The first quarter of 2011 has spoken with the hard financial numbers and curiously enough three companies captured an overwhelming 75% of cell phone operating profits in the first trimester of 2011. Apple, RIM and HTC combined for three quarters of all the operating profits in the industry, a figure measuring the companies’ core operations, also known as earnings before interest and tax.
Analyst Horace Dediu at Asymco compiled data for both smartphones and diversified devices in the graphs below, one by volume and the other one by operating profits. The volume graph presents all manufacturers marking the ones who registered a loss in the period in blue.
Phone makers by volume
But what’s even more notable, is the fact that those 75% of the operating profits matched only 16% of the total volume, a correlation underlining the huge added value of smartphones reflected in the second chart. This could also serve Dediu’s point of proving that in some 3 to 5 years feature phones will virtually disappear from the phone makers lineups. Do you agree with such a conclusion? Sound off in the comments below!
Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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