The Android market is horrendously fragmented, and that’s no secret to anyone. There are so many different Android phone models, and Android tablets that the platform essentially has more differences than I own pairs of socks.
That being said, it’s wise to assume that the stats for the Android market would reflect this fragmentation. According to recent data that was released by Datalytics, that’s not the case. In fact, there are only a couple leading names dominating the market, even rending the market share from various other Android devices.
Not surprisingly, there are only two names that are dominating the market, and it’s not actually all that hard to guess whom they are. The Datalytics statistics show that in the top twenty Android devices being actively used, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7″, and the Samsung Galaxy Note II are at the top. Those are swiftly followed by two other Samsung devices, the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 2 7″.
Of course, the information that Datalytics collected is not entirely accurate because they use ad impressions data to create market analytics. Ad impressions do not reflect what devices are being sold the most, they just provide insight into which devices are being used. So, relatively speaking, just because Amazon and Samsung’s devices are currently dominating in usage statistics, it doesn’t mean they are dominating in total sales.
Ad impressions for the Amazon Kindle Fire HD grew an estimated 322 percent during the time between November and the end of December, last year. The Samsung Galaxy Note II, on the other hand, grew about 80 percent, while the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 grew at a decent rate of 78 percent. You can see these percentages and numbers reflected in the table pictured below.
Basically, the market data shows that the two devices being used most will continue to dominate the market for some time in the future. Considering Samsung’s ultimate success in the Android hemisphere, I don’t believe the usage statistics will change at all, with exception to Samsung’s devices taking more of the market share.
It is surprising to see the Kindle Fire ahead of Google’s own Nexus 7, which clearly tells us a bit about the success of a stock Android device. Then again, just because the Kindle Fire HD is being used more by consumers, it’s no immediate indication of how well the Nexus 7 is actually selling.
Right along with the information about the Android device ecosystem, Datalytics also released statistics about the iDevice market. I’m sure you’ll have no objections to me skipping that information entirely as it’s of no relevance to the Android market data currently. Quite frankly, Android is still clearly dominating the mobile market, so what does it matter?
Are you surprised in any way by this data? Did you expect the Kindle Fire HD to be at the top of the usage statistics list, I know I certainly didn’t?
Source: VentureBeat