state of mobile

Flurry 2021 State of Mobile

LisaMoshfegh — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 20:55:24 +0000

Flurry 2021 State of Mobile

By Lisa Moshfegh, Product Marketing | Estelle Laziuk, Flurry Analyst | Aman Bansal, Flurry Analyst

LisaMoshfegh Mon, 02/08/2021 - 12:55

2021-02-09

Tags

Mobile Insights

Samsung

Android

Apple

state of mobile

2020 was an unforgettable year. The global COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we live, learn and work. And as the world appeared to be in chaos, smartphones kept people connected, informed and entertained. For this year’s Flurry State of Mobile, we’ll review the most significant global trends related to smartphone adoption, mobile app category growth, and app usage behavior.

Flurry Analytics is used in over 1 million mobile applications, delivering insights from more than 1 billion smartphones worldwide. All data in this report represents global numbers, excluding China and Europe due to insufficient data. Let’s start with which countries are seeing the greatest growth in smartphone adoption.

In the chart above, we identified the countries with the largest year-over-year increases in new device activations. In other words, these are the countries driving the world’s smartphone growth. India, for example, experienced a 31% year-over-year increase. For a country of 1.3 billion people with smartphone penetration around 30%, this represents tens of millions of new smartphones flooding the market.

Globally, we’ve seen a 6% increase year-over-year in new smartphone activations. But as many countries in North and South America have experienced flat or even a slight decline year-over-year, the growth is clearly coming from countries in Asia and the Middle East.

Let’s next review year-over-year shifts in market share of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers and see which companies are benefiting from this smartphone growth.

In the bar chart above we list the global smartphone market share of the world’s largest smartphone OEMs. The gray bars represent 2019 market share, and the blue bars represent 2020 market share. Samsung has a 13 percentage point lead over Apple, the world’s second largest OEM. And while Apple has made significant gains in international markets with more recently released lower cost devices, they still have a long way to go close the gap on Samsung’s commanding lead.

Together, Samsung and Apple make up over half of all smartphones in use around the world, leaving a large part of the market fragmented. Best poised to shake-up the Samsung-Apple global duopoly is one of several Chinese manufacturers. According to analyst reports, Huawei makes up 43% of China’s smartphone market, which would put them much closer to Apple in terms of global market share than our data illustrates. However, as Huawei has to contend with U.S. sanctions, Xiaomi, OPPO, or vivo could see an opportunity to gain share.

Next, let’s take a closer look at the Samsung-Apple split at the country level.

In the chart above, we breakout new device activations by country and by OEM, ranked by the countries with the highest Samsung share. The blue lines represent Samsung, the green is Apple, and then we’ve combined all other OEMs together as Others in gray. Once again, this shows Samsung’s dominance at the country level, in addition to the global level we showed in the first chart. However, it also shows how fierce competition is among other Android manufacturers in several key markets including India and Indonesia.

Knowing that Apple controls 19% of the world’s smartphone market, we can deduce that Google’s Android operating system controls the remaining 81%. Next, let’s see how the operating system split looks at the country level.

In the chart above, we list the ten largest markets in terms of total new smartphone devices sorted by share of Android smartphones. As you can see, the Android operating system dominates in many of the world’s largest markets. Even in the United States, arguably Apple’s most important market, Android holds a small lead. And in countries such as India and Indonesia, with large populations and relatively low smartphone penetration, the numbers really tilt in Android’s favor.

Any plans Apple has for international expansion in some of these key markets could be hampered by the premium prices of iPhone devices. For years, Apple ratched up the price of its most premium devices, with the highest-end models nearing $1,500. More recently, however, Apple released lower cost devices like the iPhone XR and iPhone SE likely as a means to find new audiences both in the U.S. and abroad.

Next look at what groups are driving mobile device and app usage.

In the chart above, we present the percent change in sessions per user from 2019 to 2020 by generation. Generations Z and Y, which collectively represent those from high school age to around 40 years old, increased their app usage the most, by 11% and 34% respectively. We believe that these young adults and young working professionals gained the most additional free time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With school shifting to remote learning, work transitioning to the home, and heavily reduced social activities, these users increasingly turned to their smartphones to pass time. This aligns with an earlier report we published showing that Gen Z mobile gaming surged during the early months of the pandemic. Let’s now review which app categories saw the biggest increases year-over-year.

