App downloads surged to 1.2 billion during Christmas week

According to Flurry Analytics, during the final week of December over 1.2 billion apps were downloaded onto mobile devices, worldwide. This number bests the previous record set for most apps downloaded in a single week by nearly 70%. Records for this and previous years are typically set during Christmas week, presumably the result of gifting phones and tablets to eager users. 

The colossal download numbers are directly attributed to Christmas as the popular holiday serves as the primary reason nearly seven million iOS and Android devices were activated on December 24 and 25. During the holiday week, Flurry Analytics estimates that over 20 million devices were activated. 

Out of the 1.2 billion apps snagged between December 25 and 31, Christmas day itself accounted for over 242 million app downloads. 

Just three countries made up about half of the total number of app downloads during the week. The United States accounted for the vast majority of downloads topping 509 million while China was a distant second at just 99 million. Rounding out third place was the United Kingdom at 81 million while the rest of the globe accounted for the remaining half. It may be important to note that China doesn't publicly observe Christmas, although the day is still privately celebrated by some of its Christian minority.

Flurry Analytics claims it can detect over 90% of device activations but only 20% of app downloads. The firm uses its own numbers and third party data to make estimates that it considers fairly accurate.