Samsung pockets 95% of Android profits

Industry Analyst Strategy Analytics has released estimates for the size of the Android smartphone market during the first quarter of 2013, declaring that Korean device vendor Samsung captured 95 per cent of profits from Android devices in the period.

Strategy Analytics puts global operating profits from the Android device market at $5.3bn for the quarter, with Samsung accounting for an astonishing $5.1bn of the total. In second place, fellow Korean player LG took three per cent of Android OP. Android itself accounted for 43 per cent of total smarpthone industry operating profit for the quarter, which Strategy Analytics estimated had hit $12.5bn.

“We believe Samsung generates more revenue and profit form the Android platform than Google does,” said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics. Samsung has strong market power and it may use this position to influence the future direction of the Android ecosystem. For example, Samsung could request first or exclusive updates of new software from Android before rival hardware vendors.