Top 5 most popular smartphones across the globe in 2016

We’ve got the latest statistics on the most popular smartphones in different countries based on the amount of web traffic these phones generated in 2016. Check them out to learn which devices are the most used in your region, and for which devices you should optimize your content.

Fragmented Android landscape

The statistics on the most used smartphones in different countries are led by iPhone 5/5S/5C and 6/6S (but not 6 Plus/6S Plus), while at the same time Android in many regions is more popular than iOS. Check out these figures showing Android vs iOS market share in various markets.

This is probably caused by the fact that Android is largely fragmented. Users can choose between a variety of Android phones and therefore it’s difficult for a single phone to garner significantly more users than others. Also it is possible that iPhone users just browse more often simply because their phones are high-end devices often used in urbanised regions where good connectivity is available. This is not always the case in terms of Android devices which are available in every price category including low-end phones targeted at the emerging markets.

Despite the fragmentation, in the Android world Samsung’s domination is clear with the Samsung Galaxy family enjoying the largest user base in most countries we analysed. Interestingly, some lesser-known smartphone models can command significant market share in regions where they have brand recognition.

The following statistics are based on mobile web traffic to a global network of partner websites using the DeviceAtlas device detection platform.

Europe

iPhone 5/5S/5C and 6/6S are the most popular smartphones for web browsing in Europe. Interestingly, the 5-year old iPhone 4 is also generating a lot of web traffic. In the Android world, Samsung Galaxy S5, S6 and S4 are used the most often.

North America

The smartphone usage patterns in North America are quite similar to Europe with iPhone 5/5S/5C and 6/6S leading in terms of web browsing figures. It is worth noting that some Android devices are branded by the MNO in the USA and thus detected as "Verizon Galaxy S5", etc.

South America

The budget-friendly Moto G (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Gen) has quite a solid user base in both Brazil and Argentina. We also spotted Nokia Lumia 635, one of the few widely used Windows Phone-based devices, among the top 5 phones in Argentina.

Asia

Both Japanese and Korean markets favour home-grown solutions in the form of Sony and Samsung devices respectively. The fragmentation of Android devices is quite apparent in India, where none of the Android phones are able to compete with the iPhones while at the same time Android has over 75% of the web browsing share. Moreover, the single most popular non-iOS phone in India was actually a Windows-based Microsoft Lumia 535.

Australia

The stats on the most popular phone models in Australia are quite similar to the American market with strong domination of iPhones and high-end Galaxy phones.

Africa

In some African markets Blackberry is more popular than elsewhere which resulted in some Blackberry models getting to the top 5 phones in terms of web browsing share. Here are the stats for South Africa and Nigeria.

Segment your traffic based on phone models

With DeviceAtlas it is possible to segment web traffic according to phone models (or any other of the 165+ device properties) to acquire a similar breakdown of visiting devices.

Companies use device detection to offer optimized experiences for their users, target advertising or build device aware web analytics platforms. Check out 6 not-so-obvious ways companies can use device detection.