Everyone is always happy with what they find under the Christmas Tree, but which company managed to get the most out of their opportunity to be the number one connected present of the year. Did Google come out on top with a fleet of Android devices backing up its own flagship, or would Apple leverage its premium potential in the gifting stakes?
Localytics has published data from its mobile engagement platform and the data provided to it from third-party apps using the SDK. While it cannot measure sales, it can see new devices being activated on its network. With years of data can extrapolate results.
Those suggest that Apple had a very strong Christmas, and a lot of that appears to be down to the iPad. Bundling smartphones, phablets, and tablets together, the biggest percentage increases in unit activations belonged to the iPad family. Top top five slots were all occupied by the iPad, with the iPad Mini 4 taking number one through a 123 percent increase in activations compared to the preceding three weeks. Aggressive pricing could explain this:
Many large retailers, such as Best Buy, offered discounts on iPads leading up to the holiday. Best Buy discounted the iPad Mini 4 by $100, all iPad Pro 9.7 inch and iPad Air 2 models by $125, and the iPad Pro 12.9 inch by as much as $200. Additionally, the iPad Mini 2 was being sold for as low as $260 at Walmart, which may have helped this older model make such an impact this Christmas season.
The iPhone had a not too shabby Christmas as well, with the iPhone 7 seeing a twenty-five percent increase in activations, and the iPhone 7 Plus an eight percent increase. That compares favorably to Google's Pixel and Pixel XL. Although the handsets from Mountain View saw a strong rise in sales over Thanksgiving, the handsets only saw a thirteen percent rise over the holidays.
Although both companies have a claim on the 'win' title, I feel Apple is the more deserving in terms both of the handsets and the overall device win.
But lurking in the data is an issue that could be worrying. Compared to 2015's data, the increase of 25 percent for the iPhone 7 is dwarfed by 2015's 52 percent increase for the then new iPhone 6S; the iPhone 6S Plus picked up a 21 percent increase compared to this year's iPhone 7 Plus managing eight percent.
Apple may still be on top, there may still be a demand for the handsets, but that demand is cooling.
Now read seven top tips to making the most of your new iPhone...
