Apple

When Apple launches its annual line-up of new iPhones each Fall, it creates a surge in device adoption that spans the holiday season. Since the 2017 launch of the completely reimagined iPhone X, improvements to subsequent phones have been incremental, offering gains mainly related to the chipset, camera and screen. Since then Apple has released the iPhone XS and XR variants, the iPhone 11 line up and the 2nd Generation iPhone SE. The iPhone 12, coupled with 5G support, seems poised for stronger than usual uptake.

In 2018, Apple announced they would no longer publicly share the number of iPhone devices sold each quarter. Instead, they would focus on quarterly revenue as a way to include their growing services and subscription business. In the two years since this announcement, Apple has expanded its services business to seven offerings, including Apple Fitness+ and Apple One announced earlier this week. With this new revenue stream layered on top of the iPhone, Apple has been reducing the minimum starting price for the iPhone to expand their footprint and sell more services.

Samsung and Apple dominate the smartphone industry globally. Combined, they control more than half the total market share on the planet. In most regions of the world, either Apple or Samsung is the top vendor. While Apple leads in its home market of North America, Samsung tends to lead elsewhere. In this report, Flurry looks at the global market share by active user base. While most market share analyses estimate device shipments or sales, Flurry directly measures what phones are in use today.

Gen Z and Millennials have grown up with mobile technology at their fingertips. Most don’t use landlines, or even cameras aside from the ones on their phones. Representing nearly half the population, and the bulk of consumer spending, major smartphone manufacturers are in a battle for their loyalty. In this report, we compare consumer demographics of Samsung smartphone and Apple iPhone users.

In 2010, Apple reinvigorated the tablet category with the launch of the iPad. And while the worldwide tablet user base has surpassed 1 billion devices, tablets still make up less than 10% of new device shipments compared to mobile devices. The tablet—an in-between device—is less portable than a smartphone and does not deliver the same computing power and multitasking capabilities of laptops.

Christmas Day in the United States is the single greatest day of the year for new device activations. For Apple, in a maturing U.S. smartphone market in which Samsung continues to take share, Christmas has also become a battleground. 

With its stronghold in the United States, Apple iPhone sales during Christmas are nothing short of critical for the company’s continued success. In this report, Flurry evaluates the iPhone 11 launch, from September up through the first week of December.