Record turnover, but profit drop for Apple

Samsung leaves Apple far behind

The drop in profits is mainly a consequence
of increased competition from Samsung in the smartphone and tablet sector,
the main source of Apple’s results. That is why the gross margin on Apple’s
sales dropped from 40 to 37 %. 

Its influence is mainly visible in the third quarter of 2013: Strategy
Analytics calculated that Samsung sold 88.4 million smartphones in that quarter,
whereas Apple sold not even half of that: some 33.8 million smartphones – and even that was a record high. Apart from Samsung, also Huawei and Lenovo are charging ahead, selling 12.7 million and
10.8 million smartphones.

Samsung is reaping the benefits of
its leadership position: The South Korean electronics group managed a 5.6
billion euro profit in the third quarter, a quarter more than in the same
period the year before. Turnover was 40 billion euro.

Hoping for a better Christmas

Apple is hoping for better
Christmas sales than in 2012, estimating a 55 to 58 billion dollars (40 to
42 billion euro) turnover in the fourth quarter of 2013. Last year, turnover
reached 54.5 billion dollars (39.6 billion euro).

2013’s final quarter is Apple’s first
full quarter selling the iPhone 5c, the iPhone 5S and the new iPad Air. The
previous quarter only saw one week’s sales of the 5c and 5s models, in a
limited number of regions.

(translated by Gary Peeters)