Apple’s £1,000 iphone X pays off with a record 51pc revenue share

THE iphone X was billed by many Apple watchers as a landmark phone with an accompanying sky-high price tag. But fears it would price out customers seem unfounded as Apple surged in the last year to secure more than half of global smartphone revenues.

Apple, which last autumn released three smartphone models in its biggest launch in years, grabbed a record 51pc share of global smartphone revenue in the last three months of 2017, according to Strategy Analytics.

The company’s large share of global revenue is due largely to the higher prices it charges for its phones – typically three times the market average. The iphone sells for around £570, compared to an average of £180 for Samsung models. The fourth quarter is usually dominated by Apple as it is when its newest phones go on sale. In November, Apple launched the £1,000 iphone X, its most advanced and expensive smartphone to date. The phone included technology such as facial recognition and an all-screen display. Apple also released the less-expensive – but by no means cheap – iphone 8 and iphone 8 Plus in September. Analysts at Morgan Stanley also noted that Apple had made recent inroads into China, historically its most challenging market, with a 12pc increase in sales, even as Android models slipped.

Globally, smartphone revenues rose 8pc to an all-time high of $120bn (£85.3bn) in the last quarter of the year, Strategy Analytics found.

The South Korean firm Samsung trailed Apple in a distant second place during the period, chalking up a 15.7pc share of global revenue, at $18.9bn. In terms of handsets sold, Apple also dominated the quarter, shipping 77.3m smartphones to take a 19pc share, slightly ahead of Samsung. Overall, however, volumes in the global smartphone industry contracted, with shipments falling 9pc year on year.

“The smartphone industry has managed to increase massively its pricing and revenues, despite a recent decrease in shipment volumes,” said Linda Sui, director at Strategy Analytics. Ms Sui noted that, like Apple, Samsung had also increased the average price of its phones: “Samsung’s smartphone wholesale average selling price grew strongly, rising 21pc annually.”

It is expected to overtake Apple’s revenues again in 2018 with the launch of its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S9, at the end of this month.