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Apple, Samsung Capture All Of Industry's Smartphone Profits (zdnet.com)
Continuing to operate on razor thin margins, smartphone manufacturers other than Samsung and Apple are bleeding money. Apple accounted for 75 percent of the smartphone's profits in the second quarter this year, down from 90 percent a year ago, according to Canaccord Genuity. Samsung, which has reported strong sales thanks to its Galaxy S7 series of smartphones, accounted for more than 30 percent of the industry, the research added. ZDNet reports: While this tale could revolve around Apple vs. Samsung the larger question is this: Why would any company want to make smartphones? Let's get real. All the profits go to Apple (high end) or Samsung (high end and scale). The rest of the players in the market don't make money and get disrupted by whatever vendor is flavor of the month? Remember that Xiaomi was supposed to be the next big thing in China and elsewhere, but is now being disrupted by Oppo and Vivo. A quarter from now Oppo and Vivo will be thumped by some smartphone manufacturer we haven't heard of yet.
So, in an established market you can't succeed big unless and until you beat the big players. You either make a loss or small profit trying to beat them, or you carve out a niche and make a more reliable profit which will never be big (so long as it remains a niche).
Owl tried to think of something wise to say, but couldn't.
LG's been talking about cutting their mobile division entirely, so I don't doubt how cutthroat the competition is. But it seems awfully unlikely that Samsung and Apple are the only profiteers, since Lenovo and Huawei both boast about how much money they're taking in.
No, I mean the major shareholders of Apple and Samsung.
your analysis is total horseshit. My wife switched from Apple to Samsung because of the cost savings. She thinks the Samsung is an inferior product. It glitches and crashes occasionally, and the auto-correct is horrible compared to the older Apple version she had been using. I'm sticking with Apple because: 1. I own a Mac, and the apps integrate well
2. I like my current iTunes setup, playlists, etc
3. I was impressed by the camera on the current model
4. I agree with my wife about the auto-correct sucking on her Samsung
5. All 5 of my kids own iPods, and I can text them and facetime them, my wife can't
6. I prefer iOS to Android as far as ease of use
7. I don't like the fractured Android versions market.
8. Better games in Apple store
9. Development looks easier for iOS than for Android (I haven't actually gotten around to serious development on either yet)