Google’s Play Store may be seeing the most number of app downloads, but Apple generates the most profits from app revenue via its App Store. According to a report by App Annie, Android has continued its growth with nearly twice the app downloads as compared to iOS. It also noted that downloads on iOS seem to have plateaued over the last few years.
The report by App Annie explains that Google’s expansion is driven by Android’s growth in emerging markets like India, Brazil, Turkey, etc. The markets are getting access to cheaper Android powered devices, which is allowing more people to buy them. However, Apple is still in the lead when it comes with revenue generated. As per App Annie’s report, iOS collected 75% more revenue than Android in 2015. In markets like China, Apple has a recorded a 20% increase in downloads between 2014 and 2015 as well as a doubling of revenues. The report states that Apple’s App Store generated just under $200 million in app revenue, while the Play Store generated more than a $100 million.
A similar situation was seen in smartphone shipments. According to a research by Canaccord Genuity in November last year, Apple’s share of the total smartphone profits grew to 94% during the third quarter of 2015. This was despite being second in smartphone volume shipments. Android’s largest licensee, Samsung, had an 11% share of the total operating income. Apple’s managed to get such a high share of the profits despite producing 48 million smartphones sold during Q3 2015. Samsung on the other hand, shipped 81 million smartphones during the same quarter. Canaccord’s analyst said that the reason for the disparity in profits was due to inability of companies like HTC, BlackBerry, etc to compete $400 plus market for phones. The average selling price of iPhones in the quarter for $670 with 37% operating margins. In 2014, Apple’s share of the total smartphone’s profits was 85%.