Flurry Analytics tracked device activations worldwide from December 19 to 25th and found that Apple accounted for over half. The runner-up was Samsung with 18 percent.
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It’s clear that Santa is no longer into cookies—he prefers Apples. It was a banner Christmas for the Apple, the company that started the mobile revolution with the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. Seven years later, Apple accounted for 51% of the new device activations worldwide Flurry recognized in the week leading up to and including Christmas Day (December 19th - 25th). Samsung held the #2 position with 18% of new device activations, and Microsoft (Nokia) rounded out the top three with 5.8% share for mostly Lumia devices.
Source: Flurry Analytics
Flurry pointed out that: "Up-and-comers Xiaomi, Huawei, and HTC all had less than one percent share on Christmas Day. One reason is surely their popularity in Asian markets where December 25th is not the biggest gift-giving day of the year." The report also explained:
While, the holidays in general and Christmas in particular are not the sole indicator of the smartphone market share and trends, it is safe to say that Apple’s newly released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have had a blockbuster holiday season, despite a lackluster holiday season for the consumer electronics industry.
Despite these caveats, the report does support the fact that Samsung has been suffering fiancially of late due to competiton from the low and high (Apple) ends. Flurry's observations about phablets and the popularity of the iPhone 6 Plus are relevant.
Christmas 2014 saw a big jump in the number of phablets activated. As we reported in September (pre-iPhone 6 Plus), phablets were gaining share. This Christmas, it appears even more consumers are switching to the larger phone now that there is an iOS option. In the week leading up to Christmas, 13% of new device activations were phablets compared to just 4% in 2013. In fact, the iPhone 6 Plus was one of the top 5 devices Flurry saw activated for Christmas; the iPhone 6 was #1.
In other words, while the iPhone 6 remains the number one favorite, the iPhone 6 Plus is gaining favor at the expense of full-sized tablets.
There was additional information, favorable to Apple, about the App installs at Christmas as well as the distribution of device sizes over the years. The phablet is the fastest growing device category.