Chinese phone supplier Huawei has supplanted Samsung as the second most profitable smartphone brand globally in Q3 2016. Apple continues to remain atop the list, having enjoyed 91 percent of all smartphone profits this year.
Huawei, meanwhile, enjoyed 2.4 percent of the pile, earning an estimated $200 million for smartphone sales during the aforementioned quarter.
Huawei Places Second
It should come as no surprise that Apple has once again cornered the majority of profits in this quarter, likely due to soaring sales of its iPhone lineup, joined by the recently unveiled iPhone 7.
But for the first time in history, Huawei has managed to place behind Apple, touting it as the top seller of Android handsets in the world, and its sales prospects are also looking pleasant.
"We expect Huawei to maintain steady profitability into the first half of 2017," Neil Mawson, executive director of Strategy Analytics, told the South China Morning Post. Mawston's forecast is founded on Huawei's increasing smartphone shipments and efficient operating costs.
Last week, Richard Yu Chengdong, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business group, said that the company aims to be the second biggest phone maker in just two years.
"It's a marathon rather than a sprint in the smartphone market, which is highly competitive and complicated," he said.
Under Huawei on the list are Chinese phone makers Vivo and Oppo, who enjoyed 2.2 percent each from global smartphone profits.
However, Samsung's name was relegated to and grouped with the "Others" category in the list, the collective sales of which cornered 2.2 percent of global smartphone profits in Q3.
Sasmung's progressive misfortune with explosive Galaxy Note 7 units has likely unscrewed it from its firm position, given the terrible profit losses it had to weather as a result of Note 7 recalls and the eventual halt of the device in the production line.
Samsung's Comeback
As per Mawston, Samsung spiraled downward into ninth place, but he pointed out that the company is slated to snatch the second place back from Huawei once it course-corrects its Note 7 debacle and unveils a new flagship such as the rumored Galaxy S8.
Samsung halted production of the Galaxy Note 7 last month in light of growing concerns over units that randomly combusted while charging. The whole strained stint was mired with one blow after another, eventually amounting to a federal-backed airport ban, among others.
Samsung is currently in a recovery period from the Note 7 situation, though development on other fronts like the production of new 10-nanometer chips and its next flagship hasn't stalled.
Do you think Samsung can reaffirm its place behind Apple as the second most profitable phone maker just in time for Q4? Or will it take a few more financial quarters before total recuperation? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
