Apple snatches 89% of Smartphone profits in Q4, 2014

Google’s Android might have grabbed most of the market shares worldwide, but when it comes down to actually making money, Apple has Android beat by a huge margin. Thanks to the premium products made by the company, Apple has managed to earn 89% of the global smartphone profit share in Q4, 2014.

According to a latest report by one of the most popular market research firms, Apple IOS snatched a record-high 88.7% global smartphone profit share in Q4, 2014, which is increased from 70.5% in Q4 last year. In terms of dollars, Apple’s smartphone operating profit for Q4, 2014 is $18.8 billion and it has increased from $11.4 billion in Q4, 2013.

Surprisingly, even with market dominance by Android, it managed to take merely 11.3% of global smartphone profit share, while in Q4, 2013 it managed to grab 29.5% profit share. The reports also indicates that other competitors, including Microsoft, Blackberry and Firefox seemingly didn’t make any profit at all.

The figures in this report relate to the profits generated by the handset makers and not the services ecosystem or their app stores. Among Android OEMs, Samsung was the best performer in Q4, 2014 followed by Huawei and Xiaomi. Samsung alone managed to earn more than half of all the Android smartphone profits globally in Q4, 2014. Overall, the smartphone handset profits in Q4, 2014 has increased by 31.4% compared to Q4, last year.

Talking about these astonishing results, the research firm suggested that the increase in Apple’s profit is mostly due to their strategy of lean logistics and premium products. The research firm also indicated that the weak profitability for Google’s hardware partners in Q4, 2014 will worry Google. If tech giants like Samsung and Huawei can’t earn decent profits from the Android ecosystem, they might be tempted to look for other alternatives like Microsoft or Firefox OS.