Ever look at the retail price of that smartphone you bought? The iPhone’s price is mostly profit, and lately, competition is getting much cheaper. Based on information released by IDC, throughout the last four years the average price of an Android device dropped like a rock. It’s now half as much as the average iPhone.
The International Data Corporation (IDC) is one of a number of analyst firms out there constantly monitoring tons of smartphone data including the pricing and performance. A recent report by the company (compiled by Statista) detailed the average price of a smartphone based on the two most popular operating systems: Android and iOS. As a result, it found that the average price of an iPhone, about $650, is more than double the price of the average Android smartphone, about $280.
This information is startling, but it doesn’t tell the whole story about what this means for the industry. Right now, Android makes up a wide majority of the worldwide market share with 78 percent of smartphones shipped in 2013 running the OS. At the same time, most of the phones being sold that run Android are not high-end devices like the iPhone 5S, they’re low to mid range devices equal or less than the stats of the iPhone 5C. As a result, this data is a little skewed. Even though the number is dropping, it’s irrelevant in most cases if you want a top of the line Android smartphone.
 A notable example of a cheaper, but still high-tier smartphone would be the Moto G, which costs at a fraction of the price of comparable devices. The Moto X (Motorola’s flagship phone) also went down in price to around $300.
In the end, these numbers are pretty irrelevant to anyone with a subsidized two-year phone plan, which offers a top-notch smartphone cheaper than even the average Android price. But these total costs are built into your monthly bill. Cheaper devices mean you may not need to lock yourself into a contract to afford a phone.
(Image via IDC)
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