone sales for Apple's fiscal year 2013 to 156.5 million, up from its prior estimate of 149.5 million. The firm expects that Apple is preparing to build a record number of sixth-generation iPhones for its biggest product launch ever later this year.
"Apple has been consistently accelerating the pace of each successive iPhone launch, expanding both country and carrier rollouts within a shorter timeframe," analyst Maynard Um wrote. "For the iPhone 4S Apple launched in 29 countries within 2 weeks of the initial launch, the iPhone 4 was launched in 2 countries within 6 weeks of launch, and the iPhone 3GS was launched in 14 countries within 1 week of its initial launch."
UBS expects the next iPhone will be a completely redesigned model that will drive a stronger-than-average upgrade cycle for existing iPhone users. The updated hardware is also expected to encourage other smartphone and non-smartphone users to switch to Apple.
The only other handset manufacturers outside of Apple and Samsung that UBS sees making a potential splash in 2012 are Huawei and HTC. As for Nokia, the Finnish handset maker is projected to sell only 2.9 million of its Windows Phone-based Lumia smartphones in the first quarter of the year.
41 Comments
Thanks to Apple's innovation, and the Sammy photocopier.....
The final combat will occur between those two. It will be epic ....
It's really becoming very hard to see how Windows Phone ever gets anywhere.
I'm starting to wonder if all the tech reviewers who fawn over the Metro interface are just totally out of touch with mainstream consumers. Maybe mainstream consumers look at a bunch of monochromatic boxes with tons of text and feel simultaneously bored and overloaded with information. Maybe consumers really just prefer the simple yet colorful grid of icons approach that Apple has taken and Samsung has aped.
If that's true -- if the failure of WP7 (and the Zune before it) is as much about consumer dislike of the critically acclaimed Metro interface as about first mover advantages and all the rest -- then that also suggests Windows 8 tablets could be a big flop.
It's really becoming very hard to see how Windows Phone ever gets anywhere.
I'm starting to wonder if all the tech reviewers who fawn over the Metro interface are just totally out of touch with mainstream consumers. Maybe mainstream consumers look at a bunch of monochromatic boxes with tons of text and feel simultaneously bored and overloaded with information. Maybe consumers really just prefer the simple yet colorful grid of icons approach that Apple has taken and Samsung has aped.
If that's true -- if the failure of WP7 (and the Zune before it) is as much about consumer dislike of the critically acclaimed Metro interface as about first mover advantages and all the rest -- then that also suggests Windows 8 tablets could be a big flop.
Microsoft made a lot of mistakes with it. As well as being late to launch they restricted themselves to AT&T, then slowly added other vendors. They needed to go the Andriod or Xbox route and get as many vendors and service providers on board as possible, heavily push a couple of loss leaders in order to gain a foothold in the market. Even now they are restricting themselves (high end Lumia only available on AT&T and now delayed another month). It's dumb, but don't think people expected anything different.
WP8 is targeted at the enterprise, where MS had a lock in the past. I don't see them making appreciable gains from their current (3rd-party license) phones in the enterprise space.
Enterprises are increasingly moving to the iOS devices, along with a number of BYOD initiatives - which increases the iOS infrastructure.