Mikey Campbell
Fresh information from the Chitika ad network points to a near 50/50 split when comparing the North American web share of Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S III, but overall, iOS devices still account for a majority of the market.
While the iPhone 5 still has a slight lead over the Galaxy S III, Chitika Insights' comparison data shows the Samsung handset has made up substantial ground since the last study was performed in October 2012.
The firm's research arm harvested the latest statistics from "tens of millions" of U.S. and Canadian smartphone mobile ad impressions seen across its network from Feb. 1 through Feb. 9.
According to the data, a direct comparison in web marketshare saw the iPhone 5 take a 51 percent stake, meaning the S III came up with 49 percent. In contrast, the October study found Apple's newest device to have an eight percentage point lead on Samsung's flagship handset.
Taking a look at broad overall impressions, the iPhone 5 accounted for 6.6 percent of traffic, compared to the Galaxy S III's 6.3 percent. Including all iPhone models currently being used in the U.S. and Canada, Apple took a 41.5 percent share of the market, representing a 4.5 percent drop from the time of the last study. Samsung boosted its overall presence to 20.6 percent over the same period, up from 17 percent in October.
Source: Chitika Insights
Apple and Samsung dominated the market with a combined 62.1 percent marketshare, but that number is one percent below October's findings, suggesting that there is at least some churn taking place in the North American smartphone market.
It was recently reported that of Apple's smartphone web share, iOS 6 now accounts for 83 percent of all iOS traffic in North America. The stats are impressive given that the mobile OS was only released in September of 2012.
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84 Comments
If accurate, no matter how you feel about Samsung or their tactics this is an impressive achievement. They did have a few extra months but they also have to compete with all Android-based devices, including their own Samsung devices. I have no idea if their cost in marketing is worth their investment but it clearly shows that marketing works. It also shows us that Android users do use their their phones in much the same way as iPhone owners… when they have decent Android phone to use, which means we can deduce that the vast number of Android phones are simply not being used like they smartphones in the US. I wonder if the Samsung Galaxy S II mini is included in that figure.
I wonder if the Samsung Galaxy S II mini is included in that figure.
You mean in the "other Samsung" category obviously.
[quote name="Gatorguy" url="/t/156013/apples-iphone-5-and-samsungs-galaxy-s-iii-now-equals-in-north-american-web-use-study-says#post_2278746"]You mean in the "other Samsung" category obviously. [/quote] No, I mean in the Samsung Galaxy III category. One could argue that the mini is a subset of the Galaxy SIII category of Samsung smartphones. It's not officially on sale in the US but that doesn't mean it's not used in the US. However Chitika parsed their data to find the device type I would guess they wouldn't look for Galaxy AND S AND III NOT mini. If it was simply grabbing a unique idea that is only for that model or the variety of S III models that are sold worldwide then I think it's less likely to be included, but not out of the question.
Since it doesn't have anywhere near the same specs as the S3, and Chitika can tell the difference between an iPhone 5 and other iPhones I don't know why it would be any different for Samsung.
What I find impressive is that the Galaxy S3 has been around for 8 months or so, been given away as part of numerous promotions and BOGOs and such, and the iPhone 5 has already equaled their web use despite not being given away.