Only Samsung Can Save Android From iPhone Domination see why?

Sometimes numbers hide the true story. In the world of smartphones, the volume of Android sales tower over the rival iOS platform. Android accounts for over eighty percent of the market, with iOS a distant second (Kantar Worldpanel). With that measure Android is ‘winning’ but that’s not enough

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There are other numbers which should be considered as important as market share. Profit share is good place to start. Not only does this reverse the position of the two platforms, but gives Apple an even larger section of the market with well over ninety percent of smartphone profits flowing to Cupertino. Income through the app store is another huge win for Tim Cook’s team. When you look at a collection of economic indicators, Android struggles to match iOS.

Nevertheless Android remains in touch with the top of these tables thanks to a single company. Without Samsung, Android would be left with a raft of smaller manufacturers (such as Huawei) providing the occasional point of interest at the high-end, and a fleet of budget handsets running on low-margin hardware bulking up the sales. Apple rules the high-end space, Samsung fights the good fight, and everyone else is elsewhere.

Without Samsung, Android would be a far poorer place.

At times various manufacturers have taken a serious swing at the smartphone market with an Android device, and laid claim to being ‘the best’ device on the platform. Very few of them have found success, and those that did have struggled to maintain that success. Sony is a good example where. While it took a number of iterations to sort out design issues, the Xperia line of smartphones offered a high-end Android experience that captured critical acclaim but that was not followed up by consumer success.

Motorola has come closest to challenging Samsung in recent years, but its passage through the hands of a number of parent companies has left it without a coherent story or strategy over the last two years. The recent Moto handsets were solid performers, but are far from setting sales and income figures alight.

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