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iOS global usage falls behind Android for the first time

monthly

For the first time, overall usage of iOS as an operating system has fallen behind its main competitor from over in Mountain View. While it’s well known that the majority market share in terms of install base has long been held by Android, this is one figure in which iOS has been top dog for quite some time. But at least according to research from Net Applications, that’s no longer the case. More people now use Android, too.

These “system share” figures are grabbed by way of monitoring the huge amount of traffic going across Net Applications’ network. Specifically, in the month of July, iOS saw a drop from 45.61% of traffic to 44.19%. Android, meanwhile, jumped just as much from 43.75% to 44.62%. Interestingly, Windows Phone saw a decent jump this Summer from just under 1% in April to 2.49% last month.

Notably, Apple is about to release a slew of new products after many months of near silence on the hardware side of things. On the Android side, there have been a huge number of flagship handsets announced in the last few months (LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S 5, etc.) and it’s clear based on this data that they’re being received very well. We’ll have to wait and see what happens to these numbers when Apple introduces a slew of new iPhones and iPads this Fall.

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Comments

  1. Given that it took eight years for them to catch up, I’ll still take this as a win.

  2. bfunk1978 - 10 years ago

    Forget the Android/iOS numbers for a minute – the sheer number of Java feature phone devices still going out on the mobile internet is ridiculous. More than WP, more than “other (which I’m sure includes RIM)” – almost as much as the two combined.

  3. Robert Nixon - 10 years ago

    Wow, so a platform with what, 85% market share is JUST NOW matching pace in terms of actual usage with iOS, a platform with something like 11% market share?

    Google must be so proud. /s

  4. Howie Isaacks - 10 years ago

    OMG! Apple is doomed now. Sell your stock. Get rid of your iPhone. Ditch your Mac. The end is near. Spread the word that Apple is dead.

  5. David Owens - 10 years ago

    somebody, anybody, send me an android phone. I want to wipe my ass with it.

    • André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

      So you’re criticising something you’ve never tried before?
      Glad you don’t work in a statistical company (if you even have a job)

      • observer1959 - 10 years ago

        Working in a statistical company is a job?

      • Edison Wrzosek - 10 years ago

        And how much fraud is present in statistical companies such as IDC and Gartner? This is now well known that these companies routinely fudge the numbers A LOT. Working for a company like this makes you become an instant liar.

        BTW, 9to5Google called, they miss you over there.

      • André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

        @Edison,
        Why would I go to 9to5Google? I don’t own any Android devices.
        You’re just making idiotic assumptions about what I use based on 0% fact.
        Perhaps that same logic of yours is superimposed onto your thoughts on IDC and Gartner?
        Dosen’t quite make you a reliable source I’d say.

  6. Lars Pallesen - 10 years ago

    As others have pointed out, the real story should be: How come that a platform which has been boasting a 80+ percent market share only now catches up with iOS in actual usage? That’s the remarkable story here.

    • observer1959 - 10 years ago

      Because the whole Android market share is deceptive. They pile in every possible phone into the numbers and even the numbers aren’t real sales they are just the numbers sent out to vendors. We really don’t know how many have ended up in consumers hands. The majority are older models running old systems that support doesn’t keep up with. Court papers, shareholder meetings and financial reports show that they are struggling to compete in the category of phones actually equivalent to the iPhone.

      • Andrew John - 10 years ago

        Its all a bit fuzzy when the likes of Samsung report shipments as sales, but never publish actual sales figures. Web stats have always shown these figures up as “creative” at best.

  7. rogifan - 10 years ago

    What is Net Applications and is it significant enough volume to be meaningful?

  8. JeoVanTerra - 10 years ago

    Considering Apple does this with so few device models, it still says a lot about iOS. Of course we’ll see what the picture looks like by the end of the year.

