Official figures suggest that Google’s Android is now the operating system of choice for smartphones. Comscore, a leader in smartphone analytics, has shown that the Google Android platform now has a 50.1% marketshare, vs 30.2% by Apple’s iOS.
Which would suggest that Android is the dominant operating system. Whilst this is true, to a degree, it far from paints the whole picture. Apple may not have the marketshare that Google is able to claim, but it has a swathe of other metrics to suggest it is still the most important smartphone operating system.

Digging Deeper into the Stats
Marketshare may be one metric, but it is far from the only one and, arguably, not the most important. What it does is simply show an overall view, but big picture can hide a myriad of details that skew things somewhat.
A vital metric for the market is revenue and profits. After all, it’s profits that companies are interested in at the end of the day. Here Apple wins significantly.
A report by analytics firm Oppenheimer suggest that Apple is seeing far higher profits from it’s operating systems than Android. Apple has been the most profitable handset maker (in terms of operating) for 13 quarters running. When you consider that the iPhone is now operating in the legacy market (which at one point Nokia was dominating) that is likely to continue.
Android has been fragmented across numerous manufacturers, often running widely different versions of the OS. Whilst Samsung has been on the up (and selling better than Apple), it’s profits are less than a quarter of Apples on a per handset basis, and the other major manufacturers are falling off in terms of sales, by quite considerable margins (for instance Nokia has lost 24% marketshare).
Where the marketshare happens is also vital. The USA is a lucrative market as the buyers have more money to spend on things like apps. In the USA the top 3 smartphones are all Apple iPhones. In China, the biggest emerging economy, Apple is enjoying a huge amount of growth, even in comparison to other smartphone manufacturers running Android.
The Apple’s market is vital now. Apple enjoys a far higher income per head via its app stores than any Android powered system. In the case of the top apps Apple are seeing 6 times more income than Google are.
Android may have marketshare, but profits are what counts – and Apple is still winning there.
Check Out These Too:
- Android App Store overtakes Apple App Store for Free Apps Apples app store has been regarded as the largest app store in the world and it still is with around 400,000 applications in total. However, a report that was released…
- Google Aims to Compete with Apple iPad The Apple iPad is one of the most revolutionary inventions that has been created in the recent years and ever since Apple actually announced the release of the device, many…
- Apple to add ‘Do not Track’ feature to Safari Apple is one of the most well known companies in the world when it comes to shiny toys such as the iPhone and the iPad but we have to remember…
- Apple Wins Infringement Lawsuit This week the U.S. International Trade Commission came to their final ruling in one of the many Apple lawsuits regarding patent infringement by Android manufacturers. This specific case was Apple…
- Ebay Release iPad 2 Sales Data Today, the popular auction website eBay has released the sales data for the iPad 2 sales over the last few weeks. We have yet to receive any word from Apple…
- Apple TV Enjoys Success Google TV Hopes For Apple have released a lot of products over the last few years that have really taken off but one of the products that they struggled with initially was the Apple…
- Apple Approves Google Latitude iPhone App Google Latitude iPhone App. Apple seems to have a bit of a problem when it comes to actually allowing certain applications into their iTunes app store and there have been…
- Apple Opts out of App Rating System The ESRB currently rates video games of all sort for both PC and console gamers and under a recent change they were hoping to begin doing the same for Apple…
- iOS Continuing to Gain on Android Apple iOS has been trailing behind Android for a while now but it has consistently and steadily been catching up. The latest report released today shows that the trend is…
- Google Goggles Coming Soon for iPhone! iPhone users will soon have reason to hover over their phones for hours at a time, playing with a really cool app. The app is the Google Goggles app that's…
- How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone:… In today's fast-paced digital world, WhatsApp has become an integral part of our lives. It's our go-to platform for chatting with friends and family, organizing group events, or even discussing…
- Apple iOS 4.3 Details Leaked Online Just a few weeks ago, Apple released their update of the operating system for all of their iOS devices with the release of their iOS 4.2 operating system, now it…
- iOS Rated Safer than Android Smartphone malware and viruses have become a new phenomenon in the past year or two and thanks to the rapidly growing user base it seems that spyware and viruses on…
- Android Overtakes Apple iOS for First Time There is a huge battle between Smartphone companies these days and one of the battles that we have seen going on in the past is the battle between the Apple…
- Apple Patent Granted for Cloud Based OS Apple is a company that is well known for being at the forefront of technology and they are always coming up with ideas that nobody else seems to have previously…
- iOS is safer than Android OS in terms of malware Last week appeared on internet various reports suggesting that malware on the Android platform have increased by almost 500% in the last few months of 2011. Perhaps there is a…
- Why is My Cash App Not Opening Crashing on iPhone? Why is My Cash App Not Opening Crashing on iPhone? - AppleRepo, If you don't know cash app (cash + app) it's an app that allows you to send and…
- Apple Keeping More Loyal Users than Android In the current era of smart phone wars the biggest accomplishment is holding the most users and continuously getting the most new subscribers. The other thing everyone likes to track…
- How to Decide Between iPhone 5 and Android Next iPhone 5 vs Android phone Apple are set to launch their iPhone 5 device within the next few months and this will be the successor to the iPhone 4.…
- Goodbye For Simplify Media from iTunes Apps Store Simplify Media is Now Acquired by Google. As part of a demo of the latest version of the search giant’s mobile operating system, Android. Google said it would use Simplify…
- Do You Know that You Can install Fortnite for iPhone… Do You Know that You Can install Fortnite for iPhone and iPad? - For you that do not know yet fortnite game could be installed on iphone or ipad, then…
- Apple May Profit on Android Sales As Apple's patent infringement lawsuits continue to spread and advance it looks like they may finally be making some progress in terms of success. If Apple decides to seek licensing…
- How to Fix iPhone Restarting Itself Continuously How to Fix iPhone Restarting Itself Continuously - AppleRepo.com, Is it possible to fix the restarting of the phone continuously? Even though there were no problems before, such as falling,…
- Why Does Nokia Sell More Phones Than Apple? If you compare Nokia and Apple you would naturally think that Apple and its iPhone is more popular than Nokia. You would also have to reconsider once you looked at…
- Android Gaining Points Over Apple? Apple is working double time. News about Apple is very unstable this week. If you haven't been reading to our other posts, some posts have been positive, while some just…
- iPhone Drops in Popularity, Is This the End? Ever since the original iPhone came out in 2007, it's been the lead smartphone in popularity in smartphones. Those who have one are always waiting for the next upgrade, and…
- iOS 5 vs. Android IceCream Sandwich 4 vs. Windows… Currently, on the market there are three major operating systems for smartphones" Apple iOS, Google Android and Windows Phone. Each of them received in the second half of the year…
- How to Make Your Own Android Applications How to Make Your Own Android Applications - Android is a smartphone operating system that is able to grab the attention of millions of people to use it. Thousands of…
- Apple wants dedicated gamepad for iPad In response to the increased interest shown by users to create games for iPad tablet and iPhone, Apple is preparing to launch a dedicated gamepad, designed to give them a…
- Why the iPad 3 Yet Again Sets the Standard? If there is one tablet that has set the bar for all others, it's the iPad 3. Apple's flagship tablet pretty much brought tablet computing mainstream, and from there on…