Michael Walkley of the Canaccord Genuity group says Apple 17 million mobile handsets in the first half of 2010, compared with 400 million handsets sold by Nokia, Samsung and LG.
Yet he told clients — as reported by “Fortune” (http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/21/pie-chart-apples-outrageous-share-of-the-mobile-industrys-profits/) — Apple pulled in 39% of the industry’s profit during that period, more than the 32% earned by the world’s three largest handset makers combined.
“We are also impressed with Apple’s ability to monetize its innovative products through selling high-margin consumer products that drive strong earnings results and growth trends for Apple shareholders,” Walkley said. “A case in point is the mobile phone market, where most handset OEMs struggle to post a profit or even 10% operating margins (except RIM and recently HTC), while we estimate Apple boasts roughly 50% gross margin and 30%+ operating margin for its iPhone products.”