Nearly half of all mobile device activations during the holiday season were of Apple devices according to a new report from mobile analytics firm Flurry. While impressive, it does represent a 2.2 percent drop compared to the same period a year ago.
Samsung accounted for 19.8 percent of device activations in the week leading up to Christmas, an increase of 2.1 percent year-over-year. Nokia, LG and Xiaomi rounded out the top five manufacturers with two percent, 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent of activations, respectively. Sony fell out of the top five completely.
In terms of form factor, medium-sized phones once again reigned supreme. Data shows that 54 percent of new devices this holiday season fell into that category, down from 63 percent in 2014. Phablets like the iPhone 6s Plus and Galaxy Note 5 are directly responsible for the drop as their distribution increased by more than a factor of two year-over-year, from 13 percent in 2014 to 27 percent this year. For comparison, phablets accounted for just four percent of devices distributed in 2013.
Among Android devices, phablets accounted for 50 percent of distributed devices while medium-sized phones represented 35 percent of the pie. With iOS, 65 percent of distribution went to medium-sized phones versus just 12 percent for phablets.
Flurry classifies small phones as those having screen sizes of 3.5 inches or smaller, the market for which is virtually non-existent at this point. Such devices accounted for just one percent of devices distributed this holiday season.
Lead image courtesy Justin Sullivan, Getty Images