Despite Google Android's popularity around the globe, it looks like Apple's iOS ecosystem is the more profitable of the two.

A new report released by Strategy Analytics shows that iOS accounted for 89 percent of the global smartphone operating profit during the fourth quarter of 2014. This amounted to a whopping $18.8 billion for the Cupertino giant, an increase from the $11.4 billion and 71 percent Apple raked in during the same time frame one year earlier.

"Apple iOS continues to tighten its grip on the smartphone industry. Apple's strategy of premium products and lean logistics is proving hugely profitable," reads the Strategy Analytics report. "Android's weak profitability for its hardware partners will worry Google. If major smartphone manufacturers, like Samsung or Huawei, cannot make decent profits from the Android ecosystem, they may be tempted in the future to look at alternative platforms such as Microsoft, Tizen or Firefox."

Android, on the other hand, actually suffered a loss during the fourth quarter of 2014 when compared to the year before. While Android pulled in $4.8 billion for 30 percent of the global smartphone operating profit in 2013, the mobile operating system only made $2.4 billion in profits for 11 percent.

As far as any of other mobile operating systems go - Microsoft's Windows, BlackBerry, and any others -- none of them were profitable.

It's important to remember, however, that Android is by far the most popular mobile operating system on the planet. There are over one billion Android devices in use, with most of them being smartphones and tablets. The operating system holds a commanding lead in many countries around the world, capturing more than 80 percent of the market share in some regions. Google's strategy of only developing the source code and then leaving it up to manufacturers to produce both high-end and budget models has proven a hit in countries with and without large amounts of disposable incomes.

Google has also launched several initiatives such as Android One to bring reliable, cheap Android devices to developing countries. Such moves open up the ecosystem and create more possibilities, but revenue streams suffer as a result.

Apple, meanwhile, still does mostly everything in house. Its App Store is highly regulated and it also manufactures its own devices, which are often priced at the higher end of the spectrum. Still, given the numbers, it looks like Apple buyers tend to buy into the iOS ecosystem more than Android users, making iOS more profitable in the end. 

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