Apple took 88.7% of smartphone operating profits in Q4, Android accounted for record-low 11.3%

A recent report produced by Canaccord credited Apple with 93% of the smartphone industry's operating profits during the fourth quarter. On Thursday, Strategy Analytics released its stats for the same three month period. While the report said Apple was responsible for an amazing 88.7% of the industry's operating profits, it also said that Android's share hit a record low 11.3%. In dollars, Apple had operating profits of $18.8 billion for the period compared to Android manufacturers' $2.4 billion.

This is a pretty big jump from the previous year. During the third quarter of 2013, Apple's operating profits equaled 70.5% of the smartphone industry's total. Android accounted for 29.5% of the operating profits amassed by smartphone manufacturers during that three month period. Looking at the dollars involved for the 2013 quarter, Apple reported operating profits due to iPhone sales of $11.4 billion. Android profits amounted to $4.8 billion.

Despite having a larger market share globally than Apple, the latter has been able to produce the lion's share of profits thanks to the higher prices paid for iPhone models. Android smartphone manufacturers in China have been focused on producing low priced models that bring in smaller profits.

Starting with the fourth quarter of 2014, Apple also had the new high-end Apple iPhone 6 Plus phablet in the mix which helped raise Apple's average selling price. For the October-December period last year, Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones and reported an amazing $18.1 billion in profits for the period.