Apple takes biggest share of smartphone activations in December 2020

Apple devices made up most of the smartphone activations in December 2020, though the total number of activations were down 20% compared to 2019, according to data from Flurry Analytics.

Back in December, Flurry reported that nine out of the top 10 smartphones activated on Christmas Day were iPhones. However, the data analytics firm noted also that activations were down 23% year-over-year during that holiday.

The company on Thursday released data for the entire month of December, and it depicts a similar decrease from the year prior. Consumer purchasing behavior appears consistent year-over-year: activations elevated in December, peaked on Christmas Day, and remained high through New Year's Day. However, the total number of activations were down 20% compared to December 2019.

Credit: Flurry Analytics

As in Flurry's previous report, iPhone models dominated the top 10 list of activated devices. In first place was the iPhone 11, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 12, iPhone XR, and iPhone 12 Pro.

Credit: Flurry Analytics

The rest of the top 10 was comprised by three additional iPhone models: the iPhone SE, iPhone 11 Pro Max, and iPhone 8 Plus. Two Android devices, the LG Stylo 6 and Samsung Galaxy A11, broke the top 10. They came in eighth and tenth place, respectively.

Similar to Christmas Day, the iPhone 12 mini failed to break the top 10. According to Flurry, the device came in 25th. The analytics firm believes that the size and price of the iPhone SE cannibalized interest in the iPhone 12 mini.

According to the data, Apple captured 46% of all smartphone activations in the month of December. Samsung came in second with 27%, and LG clocked in at third place with 9%.

"As we predicted shortly after Thanksgiving, this year's holiday smartphone activations are down year-over-year likely due to the pandemic," Flurry Analytics wrote.

Flurry collects data from its analytics APIs, which are used in more than one million apps.