The iOS mobile operating system made by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was one of the two leading systems during 2013, when smartphone sales rose above one billion, according to an IDC report issued today. Android led the field in sheer volume, outselling iOS in terms of units sold three or four times over. However, it is Apple Inc. which makes the greater profits, earning far more with its fewer, more expensive units than the vast floods of Android devices.
According to the available information, 793.6 million Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android smartphones shipped over the course of 2013, as opposed to 153.4 million iOS smartphones. This puts the rivals at 78.6 percent and 15.2 percent of market share respectively, in terms of unit volumes. Volumes of smartphones sold rose for both operating systems relative to 2012, but iOS sold 12.9 percent more, while Android’s retail growth exploded by 58.7 percent. Together, iOS and Android accounted for 93.8 percent of all smartphone sales globally last year.
The volume report came today from IDC, or International Data Corporation, a market intelligence firm specializing in telecommunications and consumer technology. The company’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker was the tool used to aggregate this detailed information about smartphone sales worldwide. IDC has existed for half a century and is owned by International Data Group, or IDG, which controls several hundred different business analysis subsidiaries.
Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iOS remains far more profitable than its chief competitor, however. Highlighting the timeless struggle between quantity and quality, Apple far outpaced the platform symbolized by the small, green, R2D2-like robot. According to Electronista, Apple’s profits in the fourth quarter of 2013 were 87.4 percent of all revenues from smartphone sales, more than twice those of Android at 32.2 percent. Total sales can reach more than 100 percent in the smartphone market because the losses of some platforms are counted as gains beyond 100 percent for their more successful compeers.
With the Chinese market nearing saturation, and accounting for a major slice of global sales, the meteoric rise of both operating systems is unlikely to continue at the same fiery pace for long. However, Apple Inc. (AAPL) is still the clear winner in the smartphone market when it comes to the bottom line as opposed to raw numbers shipped, and remains in a solid position to expand into new markets in the near future.
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