In this final chart, we show which app categories had the largest increase in sessions per user from 2019 to 2020. App categories that facilitate working and learning from home, such as Business and Productivity, saw the largest increases, up 85% and 29% respectively. Social apps allowed people to stay in touch when the pandemic prevented in-person gatherings, and of course, Food & Drink benefited from the unexpected interest in baking, as well as the surge in take-out orders. Even though the mobile gaming category only shows a 7% increase, a single digit percentage increase actually represents massive growth as gaming is already one of the most heavily used app categories in mobile.

On the other end of the spectrum, Travel and Shopping app categories suffered major declines year-over-year, likely due to the stay-at-home orders in place throughout much of the year due to COVID-19.

While 2020 was a year unlike any other, we don’t expect 2021 will bring much normalcy until the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available to all. As the world begins to re-open, we believe smartphone and app usage will trail behind as people have become even more connected to their mobile devices than before. Please make sure to follow us on the Flurry blog, Twitter and LinkedIn where we regularly report on smartphone adoption trends and shifts in user behavior.

iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

Samsung and Samsung Galaxy are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in the United States or other countries.

The Flurry blog (https://www.flurry.com/blog/) is an independent blog and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. or Samsung.

State of Mobile: COVID-19 Edition

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 19:29:52 +0000

State of Mobile: COVID-19 Edition

By: Lisa Moshfegh, Product Marketing, Flurry Analytics

Anonymous Mon, 08/24/2020 - 12:29

2020-08-24

Tags

App Insights

state of mobile

COVID-19 and the ensuing stay-at-home orders have caused mobile app usage to skyrocket. Consumers are looking to fill unexpected free time due to limited leisure activities and social distancing, meaning many of us are reaching for mobile devices to pass the time. Throughout the past few months, Flurry has investigated various shifts in user behavior due to the pandemic by looking at app usage across categories. For this report, we’ve compiled our recent findings into one document to demonstrate the cross-category impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you’ll take a look.

Please find the slides here. And make sure you keep in touch on our blog, Twitter, or LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on our latest analyses.

Flurry State of Mobile 2017: With Captive Mobile Audiences, New App Growth Stagnates

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 16:47:21 +0000

Flurry State of Mobile 2017: With Captive Mobile Audiences, New App Growth Stagnates

By: Chris Klotzbach, Director at Flurry and Lali Kesiraju, Marketing and Analytics Manager at Flurry

Anonymous Wed, 01/10/2018 - 08:47

2018-01-10

Tags

For an industry that’s seen staggering growth and disruption since the launch of the first smartphone, 2017 was the year that mobile app innovation and growth was disrupted. Stalwart industry players held and gained market position, while years-old disruptors struggled to find their footing. Compared to 2016, Flurry measured overall session app activity growth of just 6%. While growth may have stagnated, users continue to diversify their behavior while using mobile applications.

Over the last year, Flurry’s app footprint grew to track more than one million applications, across 2.6 billion devices globally. In this context, we define app usage as a user opening an app and recording what we call a “session.”

Mobile Session Growth Stagnates in 2017

This past year’s 6% growth is down from 11% in 2016. As we reported last year, users now spend more than five hours a day on their smartphones, and shift their daily time spent between new and old app experiences, versus giving more of their overall daily time.

The Shopping category grew by 54% as consumers continue to shift their spending into e-commerce via mobile shopping apps. Users are increasingly comfortable making physical purchases on their phones with now ingrained in-app digital purchase habits. Additionally, digital wallet services such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay allow seamless access to stored payment information for mobile purchases. Music, Media, and Entertainment came in a close second with 43% year-over-year growth, reaffirming users’ shift to mobile devices to consume media.

Lifestyle saw the steepest decline in growth with -40% in 2017. The decline in Lifestyle, a catchall category for both the Google Play and Apple App stores, highlights an app’s need to build daily usage habits in order to retain or increase year-over-year growth. While Gaming saw another year of decline in sessions with -15% in 2017, Flurry has previously reported that gamers are spending more time and money in mobile games than ever before.

Phablets Continue to Steal Medium Phone Market Share

Understanding formfactor adoption is critical for both app developers and marketers, as we know that usage differs between devices. 2017 proved that there is no end in sight for phablet growth – they represent a staggering 55% of active devices. As medium phone users trade in their devices, it is clear that they’re opting for phablet devices, as 9% of the phablet growth came from medium phone adoption decline.

