FORTUNE — Mixing numbers is probably even more dangerous than mixing drinks, but the contrast every quarter between the estimates from IDC of smartphone shipments and those from Canaccord Genuity of smartphone operating incomes is too tempting to resist.
With the usual caveats — these are only estimates, and with only Apple (AAPL) reporting actual unit sales, who knows where they come from? — let it be noted that:
- According to IDC, Apple’s share of worldwide smartphone shipments was 15.5% in calendar Q1, down from 17.1% a year ago.
- According to Canaccord Genuity, Apple’s share of industry profits was 65%, up from 57% in the same quarter last year.
Samsung’s share numbers were down a tad, according to these reports, with share of profits off two percentage points to 41% and share of shipments down about the same to 30.2%.
Both companies are selling more smartphones now than they did last year; it’s the competition — mostly from smaller Chinese manufacturers — that is cutting into their market share.
Meanwhile, because Nokia, BlackBerry, Motorola, Sony, LG and HTC all lost money in the smartphone business last quarter, Apple and Samsung split, according to Canaccord’s Michael Walkley, 106% of industry profits.
That makes no sense, in more ways than one.
