December 29th, 2011 by Caroline

All you wanted for Christmas was a new phone – and Santa delivered, judging by the latest Android stats.

Andy Rubin, Google’s mobile senior VP, announced on Twitter that a whopping 3.7 million Android devices were activated on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Pretty impressive really, especially when you compare it to Android’s previous daily average in early December of new users of 700,000.

The surge in Android sales this festive season is not overly surprising – 8 of the 10 Top Phones of 2011 (chosen by Best Mobile Contracts) are Androids – industry experts believe the increase is partly due to affordable smartphones launching like the HTC Explorer.

“What you have, certainly with the Android, is that there’s been a steady push for cheaper smartphones, which do just as much as the top end models,” James Atkinson, former editor of Mobile magazine, told the BBC.

And Google is not alone in its in Christmas bumper sales. Apple also enjoyed ample activations, with people switching on 6.8 million new Android or iOS-based devices at Christmas.

Again, it’s no surprise that the iPhone 4S was so popular at Christmas – it was the best-selling phone in the run-up to the holiday season.

However, considering how many different Android devices are available, compared to Apple devices, the Christmas figures are great news for Apple.

Mr Atkinson commented: “It’s always the busiest period, they [Apple] would certainly have been hoping for a big pick-up. But given that there were plenty of Android phones, and the iPhone 4 was available last year, this is a surprisingly large amount.”

App downloads went through the roof this festive season too, with 242 million downloads on Christmas Day for Android and Apple devices – an increase of 125% compared to last year and 353% compared to the daily average between the 1^st and 20^th of December.

Games Grand Theft Auto III and Sonic The Hedgehog topped the Android paid-for apps charts, whereas Words With Friends was the favourite paid-for iPhone app. Mobile data company Flurry has predicted that 1 billion app downloads will be made over the Christmas period.

What did Santa bring you this year – an Android or an Apple device?

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