Apple led global smartphone profits in 2016, but Samsung poised to narrow the gap a little this year

Business has been good for Apple. According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, the company captured 79.2 percent of global smartphone profits in 2016. The tech giant generated an operating profit of $44.9 billion and had a profit margin of 32.4 percent. Global smartphone profits stood at $53.7 billion.

Meanwhile, Samsung came in second with an operating profit of $8.3 billion, which accounts for 14.6 percent of the global profits. These numbers would likely be a bit higher if it wasn’t for the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, which took a lot of money out of Samsung’s pocket. Nevertheless, the difference between the two companies is currently quite large but things might change this year (more on that in a moment).

HUAWEI and other Chinese manufacturers are becoming increasingly popular among consumers, but their profitability is still low. HUAWEI posted an operating profit of $929 million last year, which is just 1.6 percent of the global profits. It is followed by OPPO, a company that took 1.5 percent of the global profits and vivo (1.3 percent).

Moving towards the future, it looks like Samsung Electronics will be a lot more successful this year than it was in 2016. According to The Korea Herald, the company is expected to report a 30 percent operating profit increase in the first quarter of the year when compared to the same period a year ago, mainly because of strong sales of semiconductors. The popular smartphone manufacturer is likely to post an operating profit of 8.7 trillion won, which is around $7.5 billion.

In 2017, Samsung might increase its global smartphone profits, as we expect to see a few great devices from the company, which will probably be a hit among consumers. These include the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, both of which will feature a large curved screen with minimal bezels that really is easy on the eyes. Both devices are rumored to cost more than their predecessors, which will help the company bring in more money.

Additionally, Samsung will also announce the Galaxy Note 8 that should sell well — if it doesn’t blow up in your hand like its predecessor did. The company has big plans for the device and has apparently decided to codename it “Great”.

It will be fun to see if Samsung will be able to get back on track and grab a bigger chunk of global smartphone profits in 2017 and take some money away from Apple in the process.