Apple Makes 94 Percent of Global Smartphone Profits: Report

Despite the large hold Android has on the smartphone market, it is Apple's iPhone that continues to bag most of the profits. And the numbers have hit a record high, according to market research firm Canaccord Genuity.

Though it had a 14.5 percent market share in the quarter ended September, Apple now bags a 94 percent of global smartphone profits. The numbers show a steady growth, as Apple's profit share was 85 percent during the same period last year, and 92 percent in the quarter ended July. The average selling price of an iPhone is $670 (roughly Rs. 44,300).

If that didn't paint a complete picture of the financial state of Android smartphones, here's another nugget of insight. The research firm said that Samsung, which is the largest shipper of Android handsets, has an 11 percent share of the global smartphone profits. This is possible because many Android hardware partners have reported negative operating income in the past few months. The average selling price of a Samsung handset is $180 (roughly Rs. 12,000).

The Android handsets manufacturers that are largely hit by the current market performances are HTC, BlackBerry, Sony, and Lenovo.

While companies like Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei, Micromax continue to sell cheap-priced handsets to expand their presence in affordable tier of the smartphone market, despite selling a large number of handsets, the low-margin they make from their handsets doesn't account for a lot of profit.

And it doesn't seem Android handset makers are going to immediately see any improvements in their profits. In a recent earnings call, Tim Cook had announced that of the record 48 million iPhone models it sold in the last quarter, 30 percent of buyers were switching from an Android handset. Cook expected a strong iPhone sales in first quarter of 2016.