Christmas Week Smartphone Activations Suggest Android Has the Market Share, But iPhones Have the Reputation

Android may still dominate the smartphone universe in terms of market share but when you're trying to make an impression by giving a gift, the iPhone appears to be the preferred product.

There is lots to worry about when cherry-picking one week's worth of sales of a single product: geography, culture, economics, etc. But as the following article explains, the iPhone seems to have more cachet as a gift, while the Android is the workaday device for those in the vast majority who just cannot justify the added expense that Apple products command.

Both strategies could probably use some tweaking: while Apple dominates from a reputational standpoint, its inability - or, more likely, unwillingness - to stoop to selling to the hoi polloi poses obvious threats over time, especially if household incomes remain stagnant for longer periods.

Android, meanwhile, may command greater market share, but does not enjoy the same respect. At some point this, too, could become a liability as Chinese or other inexpensive alternatives emerge to undercut them price-wise while maintaining or improving upon quality standards. JL

Lily Newman reports in Slate:

Half of new smartphone activations worldwide from Dec. 19 through 25 were iPhones. But if you keep in mind that the iPhone's worldwide market share is 11.9 percent, it starts to seem significant.

Half of all activations in the week leading up to Christmas were iPhones.

Data from Flurry, Chart by Slate

If you think of Android and iOS as the two major competing smartphone operating systems, it might not surprise you that half of new smartphone activations worldwide from Dec. 19 through 25 were iPhones. But if you keep in mind that the iPhone's worldwide market share is 11.9 percent, it starts to seem significant.

The mobile analytics company Flurry, which is owned by Yahoo, published data on Monday about mobile trends during the week leading up to and including Christmas day. The firm found that iPhone and non-iPhone smartphone activations were roughly equal, hinting that iPhones are a disproportionately popular holiday gift.

It makes sense, because Android handsets are much more diverse and offer varied combinations of features and price points from all different brands. It's not impossible, but it is more difficult to pick out an Android phone for someone else. Meanwhile, Apple only sells a few iPhone models at any given time, so gift-givers essentially make choices for recipients based on the price they want to pay.

Flurry notes that manufacturers like Xiaomi, Huawei, and HTC—which all make popular handsets—had less than 1 percent of activations each. The firm attributes this to the fact that these brands are popular in countries like China, where the Christmas gift-giving season isn't as widespread.

The report also notes that in December there were 2.5 times as many app downloads as usual, presumably because people were setting up new devices and trying out new apps while they had time off.