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Mapping State-by-State Tech Trends: Android vs. iOS

PCMag surveyed mobile operating system use across the country. Apple's OS won out in 36 out of 50 states at 54 percent of respondents overall, with Android coming in at 42 percent. Some states were a lot closer than others.

March 11, 2019
why axis android vs. ios state by state

The mobile OS duopoly is a fact of digital life. Smartphones and tablets in the US run on either Android or iOS, and the only questions left are who's winning and where.

The Why Axis Bug We run lots of consumer surveys at PCMag, but today's edition of The Why Axis is the first in a series of countrywide maps we'll be running each of the next few Mondays to break down tech buying and usage trends across the nation. We figured a good place to start is seeing which states are more loyal to Apple devices, and which states house more Android people.

PCMag surveyed 2,033 US consumers in February on a variety of tech topics, gathering additional demographic data including state-by-state. While the most recent comScore rankings show Android at 54.2 percent market share in the US and iOS at 44.8 percent as of December 2018, our survey found that only 14 states were predominately Android users compared to 36 for iOS.

Overall, 54 percent of respondents chose iOS as their smartphone OS of choice, 42 percent chose Android, 2 percent chose Other, and 2 percent chose None. Good for you, people off the grid.

The states where Android won out in our survey were primarily less populous ones, including Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, and Wyoming. The states with the highest percentages of Android users were Wyoming at 66 percent and Hawaii at 61 percent, but overall most states had far closer breakdowns with one OS only ahead of the other by anywhere from 1-15 percentage points. The survey didn't take into account fragmentation, i.e. which versions of Android or iOS were installed.

For iOS, the most popular states were Connecticut at 73 percent of respondents, Missouri at 72 percent, and Mississippi at 71 percent. In the states with the highest populations densities, the races were a bit tighter, but iOS still wound up with sizable leads. In California and New York, iOS had 58 percent in both states to Android's 40 percent in CA (2 percent other) and 37 percent in NY (5 percent other.) Illinois was even wider at 63 percent for iOS and 33 percent for Android (4 percent other.)

The closest contests came in states including Colorado (49 percent iOS, 46 percent Android, 5 percent other), Kansas (Android 51 percent, iOS 49 percent,) Minnesota (iOS 49 percent, Android 47 percent, 4 percent other,) North Carolina (50 percent iOS, 46 percent Android, 4 percent other,) and Rhode Island (51 percent Android, 49 percent iOS.)

In some interesting demographic breakdowns, we found that 57 percent of iOS users are female versus 43 percent male. Breaking down age groups, we found that 70 percent of respondents ages 18 to 24 use iOS, while in the 55-to-64 age range, it was more distributed, with 49 percent using Android, 47 percent using iOS, and the other 4 percent choosing Other or None.

Looking from mobile to desktop operating systems, we also found that 63 percent of iOS users have Windows computers, and 34 percent have Macs (1 percent other). On the Android side, 90 percent of users have Windows desktops or laptops, and only 10 percent have Macs.

In the coming weeks, we'll have state-by-state map breakdowns of gaming trends, dating apps, and more. Check back next Monday for another map.

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About Rob Marvin

Associate Features Editor

Rob Marvin is PCMag's Associate Features Editor. He writes features, news, and trend stories on all manner of emerging technologies. Beats include: startups, business and venture capital, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI, augmented and virtual reality, IoT and automation, legal cannabis tech, social media, streaming, security, mobile commerce, M&A, and entertainment. Rob was previously Assistant Editor and Associate Editor in PCMag's Business section. Prior to that, he served as an editor at SD Times. He graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. You can also find his business and tech coverage on Entrepreneur and Fox Business. Rob is also an unabashed nerd who does occasional entertainment writing for Geek.com on movies, TV, and culture. Once a year you can find him on a couch with friends marathoning The Lord of the Rings trilogy--extended editions. Follow Rob on Twitter at @rjmarvin1.

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