  9. Peter Ostro (@peteostro) - 10 years ago

    “Our mobile share methodology measures share for browser capable mobile devices. This means the mobile device must be able to render HTML pages and javascript. Visits to WAP pages are not included”

    So it looks like this does not include accessing the internet through apps? (twitter/facebook + 100 million others.)
    Sound like they are just talking about web browsing…

    • driverbenji - 10 years ago

      hmmm, I wonder if they included access from apps if that number would not be very different. I’m guessing iOS would still be in the lead, as they have more apps and more people use apps on iOS. I still think android users don’t access the internet as much. Actually, adding iMessage alone would change that up.

    • freediverx - 10 years ago

      “This means the mobile device must be able to render HTML pages and javascript. Visits to WAP pages are not included”

      “So it looks like this does not include accessing the internet through apps? (twitter/facebook + 100 million others.) Sound like they are just talking about web browsing…”

      Most, if not all, of those apps incorporate embedded web views which render HTML pages and javascript. So I would imagine traffic from those apps is counted as well.

  10. jrox16 - 10 years ago

    Given the huge difference in global user market share, it’s amazing it took this long for them to switch at all. Even though Android users actually use their devices far far less, it was inevitable that at some point, the sheer numbers would make up for the difference. A stat like this doesn’t make Android look good.

  11. André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

    Well, it was bound to happen, cheaper phones produced en-mass with populations around the world spending less money on phones. Apple is just too expensive and now this shows for the first time.
    If you consider how much cheaper Android phones are, take into consideration how well their software works considering Apples iOS is so much more expensive!
    Well done Google :)

    • Edison Wrzosek - 10 years ago

      “take into consideration how well their software works considering Apples iOS is so much more expensive”

      I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. Please, just shut up now and go back to worshiping the crap from your Google overlords. I am constantly forced to fix Android devices because they’re such steaming piles of crap with some of the worst apps out there, made better only due to the horrific showing of the Windows Phone apps.

      • André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

        Why would you assume I like Google products or even have an Android phone?
        I have iPhone, Imac, iPad, iPod e.t.c.
        Not one Android system in the house.

        You, on the other hand, have Android devices in your household and use them and complain about them?

        Making remarks about Apple devices being too expensive, does not mean I’m not a fan of Apple, it just means I’m not blind to see other things of relevance.

    • terminalcode2014 - 10 years ago

      I literally watched half of my family dump flagship android phones (All Samsung Galaxy Devices) for iPhones because their software kept glitching and they kept getting viruses. The reason they switched to iPhones was because the portion of my family that had iPhones already didn’t experience those issues. Ask the part of my family that switches from android and the software did not work well.

    • freediverx - 10 years ago

      Are you really that clueless?

      • André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

        Don’t take my word for it. Just do a simple google search.

      • freediverx - 10 years ago

        McDonalds has a pretty high marketshare in the restaurant business. That doesn’t make them a good restaurant.

    • Andrew John - 10 years ago

      Samsung, Google, Sony and HTC all make phones that are more expensive than an entry model iPhone. It always amuses me when people throw that line out as a straw man argument when they don’t like a story. Nice try, but it has little foundation.

      • André Hedegaard Petersen - 10 years ago

        Andrew,
        You can’t compare a Ferrari to a little Ford. Try to compare a Ferrari to a Porsche or some other equally “up there car”.
        Same here. An entry level Android costs what? $50? and compare that to the entry level iPhone and you’ll see a huge price difference.
        So please compare similar items next time. i.e. Top of the range Android vs. iPhone 5S (with same memory specs e.t.c.) and you’ll of course see price differences.

        Sorry, I hope I didn’t make you look completely stupid.

  12. I wonder if that increase in usage is caused by all the Adware and Spyware in Android OS.
    I’ve seen Android devices that would popup Ads very frequently, even when not using a web browser.
    The OS itself pops these up. I wouldn’t be surprise if this is why usage has increased.

  13. Zoheb Khan - 10 years ago

    HTC all products+SAMSUNG all products+Motorola all products+LG all+Micromax All+Google Nexus all products+Sony All products= iPhone 3gs,4,4s,5,5s,5c+iPad 1,2,3,4,air,mini,mini retina+iPod 3rd Gen,4th,5th !

    7 Major Android using companies = APPLE :D

    Therefore i conclude Android < APPLE ;)

    HENCE PROVED ! :D

Author

Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.