Samsung a distant second.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Apple accounted for 51% of new device activations worldwide during the week leading up to and including Christmas day (December 19th – 25th), according to mobile analytics firm Flurry.
The arch rival of Apple, Samsung, is in the second spot with 18% activations, followed by Microsoft with 5.8%, which are mostly Lumia devices.
Sony and LG managed to get 1% each, but makers like Xiaomi, Huawei, and HTC all had less than one percent share on Christmas day. The low popularity of December 25th in Asian countries could be one of the major reasons for the drop in device activations of these manufacturers.
The new stats throw light on the type of devices people gift for Christmas holidays and the kind of apps that they install moments after opening the box.
The most sold out Apple device during this Christmas holiday season was iPhone 6 and the company registered a successful year-end sale despite a lukewarm holiday season for the smartphone industry in general.
The days ahead of Christmas also witnessed a steady increase in the number of phablets activated. Apple elite customers had an option to switch to iPhone 6 Plus, which is the company’s first phablet model. This is evident as iPhone 6 Plus was one among the top 5 smartphones activated during this Christmas, which saw iPhone 6 at the top.
According to Flurry, as the number of smartphones activated increased, the number of apps downloaded has also risen. Report says that “this year, and on Christmas Day in the US, Flurry tracked 2.5x the number of app installs as compared to an average day in the first three weeks of December.”
As always the most number of apps installed on Christmas day was related to entertainment and which had a connection with friends and family. The report also says that games and messaging apps saw the highest increase in app installs.
Even though medium sized smartphones are in the top of the most activated list, Flurry cautions App developers to consider the fact that large screen phablet models are fast becoming primary device for users and tablets have trailed behind the race consistently for the last few years.