Samsung tops Apple as most profitable smartphone manufacturer

For the last couple of years, Apple has been the most profitable smartphone manufacturer. But that has changed and after Tuesday's earnings report from the Cupertino based OEM, it is now Samsung that is the most profitable of the smartphone manufacturers. Apple's report yesterday showed that the company sold 31.2 million units of the Apple iPhone for its fiscal third quarter, accounting for part of the company's profit of $6.9 billion. Gross margin, at 36.9% of sales, was down from the prior year's 42.8%.

On the other hand, Korean based Samsung estimated that it sold 71 million smartphones in its latest quarter which helped Sammy produce $8.33 billion in profits on $50 billion in revenue. Of course, part of the difference between the two companies when it comes to smartphone sales is the large number of different smartphone models that Samsung produces compared to the three made by Apple. These figures are based on a forecast made by the tech titan earlier this month. The official numbers are expected to be released on Friday.

With Apple rumored to be adding a low-cost version for the emerging markets, and a new full-price version due by the end of the year, we could see Apple put on more of a challenge to its main rival by the time the company reports its 2014 fiscal second quarter figures.

source: Apple via SamMobile