Apple Activated Twice as Many Smartphones as Samsung This Holiday [Charts]

Apple activated over twice as many smartphones as Samsung this holiday, according to a new report from Flurry Analytics.

With the dates of Christmas and Chanukah synced this year, smartphones were once again predominate on everyone’s wish lists. As we do every year, Flurry took a look at the most gifted smartphones and tablets this holiday season, examining phone and app activation throughout the week leading up to Christmas day and the start of Chanukah.

This year Apple accounted for 44% of new smartphone activations while Samsung accounted for 21%, up 1% from last year. In third and fourth were Huawei and LG which is notable as the companies do not have an individual device within the top 35. Missing is the Google Pixel. "With only two devices, the Pixel and Pixel XL, and mixed market reception, Google struggled to drum up excitement this holiday season", says Flurry.




Additionally, Flurry notes that phablets continue to gain popularity.

Phablets devices (5in-6.9in) continue to eat away at medium phone (3.5in-4.9in) market share. Although medium phones saw the most activations during the week leading up to the holidays, Phablets continue to increase their holiday share, at the detriment of the medium phone. Tablet device activations have stabilized and are relatively flat year over year. This indicates that users find purpose for their purchase, albeit the devices cater to more niche use.

In terms of app downloads, Christmas Day was the biggest with over twice the number of app installs as the average day in December.


Key categories that over-indexed for installs on Christmas day were Messaging & Social, Games, Music, Media, & Entertainment, and Kids & Family apps. Mobile users were catching up with loved ones, entertaining their guess and distracting kids, all on their devices.

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