profits (a far cry from today). By 2012, the profit split was around 50:50 between Apple and Samsung. Since then, he said, the “high-end tier has really shifted away from Samsung to Apple.”

Apple’s share of smartphone profits is up from 65% a year ago, though very slightly down on its 93% share in the holiday season. It has been reported that Apple plans to produce a record number of iPhone 6S handsets this year, aiming to top 90M units by the end of the year.

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The predictions come in the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, its bi-annual analysis and projections of economic developments.

Global economy

The IMF said the US had seen stronger economic growth as Washington's debt and deficit cleared and predicted the country's economy would grow by 2.8% in 2014 and 3% next year.

But it scaled back its January growth forecast for emerging and developing nations, including India and Brazil, by 0.2 percentage points.

The IMF said the economies were hit as investors were more sensitive to policy weakness, with monetary policy being normalised in some advanced economies.

China's economic growth would be 7.5% for 2014 and 7.3% next year, it said, as it expected authorities in China to rein in their "rapid credit growth".

The IMF said India, South Korea and Indonesia