Apart from Apple, the other company that was doing well at capturing profit from Android phones was Samsung -- e.g. this link from 2012 when the S2/S3 were sell

Apart from Apple, the other company that was doing well at capturing profit from Android phones was Samsung -- e.g. this link from 2012 when the S2/S3 were selling well [1]. I believe the rise of Apple's profit share correlates with the rise of cheaper Chinese phone manufacturers like Xiaomi who operate on much thinner margins than Samsung. [1] http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-apple-and-samsung-cornered-all-smartphone-profits/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-apple-and-samsung-co... Post-Xiaomi, a potential Samsung buyer could think about a cheaper replacement -- functionally Xiaomi is still Android, after all. Sure, an Apple owner can "go Android" too, but imho p(Samsung to Cheaper Android) > p(Apple to Android).