Apple leads in smartphone profits with 91% share, Samsung not in top five

Maker of iPhones, Apple, has dominated the profit charts from smartphone sales with 91% share of profits from all smartphones sold in the third quarter of 2016.

According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, global smartphone profits reached $9 billion in total during the third quarter of 2016 (ended September). While Apple leads the chart with an operating profit of $8.5 billion, Huawei comes in second with just $0.2 billion followed by Vivo and Oppo with the same operating profit numbers.

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"Apple's ability to maximize pricing and minimize production cost is hugely impressive and the iPhone continues to generate monster profits," Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics, said, adding that "Huawei, Vivo and OPPO are the next three most profitable smartphone vendors globally this quarter, but they are still a long way behind Apple."

Lui also said that as per estimates, Huawei generated $0.2 billion of smartphone operating profit worldwide and captured 2% share of all smartphone profits, "taking second spot overall, and becoming the world's most profitable Android vendor for the first time ever."

"An efficient supply chain, sleek products and effective marketing have been among the main drivers of Huawei's robust profitability. Vivo and OPPO followed in third and fourth place and each took 2 percent global profit share. Vivo and OPPO delivered relatively healthy profitability due to disciplined pricing and soaring shipments across Asia," Lui explained.

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However, Samsung was not seen on the list released by Strategy Analytics and this could be attributed to the global recall of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone - Note 7 - which was scrapped. Also, Lenovo, which now owns the Moto brand, didn't make it to the top of the list.

In October, Apple announced a Wall Street beat for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, earning $46.9 billion in revenue on the back of 45.5 million iPhone sales. Though revenues were down year over year, iPhone shipments were better than expected with the iPhone 7 series launch.

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During the most recent quarter, Apple saw iPhone sales increase in 33 of its top 40 markets, and noted record churn from Android switchers. However, much of those gains were offset by a 30% year over year dip in iPhone sales in China.