Android and iOS are pushing the rapid adoption of smartphones across the globe — but especially in the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, according to new data supplied by app analytics and advertising company Flurry.
Flurry, which believes it can detect more than 90 percent of all active iOS and Android devices in the world, tracks more than 200,000 applications running on upward of 640 million devices to arrive at its conclusions.
China is the fastest growing smartphone market, Flurry found. The world’s most populous country posted 401 percent year-over-year growth in active devices. China added 100 million new active devices in a year (for a total of 128 million) and could overtake the U.S. as the country with the greatest number of active iOS and Android devices as soon as the 2012 holiday season.
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By comparison, the U.S. added 30 million active devices between July 2011 and July 2012 for a total of 165 million active iOS and Android devices.
The world leaders are distantly trailed by the U.K. with 31 million total active devices, South Korea with 28 million active devices, and Japan with 22 million active iOS and Android devices.
Newly advanced economic heavy-hitter countries such as Brazil, Russia, and India — the three other BRIC countries — also showed strong growth in smartphone adoption over the past year. Brazil is the third-fastest growing iOS and Android market with 279 percent year-over-year growth in active devices. Russia experienced 189 percent year-over-year growth, while India came in at 171 percent year-over-year growth in active iOS and Android devices.
In terms of smartphone penetration, however, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sweden lead the rest of the world. The small country of Singapore is the most smartphone-saturated market, as an estimated 92 percent of the country’s adult population (nearly 5 million) used iOS or Android devices in July 2012, Flurry found. The U.S. has the fifth highest saturation, with 78 percent of adults using smart devices.
Perhaps the most notable figure is that of active application sessions by country. The U.S. accounted for 52 percent of all active iOS and Android app session last July, but this year that percentage shrank to 36 percent, which means a majority of app sessions (64 percent) now take place outside the U.S.
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