Analysts have estimated that Samsung’s second-quarter operating mobile profits have overtaken that of Apple’s. These reports haven’t been confirmed as yet; however, Samsung did indicate that the company hit $5.6 billion in mobile profits in Q2. Hence, the slight disparity in figures might come from non-mobile sales.
According to Strategy Analytics’ Neil Shaw, a senior analyst, “Samsung combined high sales volumes and high wholesale prices while simultaneously trimming the fat on its overall costs.”
Talking of Apple, Apple, it had been the world’s most profitable smartphone vendor since Q3 of 2009. It is currently facing two main threats – Lower sales of iPhone 5 compared to the other smartphones. Also, Apple is dealing with stronger competition from its manufacturing rivals. Apple is, now, trying to possibly split the iPhone 5 brand into a high-end and a different mainstream smartphone.
Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston said in a statement, “Samsung is performing well in the US market, while Huawei, ZTE and other local brands are growing vigorously in China. Apple is now under intense pressure to launch more iPhone models at cheaper price-points or with larger screens to fend off the surging competition and recapture lost profits in the second half of 2013.”
“I think it’s important to put it in perspective. If you combine the (result story) that we have in Greater China, our revenues there were $4.9 billion for the quarter, and so that’s about 14% of the Company, which is very significant. A few years ago that was in hundreds of millions, and so we’ve grown our business there significantly.” said Senior vice president and CFO Peter Oppenheimer, while answering questions on the company’s recent earnings call regarding Apple’s international sales.