DeviceAtlas recently released its latest report (Mobile Web Intelligence Report August 2017) detailing the current breakdown of a number of Android smartphone-related hardware characteristics. Such as how the market is currently constructed based on the widespread usage of SoCs, GPUs, RAM, screen size, and more. For reference, the figures listed here are based on device data drawn from “traffic to tens of thousands of sites” and is mostly relevant to Q2, 2017. While some of the findings will be in line with expectations, other are probably less likely to be as expected.
For instance, while it is likely to be expected that Qualcomm was found to be the most used chipset vendor for Android, of the Snapdragon line of processors, the Snapdragon 410 was found to be the most used chipset in Android phones. Interestingly, along with Samsung’s Exynos 7420 SoC. Likewise, in spite of the seemingly upwards trend of packing as much as RAM in a device as possible, the most commonly used RAM amounts are said to be 1 and 2GB. With DeviceAtlas also noting how 0.5GB RAM “is still very common.’
On the chipset side of things, while the data suggests the likes of Samsung, Huawei, and MediaTek are making inroads, Qualcomm’s dominance remains in effect on a global scale. So much so that of the countries listed, only Nigeria showed a greater number (than Qualcomm) of MediaTek chipset in use during Q2 of 2017. Although in some areas like Russia, Malaysia, and Canada, Samsung chipsets ran a very close second to Qualcomm’s. A similar pattern which seems to be emerging in a number of European countries, including the UK. As for the US though, Qualcomm remains the go-to Android processor manufacturer occupying almost 30-percent of the market share, compared to second-placed Samsung with around 10-percent market share.
As for the Snapdragon 410 aspect, this is something which does need to be understood in context. As while the Snapdragon 410 was noted as the most-used chipset globally, this varies massively depending on country. For example, while the 410 was the most used in a number of South American countries, India, Poland, and Spain, it did not register at all in the top five in the US or the UK – which are both largely dominated by Apple chipsets. For example, in the US, fourth place was the highest an Android-related processor ranked and that was the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, followed by the Samsung Exynos 7420 in fifth place. While in the UK, only the Exynos 7420 ranked within the top 5, with Apple accounting for the other four spots. In fact, Apple’s dominance in certain regions was also a contributing force to why other aspects seem more skewed in one direction. Like for example, RAM count. As Apple devices traditionally have not come with as high RAM counts, Apple devices, along with some of the leading, but older, Samsung models, helped to push the 1 and 2GB figures higher. Although this is something that also largely differs across the globe with DeviceAtlas noting how “4GB or more is particularly common in Australia, Sweden, and the USA.” In spite of this, 2GB RAM was still found to be the most common in the US, as well as in various European locations.
Interestingly, at the OS level, while figures from the likes of IDC have shown Android occupying more than 80-percent of the OS market, the data from DeviceAtlas suggests the difference is not as vast as that. That is not to say that there is still not a clear difference, as the report does point out that Android occupies as much as 60-percent of the market share (based on web traffic) in certain areas, and leads the way in “60 major markets.” Although again, this is something that the data has shown to fluctuate substantially with some areas like the US, the UK, and most notable Japan, showing Android dropping to as low (or lower than) 40-percent. Below shows the change in Android OS, based on region, between Q3 2016 and 02 2017.
As for the most widely used Android device across the world, based on the data from DeviceAtlas that award goes to the Samsung Galaxy S7 (and S7 Edge). For those interested, the points highlighted here are only some of those covered in this latest report and the full report is available through the link below.
DeviceAtlas: Mobile Web Intelligence Report August 2017