Apple Made 75% of All Mobile Phone Profits in the World Last Quarter

We’ve seen a lot of interesting data regarding Apple’s latest quarterly earnings report over the last few weeks. What some are calling, “the quarter heard around the world,” will go down in history as one of the most profitable three month periods of any company (not just technology-related) ever.

Popular Apple analyst Horace Dediu added to the pile of statistics this morning with a report about Apple’s mobile profit earnings. Apparently, the Cupertino company raked 75% of all mobile phone profits (worldwide) last quarter…

It’s fitting that since Apple was the top smartphone manufacturer in the world, that it also made the most money. According to Dediu, the iPhone-makers accounted for 39% of all mobile phone revenues, and 75% of all profits. Why the large difference between the two numbers? It’s because Apple has higher profit margins (the difference between revenue and costs) than any other handset manufacturer (See: the Tim Cook effect) in the industry.

Perhaps more impressive than its individual achievements is the fact that Apple and Samsung accounted for more than 90% of all mobile phone profits last quarter. 90%. That means that other manufacturers like HTC, RIM, and Nokia only accounted for 10% of all profits. Ouch.

The battle for top smartphone-maker is clearly becoming a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung. And with both companies expected to release some major new products over the next 6 months, it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.