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Apple and Samsung: 95.7% of shipments, 120% of profits

BYPhilip Elmer-DeWitt
February 13, 2014, 5:17 PM UTC

FORTUNE — Two sets of stats came out this week that should give the smartphone also-rans pause. 

  • IDC estimates that 95.7% of fourth quarter smartphone shipments originated either with Samsung (78.1%) or Apple (17.6%).
  • Raymond James’ Tavis McCourt estimates that in the broader market for mobile phones of all varieties — smart and dumb — Apple captured 87.4% of the industry’s profits and Samsung 32.2%.

So many vendors lost money fighting the smartphone wars that Apple (AAPL) and Samsung’s combined share of the industry’s fourth quarter profits totaled a nonsensical 119.6%.

A year ago, according to McCourt, Apple accounted for 77.8% of mobile phone profits and Samsung 26.1%, for a total of 103.9%.

Below: IDC’s spreadsheet for Q4 2014.