Samsung takes 43% of the handset industry’s profits in Q1 2013, Apple gets the rest

BY Stefan Constantinescu

Published 7 May 2013

The analysts at Canaccord Genuity recently shared a report with AppleInsider that says Apple took 57% of the handset industry’s profits during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung got the remaining 43%. Everyone else simply lost money. Yes, LG posted a small profit, as did HTC, but we’re talking a handful of millions of dollars. Stuff that to Apple and Samsung can be accounted for due to currency fluctuations.

Now these numbers shouldn’t be controversial, but to some folks they are. Some people will say Samsung shipped more smartphones than Apple, so therefore they’re the better company! But isn’t the point of a company to make money? And if you’re going to say the company that shipped the most devices is the best, then technically Nokia is the champsion since they moved more boxes than either Samsung or Apple. Of course it’s silly to compare a $15 featurephone that gets sold to an African farmer with a $700 Samsung Galaxy S4, but people still make those comparisons.

And hey, let’s be honest, you really should’t be cheering on a company as if they were some kind of national football team. This is business, let he who makes the best products win.