iPhone is responsible for a whopping three quarters of all profits earned in the global smartphone market, according to a new report.
Cupertino’s handset business actually accounted for just 13 percent of all smartphone shipments during the second quarter of 2021, a new Counterpoint Research report claims. But thanks to the large profit margins it enjoys on almost all of its products, it is by far the biggest earner.
Last quarter, iPhone contributed 40 percent of global smartphone revenue — more than twice as much as Samsung, which took second place. It also raked in 75 percent of all profits, more than every other smartphone vendor combined.
Counterpoint breaks it down:
Apple has been the biggest profit and revenue generator in the handset business. In Q2 2021, it captured 75% of the overall handset market operating profit and 40% of the revenue despite contributing a relatively moderate 13% to global handset shipments.
While this performance shows the power of the Apple brand, it is still lower than the peak of Q4 2020 when its revenue share reached a staggering 50%, up from 28% in Q3 2020, and its profit share reached an unprecedented 86%, up from 51% in the previous quarter. While there was a significant jump in its shipment share, from 9% to 17% in the same period, the extent of its revenue share reflects the success of its first 5G-enabled iPhone series.
These figures, despite being incredibly promising for Apple, aren’t quite as spectacular as those Apple enjoyed during iPhone’s peak in the final quarter of 2020, when it accounted for 50 percent of global smartphone revenue.
The iPhone has seen an increase in shipments, however, and Counterpoint attributes this to the success to Apple’s first 5G-enabled devices — which first landed last fall as the iPhone 12 series — and interoperability between its different products.
“The convenience with which one may shift between a Mac, iPad and an iPhone encourages users of one Apple device to stay within the Apple ecosystem by acquiring other of the brand’s devices,” the report reads.
Counterpoint expects Apple to “retain this edge,” which would enable it to keep its higher price tags and profit margins for the foreseeable future.
