iPhone, iPad, iPod among top four mobile devices, driving 39% of ad impressions

Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are three of the top four mobile devices in use worldwide, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all mobile ad impressions, according to new figures out from Millennial Media.

The mobile advertising and data platform's Q2 Mobile Mix device index ranks the iPhone as the single most popular mobile device brand on the planet for the past quarter, responsible itself for 22.5 percent of all mobile ad impressions. In the number three and four spots are the iPad and the iPod touch, responsible for 9.38 and 7.6 percent of impressions, respectively.

All together, the three devices give Apple a commanding lead in terms of mobile ad impression share, with 39.32 percent of all impressions measured by Millennial going through an Apple device. The nearest competing manufacturer was Apple's chief rival, Samsung, with 26.13 percent share. No other manufacturer broke into double-digit share.

Millennial's figures showed that certain trends in the mobile device market continue apace, such as the growing importance of tablets. Whereas Millennial's Q2 2012 look at the market found tablets with a 19 percent share of impressions, devices like the iPad made up 25 percent of impressions in 2013. Feature phones continued to drop in share, falling from seven percent last year to five percent this year.

Notably, Millennial's look at the tablet segment illustrated the peculiar situation Google's Android platform is currently in. Thirty-seven percent of Android tablet sales, according to Millennial, went to Samsung's Galaxy Tab line. Another 28 percent went to Amazon's Kindle Fire line, which runs a forked version of Android that removes Google's services in favor of Amazon's. The Google-backed Nexus 7 accounted for only seven percent of impressions.

Android and iOS continued to squeeze out other mobile operating systems, as well. Android grew from 46 percent in Q2 2012 to 51 percent of impressions in 2013. Over the same period, Apple grew its share from 34 to 42 percent. These gains came at the expense of smaller platforms, with BlackBerry OS dropping more than half its share over the period, while Windows and Symbian virtually disappeared.

The report also found little change in the things device users were using their phones and tablets for. The top three apps, in order, remained games, music and entertainment, and communications. Text messaging was the most popular communication method, followed by video chatting, and instant messaging.