Tech

Look at how Apple has sucked up all the profits in smartphones

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Apple now makes 94% of the profits in the smartphone industry, according to recent research by Canacord.

This historical chart compiled by Statista shows how quickly and utterly Apple has dominated the smartphone market. Samsung is now the only other major handset company earning significant profits from smartphones.

Five years ago, the iPhone was still the top profit-maker, but a lot of other companies were in the game. Since then, the platform battle has become a two-player race between Apple's iOS and Google's Android, driving third-way competitors like BlackBerry and Microsoft/Nokia down into the loss zone. The fierce competition between Android handset makers, particularly with the rise of inexpensive Chinese Android phones, has also sucked a lot of profit out of the market. 

20151117_Smartphones_BI
Statista

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Matt was an executive editor at Business Insider who ran the San Francisco bureau and oversaw technology coverage for Business Insider.  Previously, he was an analyst for Directions on Microsoft and blogged about music tech for CBS Interactive. From 1995 to 2000, he was a founding editor at CNET.com.