Apple had captured 50 percent of the handset Industry's

Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system grabbed 44.8 percent market share through September, up from 43.7 percent share as it increased its lead of the U.S. smartphone market.
Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone took 27.4 percent share, up from 27.3 percent in August,according to comScore. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Mobile/Phone 7 share also fell to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent through August.

LG and Motorola followed with 20.6 percent share and 13.8 percent share, respectively. Apple stood at 10.2 percent, while RIM notched 7.1 percent in the U.S.
ComScore numbers come one day after Nielsen said Android accounted for 43 percent market share for the third quarter, with iOS topping out at 27 percent. That despite having just 4.2 percent of the global handset market.

So while Samsung did capture a healthy 29 percent of operating profits in the third quarter, Apple was king with 52 percent of the profits available to handset makers from July to September. Apple only makes high-margin smartphones, so while it did own about a 15 percent percent share of that market in the third quarter, according to industry research, its share of the overall handset market came in at below 5 percent. Samsung accounted for nearly 24 percent of smartphone shipments in the quarter and had about 22 percent of the overall mobile phone market in the three-month period.

While Samsung was overshadowed by Apple in terms of operating profit in the quarter, other handset makers were absolutely obliterated. HTC and Research in Motion each had less than 10 percent of the profits reported by handset makers for the quarter, while Sony Ericsson struggled to scratch out 1 percent.
The iPhone dipped from a 5.4 percent market share to its current 4.2 percent as Samsung is estimated to have led the industry in smartphone shipments for the quarter, though its profits shrank.

Calling it an "epic reversal of fortunes," Canaccord noted that in 2007, Nokia had 67 percent of operating profits in the industry, while Apple and its iPhone represented just 4 percent. Now, with more than half of the industry's profits, Apple has switched places with Nokia, which accounts for just 4 percent of operating profits. Apple's chief rival in the mobile industry is Samsung, which Walkley said has scale advantages and the leading share of Android devices. Together, Apple and Samsung are said to have represented 81 percent of the handset industry's operating profits last quarter.--The analyst previously reported in July that Apple had captured 50 percent of the handset industry's profits during the first quarter of 2011.