The mobile-phone market

Apple is cashing in at Nokia's expense

UNTIL 2007 Europe appeared to have beaten Silicon Valley in mobile technology for good. Nokia, based in Finland, was the world's largest handset-maker—and raked in much of the profits. But everything changed when Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, the first smartphone that deserved the name. Today Nokia still ships a third of all handsets, but Apple pulls in more than half of the profits—despite having a market share of barely 4%. Analysts doubt that this gap is sustainable: competitors will continue to go after Apple and squeeze its margin. What is more, fast-growing Chinese handset-makers, notably Huawei and ZTE, will make it into these charts soon. As for Nokia, all bets are off. Some say it will regain some of its old strength. Others predict that its market share will plunge as much as its profits. For our coverage of the firm's woes, click here.