Industry slipped in Q4 without Apple help

Looking at fourth-quarter results, Apple now represents almost half of cellphone/mobile computing industry revenues, and over 80 percent of its profits, says Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt. The industry is in fact said to have risen about 34 percent with Apple results included, but actually dropped 0.4 percent without the company. Some businesses might actually crack in the face of Apple competition and leave the market this year, the analyst argues, calling it a "make or break" period.

"The broad handset industry appears to be heading into recession territory with overall handset shipment growth decelerating substantially to the lowest level since 2009," McCourt writes. "It appears likely Q1:12 could decline Y/Y in unit terms if normal seasonality occurs. Historically, this has only happened during meaningful global recessions [...] Outside of Samsung, it’s getting increasingly hard to understand where the rest of the competitors will get the R&D dollars to compete longer term given their shrinking profitability. Perhaps Microsoft and Google have the answer."

One company that could be at risk is HTC, which recently reported a second weak quarter in a row. The firm's main problem may be Samsung, which is also a prominent Android device maker, but which has won more attention with phones like the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Nexus.

By Electronista Staff