A new study from Net Applications seems to indicate that iOS users are more active online than Android users.
Even though Android handset sales account for nearly 85 percent of the market compared to iOS sales at just under 12 percent, the Net Applications study indicates that Android and iOS users make up 44.62 and 44.19 percent respectively when it comes to online usage. So even though Android handsets outsell iOS handsets seven to one the total online usage is about the same.
Q2 2014 Mobile OS Usage (Data provided by Net Applications)
At first glance you might conclude that iOS users are using their devices online much more than Android users. Some reporters are chalking this disparity up to the sale of cheaper Android devices (an implication that people who buy cheaper phones just aren’t that interested in going online).
However, it is interesting to note that according to another Net Applications analytics report, iOS online usage has actually been declining since a high of 53.68 percent in September of 2013 down to the current 44.19 percent, while Android use has grown from 29.42 percent in September 2013 up to its current 44.62 percent.
I’m not sure what to make of these numbers (if anything at all). Are iOS users actually losing interest in going online with their devices? Are the people who buy cheaper handsets finally learning about and embracing the wonders of accessing the Internet on their smartphones?
If the numbers in the second graphic continue their current trend into the coming year does that indicate that iOS online statistics will eventually match their installed base numbers?
Or do these numbers indicate that iOS users are getting bored with their current devices and as soon as Apple releases some new handsets people will find renewed interest in going online?
Of course, like all statistics, these numbers probably don’t have anything to do with the costs of the handsets, the wait for new iOS devices or, as they used to say, the price of tea in China. So draw your own conclusions folks. Who knows, maybe it’s a result of global warming.
