Apple grabs 104% of Q3 smartphone profits, thanks to Samsung’s woes

Thanks a lot, Samsung, for these profits: that's what Apple executives may be saying after data released on Friday showed that Apple took virtually all of the smartphone industry's profits in the third quarter of 2016.

With not a little help from exploding Samsung phones, some analysts claim the Cupertino-based tech giant actually took in 104 per cent of the profits (which is also because LG and HTC made losses).

BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said Samsung eked out just 0.9 per cent of the total profit, despite commanding the largest 21.7 per cent market share of all phone makers. Apple is second with 13.2 per cent, while Huawei is the third-largest manufacturer now with 9.7 per cent out of the 346 million smartphones shipped in Q3.

Last year, Apple grabbed 90 per cent of the total profits in the third quarter.

"Few Android vendors make profits," Strategy Analytics Director Woody Oh told Forbes. And while Android clearly dominates the market in numbers, it faces other challenges, including overcrowding by a range of new, low-cost manufacturers. A (See: Google's Android grabs 87.5% of market, but challenges ahead) Plus, he says, "Google's new Pixel range is attacking its own hardware partners that made Android popular in the first place."

According to Forbes, globally, smartphone shipments grew by 6 per cent annually, to 345 million units in the third quarter. That was its fastest growth rate for a year. Most of that growth is coming from emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and in particular, India and South Africa.

Earlier this month, LG revealed that its smartphone division had lost $390 million in the quarter between July and September 2016; the sixth straight quarter of declining profits at the unit. HTC also recently revealed a $63 million loss for the third quarter.

The achievement comes at the same as Apple is criticised by investors for struggling to grow; iPhone sales growth is slowing dramatically and the company broke its 13 year streak of record quarterly earnings earlier this year.

Apple expects to return to revenue growth in the holiday quarter - largely driven by sales of the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.