Apple and Samsung are in the midst of a patent-fueled war with no end in site, but the pair has also inadvertently joined forces to make it increasingly difficult for other vendors to continue making smartphones. New estimates suggest Apple and Samsung combined to take in a staggering 95% of smartphone industry profits in the fourth quarter of 2011. The figures paint an even bleaker picture for the rest of the players in the smartphone business than earlier estimates; UBS analyst Maynard Um said last week th...

Apple’s iPhone is the most profitable product offered by the most valuable company in the world. With only three iPhone models in its lineup, the Cupertino-based technology giant shipped more smartphones last quarter than any other vendor in the world. Carriers that sell Apple’s sought-after smartphone enjoy huge activation figures each quarter as a result, but activations and unit sales don’t necessarily paint a complete picture. In fact, according to some industry watchers, carriers hate t...

Sprint on Wednesday reported its results for the fourth quarter of 2011. The nation’s No.3 carrier sold 1.8 million iPhones, 40% of which were sold to new subscribers, and it managed 1.6 million total net subscriber additions in the quarter — its best performance in terms of customer acquisition since 2005. Sprint still posted a net loss of $1.3 billion in the quarter, however, or a diluted loss of $.43 per share. The carrier saw net operating losses increase to $438 million from $139 million in the...

Impressive data points from Apple’s record-setting holiday quarter continue to trickle out, and new estimates suggest that the company accounted for a staggering share of mobile profits in the fourth quarter of 2011. Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt wrote in a research note on Tuesday that Apple took in approximately 50% of all mobile industry revenues last quarter. Even more impressive, the analyst says Apple’s high-margin iPhone lineup accounted for more than 80% of all mobile phone profits. ...

Apple has argued on multiple occasions that Samsung builds mobile products that ”blatantly imitate the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success.” Courts seem to disagree for the most part, with only a pair of injunctions having been issued despite dozens of complaints Apple has filed around the world. There are some areas where Samsung does seem to take pages out of Apple’s playbook, however — Samsung’s new anti-iPhone ad strategy is somewhat reminiscent o...

HTC on Monday reported earnings for the fourth quarter last year along with guidance for the first quarter that missed analysts’ estimates. Further highlighting the slump that began in October with the launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S, the Taiwan-based vendor posted fourth-quarter revenue of NT$101.42 billion, or approximately $3.5 billion USD, down 2.5% compared to the same quarter in 2010. Gross profit slid nearly 12% in the fourth quarter to NT$27.5 billion, and HTC’s total assets on hand at t...

Industry watchers agree that smartphone sales will continue to balloon in 2012, but much of the projected growth will seemingly be enjoyed by just two companies. In a report to clients earlier this week, UBS analyst Maynard Um lowered his full-year unit sales projections for cell phones to 1.69 billion from his earlier estimate of 1.7 billion units. At the same time, however, he raised his industry revenue estimates to $242.8 billion from $238.8 billion thanks in large part to a huge year projected for both A...

Kazuo Hirai was appointed Sony’s new chief executive on Wednesday and one day later, the company reported a wider than expected loss in the third fiscal quarter of 2011 that sent its stock tumbling more than 6% in early trading. The firm posted an operating loss of $1.2 billion on $23.4 billion in revenue, down more than 17% compared to the same quarter in fiscal 2010, and its net loss for the quarter totaled $2 billion. Sony also said it now anticipates a full-year loss of $2.9 billion, more than twice...

LG Electronics on Wednesday posted its second consecutive quarterly loss despite record flat-panel TV shipments and solid performance from its mobile handset division. The South Korea-based electronics vendor recorded revenue of KRW 13.81 trillion, or approximately $12.05 billion USD, in the fourth quarter of 2011 along with an operating profit of KRW 23 billion, or about $20 million USD. Including one-time charges however, LG posted a net loss of KRW 112 billion, or approximately $97.7 million USD. The fir...

Apple reported a monster first quarter last Tuesday that sent the company’s stock skyrocketing over the past week. Apple’s holiday quarter was the most profitable quarter ever reported by a technology company, and the second most profitable quarter reported by any U.S. firm. With a market capitalization that now sits in excess of $420 billion, Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world, and with more than $97.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of calendar 2011, Appl...

Samsung on Friday reported record earnings for the fourth quarter last year. In line with the company’s estimates as reported earlier this month, Samsung recorded an operating profit of 5.3 trillion won, or approximately $4.72 billion USD, on sales of 47 trillion won, or approximately $42 billion USD. Samsung had never reported a profit of more than 5 trillion won in a single quarter and its 5.3 trillion won profit represents a 76% increase over the holiday quarter in 2010. Samsung’s mobile busine...

Nokia on Thursday reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011, revealing its third straight quarterly loss but beating analyst estimates. The company saw revenue slide 21% year-over-year to €10 billion, and profit dropped from €884 million in the fourth quarter 2010 to a €954 million operating loss last quarter. Smartphone revenue dipped 38% compared to the same quarter in 2010 to €2.75 billion, and mobile phone sales were off 23% to €3.04 billion. Nokia shipped 113.5 million feature phone...

Following a rare miss in the fourth quarter, Apple on Tuesday reported record earnings in the fiscal first quarter that crushed expectations. Wall Street’s consensus pointed to earnings of $10.06 per share on revenue of $39 billion, and Apple came in way above expectations with revenue of $46.33 and earnings of $13.87 per share. Following the record-breaking launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S, a number of analysts were expecting iPhone shipments to come in at 40 million units or more for the December qu...

Google on Thursday reported solid growth in the fourth-quarter of 2011, but the company missed earnings estimates and shares of Google stock took a hit as a result. The Mountain View, California-based company pulled in $8.13 billion in revenue during the December quarter, up 25% from the same quarter in 2010, and earnings came in at $9.50 per share. Wall Street was expecting $8.43 billion in revenue a profit of $10.51 per share however, and Google’s stock dipped 9% in after-hours trading. Revenue from ...