Apple nabbed nearly half of the available profits in the $6 billion mobile phone market in Q2, according to Asymco.
Apple took 48% of overall market ebit during the quarter, despite generating only 3% of sales, Asymco said. The company has held on to a similar proportion of the market for over a year.
Apple's Q2 share was more than double that of closest competitor Nokia, even though Nokia captured 34% of total sales.
The disparity is partly down to Apple's emphasis on profitability over sales, as well as the increasing importance of the smartphone market, Asymco said.
Apple and RIM, both exclusive smartphone vendors, have gone from a combined 7% profit share to 65% in the last three years.
The data indicates that handset makers have yet to come up with a real response to the iPhone, Asymco said.
Samsung and Motorola eked out a respective 1% and 2% share of the ebit pie in the quarter, after eight quarters of both running at an ebit loss. But LG sank to a loss after years of profit.
The overall available profits in the market dipped to under $4 billion at the worst point of the recession, but had recovered to $6 billion in last year's holiday quarter.
While Apple has been losing ground to Android in recent months – Android is now the biggest-selling US smartphone OS – Asymco does not expect the platform to challenge Apple's profit share.
It points out that smartphone leaders Nokia, Apple and RIM will never adopt Android, as it would further threaten their margins. As a result, Google has been forced to hitch its wagon to the vendors with the lowest shares of the smartphone market.
“That means Android is aligned with the biggest losers in the industry,” Asymco said.
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