Apple made about $18 billion last quarter, toppling the largest three-month corporate profit of $16 billion that belonged to the Russian juggernaut Gazprom. How did Apple do it? Well, the iPhone line ASP was $687 for the quarter, marking a $50 increase from last year, due to the fact that Apple now has the iPhone 6 Plus, whose starting price is a Benjamin higher than the breadwinner.
The average price to make and sell one, however, is about $220, even with the thorough redesign that the iPhones received, so roughly 200% profit on a handset, and Apple sold a record amount, too. As a result, now Apple has about $178 billion in cash to play with, and those can certainly buy you a lot of innovation still to happen.
Recommended For You
Exactly how much more profitable is Apple than the other phone brands? Try 93%. Yes, that's the share of mobile industry profits that Apple hauled home (or offshore) in this past quarter, according to research firm Canaccord. They also predict a rapid rise in the iPhones user base in the next three years, here's the full scoop:
We believe the strong iPhone 6 replacement sales should continue during C’15, as we estimate only 15% of the current estimated 404M iPhone installed base has upgraded to the new devices. We also anticipate continued strong share gains for the larger screen iPhones from high-tier Android smartphones during C’15 driving strong growth in the iPhone installed base and model the iPhone installed base growing to 487M subscribers exiting C’15 up 20% Y/Y. Longer term, we anticipate a gradually moderating rate of growth for the installed base from C’16 through C’18 and estimate 650M iPhone users exiting C’18. We note this base would only represent 1/3rd of an estimated 1.82B global premium smartphone subscribers anticipated by C’18. Finally, we anticipate steady long-term iPhone replacement sales within this growing iPhone installed base, and we believe this combined with our modest installed base growth expectations position Apple for steady sales of roughly 210M-215M iPhone units annually between C2015 to C2018.
Samsung grabbed the lion's share of the remaining 7%, while the rest are either scraping by, or directly in the red. Pretty demoralizing.
Get Visible as low as $20/mo for 1 year. Limited time offer with code: FRESHSTART
$20
/mo
$25
$5 off (20%)
Offer Ends 6.1.2026 at 11.59pm ET. New members get $5/mo off the $25/mg Visible plan, $35/mo Visible+ plan, or $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 12 months. Promo code FRESHSTART required at checkout.
Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena from 2010 to 2025, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
Recommended For You
COMMENTS (180)
COMMENTS (180)
All comments need to comply with our
Community Guidelines
PhoneArena Community Rules
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: