Strategy Analytics

Apple grabs 89 percent of smartphone profits while Android captures record-low 11 percent

The latest indication that even with its minuscule share of smartphone units sold Apple is clobbering everyone when it comes to profits came Thursday via research firm Strategy Analytics. The research company reported that the Cupertino firm took home an astounding 88.7 percent of operating profit share in smartphones during the fourth quarter of last year.

This is no doubt the effect of strong sales of Apple’s well-received iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets. Android, meanwhile, has fallen to a record-low eleven (11.3) percent.

Apple ties Samsung for the world’s top smartphone maker crown

Driven by phenomenal iPhone sales during the holiday quarter, Apple has now tied Samsung for the title of the world’s top smartphone maker. According to latest numbers from research firm Strategy Analytics relayed by Bloomberg, both companies sold about 74.5 million smartphones during the fourth quarter of last year.

Both companies took an equal 19.6 percent market share in the global market for smartphones. Motorola owner Lenovo was a distant third with a 6.5 percent share, followed by Chinese vendor Huawei, which took a 5.7 percent share. Lenovo and Huawei shipper about 24 million smartphones each.

Apple’s profit eclipses Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and LG combined

What’s more important, smartphones shipped or smartphone profits? That question is at the heart of a debate over competing figures used to bolster Samsung or Apple. A day after a Samsung-friendly market research firm claimed the South Korean firm shipped three times as many phones, new figures show Apple profit higher than most of its rivals combined.

Sales of 33.8 million iPhones during the last quarter earned more than the mobile units of Samsung, LG, Nokia, Huawei, Lenovo and Motorola all together, according to a Wednesday report. The report also ignited a new debate over how corporate figures can be twisted to fit any preconceived notion – such as Apple’s losing battle against Android…

Samsung now selling 1 out of each 3 smartphones

Although Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones during the third quarter, up from 26.9 million a year ago, South Korean Samsung continues to dominate smartphones on a global scale. The company sold more than 88 million smartphones during the same period, comprising 33.2 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, according to one market research firm.

Despite its uptick in unit sales, Apple’s share of the smartphone market for the quarter slipped to 13.4 percent, down from 15.6 percent – something that should be corrected in the fourth quarter, as sales of new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s smartphones come into full view…

For this analyst, Apple needs both low-cost iPhone and iPhablet to stay ahead of curve

Although Apple managed to surprise investors with better-than-expected iPhone sales, some observers see a more daunting future for the flagship Apple smartphone.

Apple’s global smartphone marketshare may have fallen by some estimates to as low as fourteen percent amid increasing pressure from rivals seeking higher margins and more sales.

Strategy Analytics describes the iPhone being “trapped in a pincer movement” between Android cheapos and high-end monster phones with five-inch screens. In other words, as iPhone competitors that churn out inexpensive handsets increasingly march toward the mid-range in hopes of gaining more profit, Apple’s high-end rivals are now moving toward the middle, seeking increased sales…

India overtakes Japan as third biggest smartphone market

For years, the big three smartphone markets have been China, the U.S. and Japan. India now has knocked Japan out of the third spot due in part to better distribution and increased attention from Apple and Samsung, a research firm said Wednesday.

India has recently been in the spotlight as the two smartphone giants battle over the nation’s growing interest in adopting the more powerful mobile phones. As a result, consumers are bombarded with an array of buying options, perhaps explaining why Strategy Analytics is reporting 163 percent smartphone growth in India, four times the global average…

Strategy Analytics: iCloud and iTunes Match are top cloud media services in US

This is kind of interesting. According to a new report from market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple’s iCloud and iTunes Match are the top cloud media services in the United States.

The firm asked 2,300 Americans which online digital locker storage services they used to store music, video or games online. And believe it or not, iCloud/iTunes Match took the field…

Samsung leads Apple, Lenovo in China smartphone market

An interesting report on what smartphone brand is leading in China leaked over the weekend. It’s interesting because most market updates are distributed far and wide. Instead, the South Korean news agency Yonhap published a private report indicating that country’s Samsung leads Apple and others in the huge mobile marketplace.

According to the Strategy Analytics report obtained by Yonhap, Samsung is the number one brand in China with 17.7 percent of the market during 2012. Intriguingly, Samsung’s rise coincides with a plummeting Nokia, which previously held the top spot…

Strategy Analytics: iPhone 5/4S are world’s two most popular smartphones

Just as investors are (again) punishing the Apple stock on talk of Foxconn freezing recruitment in China amid weakening iPhone 5 demand (or perhaps because the iPhone 5S is entering production in March?) comes a new survey of the smartphone market by research firm Strategy Analytics. And the numbers look good: the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S each outsold Samsung’s Galaxy S III during the all-important 2012 holiday quarter.

This makes the iPhone 5 the world’s bestselling smartphone, but what’s really eyebrow-raising is that the 16-month old (and now discounted) iPhone 4S also overtook Samsung’s flagship device…

Apple overtakes Samsung as top US mobile phone vendor

According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, strong iPhone 5 sales and a record-breaking holiday quarter have pushed Apple ahead of Samsung in US mobile phone marketshare with a brawny 34%.

For the first time ever, the Cupertino company has become the largest mobile phone vendor in the United States. And for the first time since 2008, Samsung is not. We’ve got more on the report after the fold…

iPhone 5 helps Apple grab a quarter of the world’s LTE device market

In less than three months the iPhone 5 has been available, Apple has laid claim to more than 26 percent of the LTE device market.  While rival Samsung still is the LTE leader, its position fell by nearly 11 percent following the iPhone 5’s September 21 launch, researchers say.

Smartphones from by Apple and Samsung are leading an explosion in LTE use. While 2011 ended with nine million 4G subscriptions, 2012 will exit with fifty million LTE users, according to Strategy Analytics. Asia appears to be a hotspot for LTE use, the research firm noted…