According to Flurry, the mobile analytics firm, the holiday season was much better for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) than it was for its chief rival, Samsung (OTC:SSNLF).
Flurry reported that approximately 44% of all device activations over the Christmas period were from Apple phones, a huge advantage over Samsung, which only gained a 21% share of holiday sales. Huawei was in a distant third place with only 3% of activations. No other manufacturer claimed more than a 2% market share.
The Flurry data covered the period leading up to Christmas, from December 19 to 25.
It wasn’t all bad news for Samsung. Although the company is still far behind Apple, it actually posted a gain versus the same period last year, where it only claimed a 20% share of activations. Considering all the negative press Samsung got in 2016 -- including the massive recalls of Galaxy Note 7 models and nearly three million top-loading washing machines -- many are considering a slight increase in market share a victory.
Medium-sized phones continued to be the most popular models, with Apple’s iPhone 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy S7 being the two most popular models. Medium-sized phones scored about 45% of total sales.
Large phones, or phablets, gained market share this holiday season, increasing their share of sales from 27% to 37%. In 2013 large phones only accounted for 4% of activations.
Tablet sales continued to struggle as well. As recently as 2014, 22% of all holiday activations were from tablets. That number dropped down to 17% this year.
