(c) Can Stock PhotoA lot has been made of the recently-released data analysis that shows iPhone owners are wildly more valuable to iPhone users than Android users. Facebook ad buyer Nanigans looked at more than 200 billion ads on Facebook and calculated that ads produce 1,790% more return from iPhone users than Android. In fact, it costs more to advertise to Android users than those ads return.

Nanigans told VentureBeat that they hesitated to release the data, knowing it would be controversial. They decided to go ahead because, well, it is what it is. VentureBeat thinks it’s because Android attracts a lower-end audience. “Brutally put,” writes John Koestier, “iPhone owners simply tend to both make more money and spend more money than Android owners.”

Considering a new iPhone will set you back considerably more than the lowest-cost Android handset, that’s probably true. An 32GB iPhone 5S will set you back $299, while Verizon is giving away the LG G2 with a contract. There are limited models of iPhone available, all made exclusively by Apple. Anyone can make an Android phone, from upscale electronics companies to bargain basement manufacturers, resulting in a broad range of price options.

The more I work with survey results, though, the more devil I find in the demographics than in the overall numbers. Consider that the installed Android base at the end of 2012 was 675 million, compared to iPhone’s 230 million. According to a Pew Internet & American Life study, iPhone users are clearly more influential overall than Android users. For example, 40% of iPhone users have household incomes over $75,000; only 31% of Android users have household incomes that high.

But 31% of the total installed Android base is more than 209 million users. That’s not far south of the total number of iPhone users. What would the numbers look like if you compared the 31% of Android users making more than $75,000 to the iPhone user population? I know that’s not apples to apples (pun intended)—a segment of one group compared to the total population of another group—but when dealing with sheer numbers, it’s not an unreasonable comparison.

I wish I could tell you, but despite some demographics in the Nanigans report, there’s nothing to indicate whether concentrating on the top end of Android users—the ones who buy the latest Galaxy S or Note, or some of the other high-end phones—delivers the same returns advertisers get from iPhone users.

My guess, though, is that ROI on ads from users of the pricier Android devices is closer to the ROI from iPhone users.