Bidness ETC - Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) soaring in smartphone market

Apple crossed Samsung smartphone sales; Lenovo, Xiaomi, Huawei attracted market by offering inexpensive sets.

Smartphone sales escalated one billion mark in 2014, Gartner published its report regarding smartphone sales in Q4, 2014 on Tuesday. According to the report Apple Inc. succeeded in controlling the industry whereas SAMSUNG ELECT LTD lost the market hold it reigned over for past 3 years.

According to the report 367.5 million devices made their way to global consumers. Of which Apple sold 75 million smartphones whereas Samsung was able to sell 73 million handsets. The margin does not pose a massive difference in terms of handsets sold however ensures a leap of 0.5 percentage points which turns out to be a game changer for two dominant forces in the smartphone industry.

Apple iPhone 6 has completely changed the game for Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). The company’s strategy to launch a bigger smartphone proved to be fruitful since the sales of the latest version have been overwhelming.

According to Anshul Gupta, primary research analyst at Gartner, “Samsung continues to struggle to control its falling smartphone share, which was at its highest in the third quarter of 2013. This downward trend shows that Samsung’s share of profitable premium smartphone users has come under significant pressure.”

Apple has not only sold the maximum number of handsets but also banged the steady flow of revenues throughout Q4. According to a report by Strategy Analytics: Apple has governed almost 90% of profits in the smartphone domain in Q4.

Several smartphones makers emerged in 2014 who disrupted the market at a fairly steady pace. Lenovo, Xiaomi and Huawei are one of the few stakeholders who succeeded in attracting the market by offering inexpensive smartphones. These companies also tripled the number of handsets sold in Q4 2013 to Q4 2014. Irrespective of the growth, the three smartphone manufacturers have not been able to sabotage Apple or Samsung’s share accumulatively.

According to Roberta Cozza, the research director at Gartner, “With Apple dominating the premium phone market and the Chinese vendors increasingly offering quality hardware at lower prices, it is through a solid ecosystem of apps, content and services unique to Samsung devices that Samsung can secure more loyalty and longer-term differentiation at the high end of the market.”

However, Samsung has been working on several differentiated projects in order to breathe life into its staggering smartphone market, but this might not prove to be fruitful since Android has a strong hold over the entire smartphone fraternity. Dragging away to a differentiated operating system will further rupture the company, as it will not be able to cater to the needs of smartphone users at such a fast pace.

The smartphone industry has observed a steady growth on a global canvas. Gratner reports, “All regions recorded growth in 2014, except Japan and Western Europe, which recorded decline of 2.8% and 9.1% respectively.”

Bidness Etc - Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is past its previous high of $119 per share.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shattered expectations regarding its share price as well as shipped more smart phones in last quarter than Samsung Electronics did. After the company’s record last quarter result came out, its stock price witnessed a boost this week. On Friday, its share price reached $120 for the very first time after its stock split last year and past their previous high of $119 per share.
Apple Inc. with total market capitalization of $695 billion surpassed Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and nearly doubled market cap that of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).
On Wednesday, Kristen Scholer wrote about Apple’s profit of $18 billion, that it was the highest ever posted by a public company in one quarter. Apple today has a cash pile of almost $178 billion, which is more than enough to buy IBM.

According to Apple’s senior portfolio manager, Daniel Morgan said that the company’s quarterly result was excellent and showed a good sign, but it is upsetting for its rivals Microsoft Corp. and IBM. According to BTIG analysts, the company will see even more upside in first quarter of 2015, as the tech giant has the potential to earn strong revenue and earnings per share growth this year.
After company released its quarterly results, many research firms increased their target price on Apple. For example, Citi reportedly wrote that besides having more worth than any other public company, Apple costs less than the broader market on P/E basis. Citi today has $135 target share price on Apple.
There are chances that Apple could tumble its top competitor Samsung Co. in the smartphone battle. Samsung reported 27% decrease in its profit last quarter, as per company’s earnings’ report. According to the management, this is due to lower smartphone sales. However, another report states that, Apple has presumably conquered the Chinese market from Samsung in terms of smartphone sales.
Co-Founder of Global Equities Research, Trip Chowdhry predicted apple share price to go up to $150. He mentioned the firm as “a multiyear, multi product, multi geography, multi service growth company”. An announcement followed by, from California-based company’s CEO, Tim Cook that Apple’s iWatch will be released in April. Trip is expecting Apple watch to be an “extraordinary success”.
62 analysts recently covered Apple Inc., out of which 45 has rated it as a ‘buy’ whereas, 13 gave it a ‘hold’ rating.
The company’s share price climbed to $114.90 during the after-hours trading on Friday.