iOS, Android dominate smartphone market with 96% combined stake

Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2015
Apple and Google have all but destroyed the competition in the smartphone space, with the two companies' flagship mobile operating systems -- iOS and Android -- combining to power 96.3 percent of the smartphones shipped in 2014, new data indicates.




Apple took 14.8 percent of the market -- a slight year-over-year drop -- compared to 81.5 percent for Google, according to market research firm IDC. Formerly dominant players Microsoft and BlackBerry accounted for just 2.7 percent and 0.4 percent of shipments last year, respectively.

"Many of the same drivers were in play for Android and iOS to tighten their grip on the market," IDC research manager Ramon Llamas said in a release. "A combination of strong end-user demand, refreshed product portfolios, and the availability of low-cost devices - particularly for Android - drove volumes higher."

Android's share of the overall market has long been buoyed by hundreds of millions of low-spec devices sold in emerging markets that can be had for as little as $50. Apple's iPhone 4s, currently the oldest and cheapest iPhone the company sells through its own distribution network, comes in at more than $300 without subsidies.

This discrepancy has allowed Apple to turn the tables when it comes to profit share. Despite owning less than one quarter of the overall market, Apple rakes in nearly 90 percent of the industry's profits.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 82

    Now flip the iOS and Android lines to show actual profit.

     

    Actually, the Android line is kinda low to show iOS profit.

  • Reply 2 of 82

    Curious to see how the Windows phone will do with Windows 10, but that won't  be out four awhile. It would be good to have a three horse race.

     

    People are leaving Windows phone now because it doesn't have the apps they want. And if there are apps, they are sometimes/often inferior to Android/Apple versions.

     

    It could be too late for Windows phone. Seems like they would need a miracle to pull it off. That, or find a way to heavily subsidize the phones.

  • Reply 3 of 82
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    Wow and iOS takes 93% of profit.
  • Reply 4 of 82
    joshajosha Posts: 901member

    I wonder what a graph of bicycles vs electric cars would look like ?

  • Reply 5 of 82
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Seems odd. Didn't iPhone shatter records in 2014? Or was there really that many crap droids release at that time to overtake iPhone?

    I wanna see a chart that breaks down PHONE'S or manufacturer's marketshare. I think that would show iPhone really high followed by Sammy and then the bottom filled with 100+ android manufacturers.

    Or a chart using phone usage. Most android phones are broken, used as a toy or in a drawer somewhere.
  • Reply 6 of 82
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Steve Ballmer would never have allowed this to happen if he were still alive.

  • Reply 7 of 82
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member

    That chart is hilarious and so misleading. 

     

    Apple works hard for every iOS device sold. When people buy one, they are consciously deciding to buy an Apple iPhone, running iOS. Apple greatly benefits from every single iOS device sold. When 99% of people buy Android devices, they are not buying a "Google" phone, or even an "Android" phone. They are buying a "Samsung", or any other OEM, or "whatever cheap piece of shit I can afford or has a carrier deal". That's the main difference. When an OEM slaps Android on its piece of shit $50 phones, and that phone sells, it's not a credit to Google, because they were not a factor in that person's buying decision. It was just the most cost-effective route for the OEM to take.

     

    Combining all these versions of Android, each with different features and capabilities, on every single device ever sold from every single company, include every single modification, is meaningless. The stats all show this, in which Apple's "18%" share destroys Android in every single usage metric possible. 

     

    For evidence of my 1st point, from today's new Pebble ad:

     

     

    You can't make this shit up. They know "Android" has zero brand equity, and they know people are too fucking stupid to even realize their Samsung is running Android. "Android", with it's incredible marketshare, is placed dead-last.

     

    "Winning". The very definition of a pyrrhic victory. As if the fact that OEMs only adopted the spyware infested Android OS cause it was free, and cut down their R&D costs, is some kind of massive accomplishment by Google. The fact that iPhone barely dipped in marketshare from 2010 to now, with the massive explosion of devices running Android that are sold, is quite impressive. 

  • Reply 8 of 82
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post

     

    For evidence of my 1st point, from today's new Pebble ad:

     

     

    You can't make this shit up. They know "Android" has zero brand equity, and they know people are too fucking stupid to even realize their Samsung is running Android. "Android", with it's incredible marketshare, is placed dead-last. 


     

    The irony is that I bet Pebble doesn't support Tizen.

  • Reply 9 of 82
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    slurpy wrote: »
    That chart is hilarious and so misleading. 

    Apple works hard for every iOS device sold. When people buy one, they are consciously deciding to buy an Apple iPhone, running iOS. Apple greatly benefits from every single iOS device sold. When 99% of people buy Android devices, they are not buying a "Google" phone, or even an "Android" phone. They are buying a "Samsung", or any other OEM, or "whatever cheap piece of shit I can afford or has a carrier deal". That's the main difference. When an OEM slaps Android on its piece of shit $50 phones, and that phone sells, it's not a credit to Google, because they were not a factor in that person's buying decision. It was just the most cost-effective route for the OEM to take.

    Combining all these versions of Android, each with different features and capabilities, on every single device ever sold from every single company, include every single modification, is meaningless. The stats all show this, in which Apple's "18%" share destroys Android in every single usage metric possible. 

    For evidence of my 1st point, from today's new Pebble ad:

    <img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="55738" data-type="61" src="http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/55738/width/500/height/1000/flags/LL" style="; width: 500px; height: 285px">


    You can't make this shit up. They know "Android" has zero brand equity, and they know people are too fucking stupid to even realize their Samsung is running Android. "Android", with it's incredible marketshare, is placed dead-last. 

