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Comment by sbuk | Hacker News Reader

Your immediate and slightly extended circle doesn’t equate to the entire planet. In the UK for instance, it’s closer to 50/50.

Also, much like Windows on the desktop, the email side of things is going to be skewed by business use; I would wager (without the data to hand) that iPhone and iOS is dominant in business, due to the perceived notion of better security and similarity across devices. Though the majority of mailflow globally is spam, or at least greymail, business email outweighs personal use of email. It’s also likely that the majority of Android handsets are merely used as dumb-phones based on engagement. Based on app metrics, iPhone users are more likely to use their device. That is why iOS mail in particular has the market share.

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> Your immediate and slightly extended circle doesn’t equate to the entire planet.

Doesn't mean he wasn't right.

iOS is majority in a handful of countries, mostly small very rich countries (Monaco, Norway, Denmark), North America and Japan (probably Australia too by a smallmargin) and North Korea.

In UK to situation is 53% Android, 46% iOS, which is kinda strange for UK, the country of London, the temple of global finance. Being majority in UK is like having 80% of the market in Germany.

> Based on app metrics, iPhone users are more likely to use their device.

that's some spurious correlation there!

of course app metrics say that, Android users can use a web app! They aren't trained to only use whatever Apple wants them to use.

> and North Korea

Wait, what? Really?

I'm sure they meant South Korea :)

Although I'd personally expect Samsung to be huge there as it's their home market.

I have to agree overall though. Here in Spain most people use Android and midrange ones at that. If you see an iphone it's usually ancient or an SE or simply in the hands of a tourist.

For a normal Spanish wage an iphone is just too expensive. And the SE with its 7 year old design just not interesting enough for the huge price they still cost here.

Yep.

As of January 2023, the percentage of mobile users who use iOS-based mobile devices is higher in North Korea than in any other country in the world.

This trend is somewhat surprising, as iPhones are not legally available in North Korea. However, iPhones are considered much more secure than the phones which are legally available in the country, which consumers believe are often monitored by the totalitarian government of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. In light of this concern, a robust underground market for iPhones has emerged.

I think this is more likely to indicate how few North Koreans have mobile phones than how many iPhones are in use

You're right, but it's still a country where iPhone beats Android.

A considerable portion of the UK population lives outside London, and a lot of areas aren't necessarily the wealthiest in the world - meanwhile, with companies like Samsung and Google providing decent mid-range devices at much more affordable prices than most of Apple's lineup, they tend to do pretty well here.

I will, however, point out that from the statistics I've seen Apple has roughly half of the market share, with Samsung at about 30% - a pretty decent lead.

> Doesn't mean he wasn't right.

Doesn't mean he was either. It's well known that Android has the global market share. The point I made was that iOS is more popular with businesses, which explains why the iOS mail client see higher use than any other platform.

> Being majority in UK is like having 80% of the market in Germany.

Germany has a higher population by 16M people, just under twice the population of London. The average gross salary is $52K (€47K) in Germany vs $32K in the UK ($40K or £32K in London). German GDP is considerably higher too. So no.

> of course app metrics say that, Android users can use a web app!

But, outside of tech circles, do they? Anecdotally, I know a few android users and they tend to use exactly 4 apps regularly; Chrome, Insta, Facebook and WhatsApp. Even the technologists don't bother with web apps. So based on that and the OP's attestation, no-one uses web apps.

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