For the third quarter of this year, Apple is the biggest winner based on the estimates of the BMU Capital Markets published last Thursday, Nov. 3. The document shows that Apple's huge profits are partly due to the losses incurred by other smartphone vendors, Samsung, LG and HTC. 

Apple is able to rake in 104 percent in smartphone industry profits despite having a small market share in terms of unit shipments. Samsung comes in second, having significant losses with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall.

Apple's win, Samsung's loss, seems to paint a clearer picture. This claim is justifiable because Apple turns in fewer shipments year on year.

In terms of unit shipments, Samsung is the overall leader with 21.7 percent in market share. Apple only has 13.2 percent share and Huawei is only at 9.7 percent.

Given the small market share of Apple, getting more than 100 percent in profit is a great achievement for the company. However, this quarter's revenues are Apple's lowest since 2001. The company hopes to raise it with the sale of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus this Christmas season, Macrumors reported.

Meanwhile, Samsung only took a mere 0.9 percent share in the profits for the third quarter. The South Korean firm relinquished its share in unit shipments to its competitors, namely, Apple and the Chinese vendors.

Samsung's dismal performance in terms of revenue is mainly due to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall. Analysts say that the firm may be experiencing more losses for this present quarter.

This may be the first time that Apple dominated the industry in profits, but there is no assurance that the company can sustain it. Analyts say that emerging markets in the smartphone industry will play a dominant role in the near future while developed markets will weaken according to the report in Investors.

Furthermore, Samsung will naturally try to recoup its losses by introducing newer products. The company is set to release its newest smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and the Samsung Galaxy S8 along with the latest phablet, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.