Navigating Android: Device Market Share (March)

To no one’s surprise, Samsung is still dominating the Android device market share top ten rankings. InMarch, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S2 were ranked one and two, respectively. They also held five other spots in the top ten. Newcomers to the group include the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1″) and the Samsung Galaxy S Duos, the device that allows dual sim cards for those worldly travelers.

Here is the same Android device data laid out in a table:

As always, this data is based on NativeX’s daily active users (DAUs), broken down by device. As shown below, my operating system data differs from the Android developer portal data because mine only consists of games. This is valuable for publishers that specialize in developing Android games.

Sadly, this month I must relinquish my perfect prediction record. The Nexus 7 dropped two positions, down to the 8^th spot, not only getting beat out by the Galaxy Tab 2 (7”) but also by the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). I am not sure if it will recover or not but the numbers show it is losing steam. Coincidentally, VentureBeat just published an article announcing a faster, thinner, and cheaper Nexus 7 rumored for release in July. They also reported that the current Nexus 7 model may drop down to a $150 price point.

While HTC has dropped off of the charts for now, I expect the M7 (April release) to climb up into the top ten charts by the end of Q3 or sometime in Q4. This would fulfill my last prediction so I’m not counting it out yet!

2013 Predictions (recap)

[X] Nexus 7 will continue to climb during January and overtake the Galaxy Tab 2 (7”) and won’t be challenged from another Android tablet this year.
[  ] Samsung Galaxy S3 will likely hold the top spot throughout 2013 with rumors of the S4 releasing in May and the majority of early adopters still enjoying their 2-year carrier contract with the S3.
[  ] Sony will drop off the charts completely and not recover another spot for the remainder of 2013. Along with Sony, LG will fail to chart with a non-Nexus phone.
[  ] HTC will be making a big push this year for new phones considering they lost market share last year. Expect to see them to replace one or two spots in the charts, quite possibly with the rumored M7 which is rumored to release in early 2013.