Although Apple iOS devices once dominated the smartphone market share, Android devices have quickly gained ground through recent years. In fact, as of the last quarter, Android sales have substantially increased while Apple has staggered. Last quarter, Android accounted for fifty-three percent of smartphone sales and had three times more shipments than just one year ago. On the other hand, Apple only made up of twenty-eight percent of all smartphone sales in the last quarter and saw its market share drop down to fifteen percent, down from seventeen percent a year ago. In many ways, Android is taking the smartphone market by storm.
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| iPhone vs Android |
In order to explain Apple's recent decrease in smartphone sales, it should not be forgotten that many consumers knew Apple would be announcing its newest iPhone in October, leading many to opt to delay their purchases. However, experts still believe that when factoring holiday purchases into consideration, Android sales are still exponentially growing faster than Apple iOS sales. When smartphone sales are computed, Apple sales come from strictly iPhone sales whereas Android sales include many different products. Since Android is an operating system for smartphones designed by Google, as opposed to a phone model, any smartphone that runs Android is counted as an Android sale. Thus, Apple has found itself being outsold with a three to one ratio of Android phones to Apple iPhones.
Several key reasons arise in explaining why consumers are choosing Android devices over Apple iOS devices. A large reason why users are opting for Android devices instead of Apple iOS devices is the freedom that the Android operating system offers for the user. Based on Linux, an open source operating system, Android strongly believes that the user should be able to have almost complete control over their device. As a result, Android devices are much easier to customize. On the other hand, if users want to customize iOS devices, they usually must jailbreak their devices, which in turn breaches their Apple warranties. While Apple once dominated in terms of their vast App Store, the Android App Store recently overtook iOS in mobile app downloads in the second quarter of 2011 and now have forty-four percent of the share. Apple's iOS carries thirty-three percent of the mobile app download market share. However, the Apple App Store still offers substantially more apps with more than 500,000 applications versus the Android App Store, which carries slightly more than 250,000 applications. Although Android sales are growing much faster than Apple sales, Apple still makes up the majority of smartphone profits. Apple accounts for fifty-two percent of smartphone profits, while the other forty-eight percent is dispersed among other smartphones. Since Google gives Android away, it is difficult to derive how much profit Google makes from Android smartphones.
At the end of the day, it is almost impossible to determine who is currently winning in the smartphone market, but at the moment, Android is certainly presenting itself as a major competitor to the Apple iPhone. On one hand, one can say that Android is faring better than Apple since it is selling the most units. However, on the other hand, one can say that Apple is dominating the market since it carries the majority of the market share. Only time will tell which smartphone leader will come out on top. Wonder which device top trader, Dan Zwirn, would invest in?
