Apple devices account for 49% of all new activations during Christmas

Published on Monday, statistics gathered by Yahoo-owned analytics firm Flurry show Apple again enjoyed a sizable lead in new device activations over the week of Dec. 19 through Dec. 25. The performance is down 2.2 percentage points from 2014, the debut year for the larger-screened iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phablet.

Apple's dip in seasonal marketshare went to runner-up Samsung, which managed 19.8 percent of all device activations this year, up 2.1 percent from 2014. Samsung was buoyed by an overall trend toward phablet devices, as the extra-large smartphone form factor accounted for half of all devices running Google's Android operating system.

Nokia came in third with a 2 percent share of the market, while LG and Xiaomi rounded out the top five with 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Breaking down the results by device reveals market trends also apply to Apple's offerings, with the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus accounting for 12 percent of all Apple device activations over the week-long period. Flurry notes adoption of Apple's phablet comes at the expense of so-called "medium phones" like the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and small tablets like the iPad mini, the latter of which accounted for 9 percent of all iOS device activations. Previous years saw phablet demand cannibalize tablet sales, not smaller smartphones.

Despite surging phablet sales, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and iPhone 6 accounted for 65 percent of iOS device activations, followed by full-size tablets — including the iPad Pro — with 14 percent. Apple's jumbo iPad accounted for less than 1 percent of device activations, Flurry said.