Figures from the GlobalWebIndex market research study into digital consumers have provided a fascinating snapshot of mobile device usage.
Globally, Android was the most-used mobile operating system, climbing from 27% market share in 2011 to 65% by the end of 2013. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS is only used by 20% of the global smartphone audience (despite having over 40% share in some countries).
When it comes to tablets, Android has 53% share and Apple iOS has 40%.
The most popular handset was Samsung with 36% global penetration, followed by Nokia (22%) and Apple’s iPhone with 19%.
Respondents were asked whether or not they shared their internet-enabled device with anyone else.
77% of mobile phone users said they didn’t share with anyone - and 57% of eBook reader owners also didn’t share. However, this figure fell to 53% of PC/laptop users (i.e. 47% shared with at least one person) and 46% of tablet users (i.e. 54% shared). Argentina was the top country for tablet sharing, where 73% of tablet owners allowed at least one other person to use their device.
Jason Mander, head of trends at GlobalWebIndex, said “It’s clear that device sharing is a major phenomenon, something which has big implications for how we understand the total number of people using the internet. This is especially common for tablets but it’s also happening with mobiles, devices which are usually considered to be the most ‘personal’.”
GlobalWebIndex interviews 170,000 people across 32 markets every year.