Many people have declared Apple as the winner of the IOS vs. Android war following its record-breaking $18 billion net profit last quarter as reported on Apple’s website last week. But they should not be so quick to jump to that conclusion.

Despite posting the largest net profit for a quarter in its history, Apple’s total amount of smartphones sold still pales in comparison to Android’s. According a Feb. 2 Business Insider article, Apple sold just 192.7 million units in 2014 compared to Android which moved over a billion units last year. In fact, 81 percent of all smartphones sold last year were Androids.

But profit isn’t always the best barometer when measuring overall influence. This technology anomaly proves that the iPhone vs. Android war isn’t actually a war at all. The two have dissimilar sales approaches and target different audiences, which allow both businesses to succeed.

So how does Android manufacturers like Samsung move so many units and still get crushed by the competition in profit? The answer is that Apple has successfully captured the wealthy, high-end consumer base and Android-makers essentially have everyone else.

Samsung and other Android sellers seem to be aware that they can’t compete with Apple’s top of the line smartphones and are focusing their attention on the lower end of the consumer base. This past summer Google announced a new Android One initiative designed to help make smartphones more affordable in India and other eastern areas, according to a June 25 TechCrunch article. Apple’s limited pricing selection makes it hard for people in less wealthy companies to afford its products.

Both Apple and Samsung have made attempts at tapping into each others’ markets in the past but neither were very successful.

Apple launched the iPhone 5C series in hopes of stealing some low-budget customers away from Android retailers, and the Samsung Galaxy S5 with its sharp camera was released in an effort to convince high-end iPhone users to switch over to Android. Both strategies enjoyed moderate success, but didn’t force either party to adapt a more balanced business approach.

It may be fair to say that Androids will never possess the cool factor of Apple products, but believing that Android phones will eventually get washed away by iPhones is naive.

In the United States, we sometimes have a limited scope and don’t realize that not everyone can dole out $200–500 for a cell phone. There will always be a market for cheap smartphones and that is something Android can offer and Apple cannot at the moment.

Much has been made of Samsung’s declining sales and profit but that represents only one manufacturer of Android phones. When you consider all of the other Android manufacturers such as LG, HTC and Sony, the numbers begin to even out.
Apple’s staggering $18 billion profit number is without a doubt impressive, but don’t be fooled into believing that iPhones are dominating. It may seem like everyone around you has an iPhone, but we are actually further away from living in an iPhone-only world than we’ve ever been before.

Android phones may not have sexy profit numbers but they have the number that matters most and that is market share. Androids are here to stay.

Aarick Knighton is a junior information management and technology major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at adknight@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @aarickurban.

Published on February 4, 2015 at 12:05 am