    That's hilarious and with Loopay and Sammy distancing itself from big brother things are only gonna get worse.

    "Apple takes in nearly %90 of profits"

    I still anticipate a quarter where Apple takes %100 of the profits. THAT would be hilarious!!!
  • Reply 10 of 82
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post





    That's hilarious and with Loopay and Sammy distancing itself from big brother things are only gonna get worse.



    "Apple takes in nearly %90 of profits"



    I still anticipate a quarter where Apple takes %100 of the profits. THAT would be hilarious!!!



    105% or so would be better. Let MS and The Google subsidize Apple, even.

  • Reply 11 of 82
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    The big prediction that the Android/iOS competition would wind up like the Windows/Mac OS outcome  just didn’t happen. Android’s worldwide market share looks a lot like Windows worldwide market share. The huge difference is that developers haven’t abandoned iOS. In fact it appears developers make a lot more money on iOS than they do on Android. Market share hasn’t translated into total dominance like it did twenty years ago. 

  • Reply 12 of 82
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     

    The big prediction that the Android/iOS competition would wind up like the Windows/Mac OS outcome  just didn’t happen. Android’s worldwide market share looks a lot like Windows worldwide market share. The huge difference is that developers haven’t abandoned iOS. In fact it appears developers make a lot more money on iOS than they do on Android. Market share hasn’t translated into total dominance like it did twenty years ago. 




    A big difference is that there were just a few versions of Windows. There are 50,000+ versions of Android to develop for. ART is just a bandaid if you want actual performance.

     

    Enterprise also made a difference, and Apple pretty much owns that now in mobile.

  • Reply 13 of 82
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     



    A big difference is that there were just a few versions of Windows. There are 50,000+ versions of Android to develop for. ART is just a bandaid if you want actual performance.

     

    Enterprise also made a difference, and Apple pretty much owns that now in mobile.


     

    Yeah, Apple owning enterprise is huge. Android has gotten near zero penetration in the enterprise, and never will, which is one of the reasons why the dynamics of this mobile war is different. Android also has near zero penetration in education.

  • Reply 14 of 82
    freerangefreerange Posts: 1,597member
    First of all, this is IDC, who always pulls numbers out of their ass. Second, to try to classify android as a unified market boarders on absurdity. It's no way to look at the market and is pretty much meaningless.
  • Reply 15 of 82
    lkrupp wrote: »
    The big prediction that the Android/iOS competition would wind up like the Windows/Mac OS outcome  just didn’t happen. Android’s worldwide market share looks a lot like Windows worldwide market share. The huge difference is that developers haven’t abandoned iOS. In fact it appears developers make a lot more money on iOS than they do on Android.

    Market share hasn’t translated into total dominance like it did twenty years ago. 

    Exactly.

    I've said this before: Android market share makes a great headline... but there's no compelling story afterwards.

    Android is enjoying none of the advantages that having the most market share usually brings.

    No one is surprised that Android has such high market share when there are 60+ companies combined shipping a billion phones a year.

    The question should be asked: "What is Android doing with that market share?"

    Not a whole lot, actually.
  • Reply 16 of 82
    poksipoksi Posts: 482member
    Idiot Droid Clowns have managed to drop Apple's share with blockbuster iPhone 6 quarter... Credibility has left them long time ago.
  • Reply 17 of 82
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,714member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post

     

    The big prediction that the Android/iOS competition would wind up like the Windows/Mac OS outcome  just didn’t happen. Android’s worldwide market share looks a lot like Windows worldwide market share. The huge difference is that developers haven’t abandoned iOS. In fact it appears developers make a lot more money on iOS than they do on Android. Market share hasn’t translated into total dominance like it did twenty years ago. 




    The main difference between Wintel vs Apple and Android vs Apple is that people actually paid good money for those Wintel boxes 20 years ago (less than a Mac on average, but still good money).  So they would typically be willing/able to pay decent money for software to make use of them.  Thus they were able to influence developers to make decent software for Wintel boxes.  Once Wintel had good applications available for it (often exclusively), it created a snowball effect for the platform.

     

    Whereas, with Android, most people aren't paying much (if anything) for those phones/tablets.  So they typically aren't willing and/or able to pay for software.  Thus we aren't seeing the same effect happening.  Google has created the idea of free software supported by advertising/data harvesting and that's what their market now expects.  The ability to monetize that marketshare for anything more just isn't there as far as I can see.

  • Reply 18 of 82
    cali wrote: »
    Most android phones are broken, used as a toy or in a drawer somewhere.
    ......and the source of this witty statement would be....?
  • Reply 19 of 82
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post



    The question should be asked: "What is Android doing with that market share?"



    Not a whole lot, actually.

     

    Not making much profit it would seem either.

  • Reply 20 of 82
    "That's hilarious and with Loopay and Sammy distancing itself from big brother things are only gonna get worse.

    "Apple takes in nearly %90 of profits"

    I still anticipate a quarter where Apple takes %100 of the profits. THAT would be hilarious!!!"
    _______________________________________________________________________________________
    Actually Apple takes in 93% of ALL the profits in the smartphone arena, I think that the fact that all the rest are taking in the remaining 7% is pretty telling. Also pretty pathetic - how do these companies stay in business? Better check more deeply into the "mechanics"i.e., Security behind Loop Pay, too! And will it be as sloppily implemented as so many other Android based phone Apps/Features are (this is from personal experience, not just blind prejudice).

    My stock portfolio agrees, Apple taking 100% of the profits would be just great! I think "big brother" would find your comments hilarious!!!
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