iphone accounted for 88.7% of global smartphone profits in the fourth quarter of last year

Android accounted for only 11.3% of global smartphone profit allocations in the fourth quarter of last year, according to data released by market Research Institute Strategy Analytics in Thursday, a more dramatic decline from 29.5% a year earlier. By contrast, the iphone accounted for 88.7% of global smartphone profits in the fourth quarter of last year, a big increase from 70.5% a year earlier.

The big contrast to the distribution of profits is the volume of both shipments. Android accounted for 76.6% of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of last year, compared with 19.7% for Apple, according to IDC, another market research firm.

However, it should be noted that shipments and sales are not the same concept. Shipments usually refer to the number of shipments the manufacturer has made to the retail channel, while the sales volume is the amount that the consumer actually buys.

What's more, the global smartphone industry's profits were actually up 31.4% from a year ago to $21.2 billion. That is to say, Android has not only lost its share of profits, but has also ceded a lot of money to the iphone.

Android's earnings face multiple difficulties. First, unlike Apple, which produces only a few handsets, and in order to get consumer attention, a large number of handset makers have launched a lot of Android products, and a price war, the contract machine from no money to hundreds of of dollars have, this strategy led to no one vendor to achieve a more substantial profit.

Samsung Electronics in South Korea are typical cases. Samsung Electronics once accounted for 95% of total Android smartphone profits. However, the company's profitability last year was severely difficult, with the IT and mobile communications sector, including the smartphone business, falling 64% per cent year-on-year.

Samsung Electronics has been claiming fierce competition for months, forcing the company to increase its marketing effort to keep sales, pushing up marketing costs and driving down profits.

Although Apple did not disclose its profits in its latest earnings report, Strategy Analytics that its operating profit amounted to $18.8 billion trillion in the fourth quarter of last year, while other Android devices combined only $2.4 billion trillion in profits over the same period.

Neil Mawston, executive director of Strategy Analytics, said: "Apple's high-end products and sophisticated logistics strategy prove to be a huge profit." ”

Mauston points out that Google (Weibo) may have some concerns about strategy Analytics's data. If Samsung, the main manufacturer of Android devices, cannot get decent profits on its platform, the hardware makers may consider looking for alternative platforms, such as Microsoft, Tizen or Firefox.

While there is a possibility that hardware vendors are looking for alternative platforms. The problem, though, is that other platforms, including Microsoft's Windows Phone, have remained at zero in the fourth quarter of last year.