SAN FRANCISCO—Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. combined accounted for all of the cellular handset industry's profit in the second quarter—and then some— according to an analyst.
Apple and Samsung took a combined 108 percent of all handset profits in the second quarter, T. Michael Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said in a report circulated Monday (Aug. 6). The figure is greater than 100 percent because several handset vendors—including Research in Motion Ltd., Nokia Corp., Motorola Mobility LLC and Sony Corp. posted operating losses during the calendar second quarter, Walkley said.
Apple generated roughly 71 percent of second quarter handset industry operating profits despite selling only about 6.5 percent of handsets on a unit basis, Walkley said. He estimated that Samsung's share of industry profits increased to 37 percent in the second quarter, up from 26 percent in the first quarter.
Click on image to enlarge.Walkley estimated that about 399 million handsets shipped in the second quarter, up from 391 million in the first quarter, a lower than normal seasonal increase of only 2 percent. Sales of smartphones increased 3.6 percent to reach 162 million units in the second quarter, while feature phone sales increased 1 percent to reach 237 million units, Walkley said.
"Our checks indicated growing smartphone sales in Asia, but weaker seasonal smartphone sales in U.S and Western Europe markets due in part to the iPhone product cycle and limited 28-nm supply impacting certain OEMs ability to ship planned LTE smartphones," Walkley wrote in the report. "We also believe weak macro trends in Western Europe contributed to the slower June quarter smartphone sales versus normal seasonal patterns."
According to Walkley, Apple's smartphone market share actually declined in the second quarter to 16.1 percent, down from 22.4 percent in the first quarter. Walkley blamed Apple's iPhone product cycles for the decline. Apple is believed to be preparing to launch iPhone 5, and many analysts believe potential customers are delaying purchases until the new model is available.
Canaccord Genuity projects that Apple's smartphone market share will further decline in the third quarter to about 13.8 percent as consumers continue to anticipate the next iPhone launch.
Next: Samsung benefits from iPhone decline