Android Dominates OS, While Apple holds Manufacturer Market Share

Although Android manufacturers make up two thirds of all active devices in 2017, Apple dominates individual market share with 34% of all active devices. Samsung maintained their share between 2016 and 2017 with 28% and will look to return to growth in 2018 with the launch of the S9. Chinese manufacturers Huawei, Xiaomi, and OPPO round out the top five and are slowly seeing growth by driving adoption in Asia Pacific and European markets.

Developers Have Users’ Attention, It’s Time to Innovate

Although session growth may have stalled, it has never been more apparent that mobile apps and smartphones have cemented their roles in users’ lives. While users, marketers and the tech industry drive towards what’s next, developers have an incredibly captive audience and a platform to engage them. And Flurry will be there to help drive the mobile app market forward. Here’s to 2018!

European State of Mobile - 2017

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

European State of Mobile - 2017

By: Flurry

Anonymous Tue, 02/28/2017 - 00:00

2017-02-28

Tags

App Insights

state of mobile

UK app usage has increased by 28% in the last year as Brits turn to their phones for social and professional tasks, according to the latest report from Flurry.

The report looks into mobile app activity in the UK, France and Germany over the last year, as well as global trends, the report draws on Flurry’s expansive global footprint.

More than 940,000 applications, across 2.1 billion devices, in 10 billion sessions a day provide a unique level of detail and breadth for examining app usage patterns.

Key insights from the report include:

• Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 28% in the UK

• British mobile users turn to their phones for social and professional tasks – messaging and social application sessions increased by 46%, whilst utilities and productivity application sessions grew by 45%

• In France, sports apps scored an impressive growth rate, with sessions increasing by 190%

• Business and finance apps captivated French and German users more in 2016 than in 2015, with session growth up 69% and a staggering 106% respectively

For the second time ever, Flurry Analytics released its report on the state of mobile app usage across key markets in Europe. Flurry is a tool used by developers and marketers to measure and analyze consumer activity across their application portfolios.

Flurry currently supports iOS and Android operating systems; as well as Apple TV and the Apple Watch.

Over the last year, the global Flurry footprint grew to track more than 940,000 applications, across 2.1 billion devices, in 10 billion sessions a day. In this context, we define app usage as a user opening an app and recording what we call a “session.”

Top European Trends

• Overall EU

o The usage we’re seeing across the region maps back to the global figures we saw approximately 6 months ago.
o Phablets adoption is growing in markets where Android is the dominant operating system.
o Perhaps seeing an opportunity to ramp-up their business chops following the Brexit vote, German and French mobile users turned to their Business and Finance apps more in 2016 than in 2015, with session growth up 69% and a staggering 106% respectively.

• United Kingdom

o Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 28%
o Much like the global mobile community, British mobile users turned to their phones to perform a combination of social and professional tasks. Messaging and Social application sessions increased by 46% and Utilities and Productivity application sessions were up by 45% in 2016.

• France

o Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 16% (mapping closest back to the global average of 11%)
o After hosting the Euro Cup last year, Sports app sessions increased by 190% throughout 2016.

• Germany

o Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 25%
o German got a lot more social on their phones in 2016, with Messaging and Social application sessions up an impressive 96%.
o Germany has biggest market share for phablets, with Samsung securing 44% of the total active devices in the country.

Across Europe, Flurry Analytics is used by over 35,200 companies, installed on over 189,900 apps, with 460 million monthly active users.

When looking into mobile usage locally, one major trend emerged in our report: European mobile usage looks a lot like global usage did 6 months ago, still ascending on the growth curve, but slowing considerably.

In 2016, app usage across the three key markets of the United Kingdom, France and Germany grew by 23%.

Sports and Messaging and Social apps saw the most year-over-year session growth in Germany and the UK, with 96% and 46% increases respectively. While French mobile users were, perhaps, inspired by the Brexit vote and chose to become more business savvy, as seen with the session uptick of 106% in Business and Finance app sessions.

Mobile users in the UK hop on their phones almost as soon as they wake up, around 7:30AM. Not to be outdone, Germans tend to wake up about 30 minutes before their British brethren with mobile usage ramping up around the 7am hour.

French users wake a little later and are slow to turn to their devices in the morning. The first big jump in activity actually happens around the hours of Noon and 1:00PM, where they look to be spending more time with their phones than in the office, with their co-workers.

Perhaps most interestingly British phone usage continually climbs to its apex starting at around 4:00 PM, continuing through the “peak-pub hours” and dropping dramatically off at around 10:00 PM.