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Apple, Samsung are still crushing every other smartphone vendor

Published Jul 31st, 2013 1:45PM EDT
Apple Samsung Smartphone Profits

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At some point some vendor besides Apple or Samsung will make money selling smartphones… right? Business Insider points us to the latest numbers from Canaccord Genuity showing that Apple and Samsung now account for 103% of all smartphone industry profits. What this means is that every other major smartphone vendor — from HTC to Nokia to BlackBerry to Motorola — is either breaking even or losing money selling smartphones.

This isn’t a new development, of course, but it’s an indication that Apple and Samsung’s rivals have been unable to gain any traction this year despite releasing a slew of new high-end devices such as the HTC One, the BlackBerry Z10 and the Nokia Lumia 1020. It’s also useful to remember that as recently as two years ago, BlackBerry, Nokia and HTC were all still making money selling smartphones while Samsung’s smartphone profits accounted for less than 30% of total profits. Last quarter, by contrast, Samsung’s smartphone profits accounted for 50% of total profits.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.