iPhone Looking Invincible With China Demand Helping Dominate Cellphone Profits
CUPERTINO (CBS) - The smartphone market isn't a very profitable one - unless you're Apple (AAPL).
According to a report from Canaccord Genuity, Apple took over 90-percent of the operating profit from the world's top eight smartphone makers in the first quarter, compared to taking two-thirds in the same quarter a year earlier. Samsung essentially takes the rest, and the impressive thing for Apple is that it only sells one in five smartphones bought around the world, cashing in on its top-shelf reputation.
The same thing applies to computers, as Bernstein Research estimates that Apple grabbed half the industry's profits in 2014, despite Mac sales only making up less than ten percent of overall computer sales.
Apple is two months away from its next iPhone revamp, and Wall Street analysts remain optimistic on the company's ability to dominate the market.
A research note from Societe Generale raises Apple to a "Buy" rating, predicting the company will have sold 48-million iPhones in the recent quarter, which Apple reports on July 21.
The note believes a third of those sales are coming from China, which fueled Apple's record profits earlier this year.
But at the same time, the analyst says any slowdown in the Chinese economy would have a major impact on Apple, although not factoring that possibility into current sales.
