Christmas Mobile Device Activations and App Downloads Break Records

The number of iOS and Android device activations spikes on Christmas Day compared to any other day of the year, and this year was no exception. How many mobile devices have been activated during this Christmas? Flurry’s Peter Farago has the numbers.


To have a base for comparison, Flurry averaged activations recorded during the first 20 days of December, which stood at around 4 million iOS and Android devices per day, which is okay. However, on Christmas Day, activations spiked to more than 17.4 million, which means a 332% rise compared to the first 20 days of the month. As another comparison, a year ago the record was 6.8 million mobile device activations.

Of course, the new devices also triggered new app download records. According to Flurry’s data, app download volumes increased 112% on Christmas Day compared to the previous 20 days.

Another interesting highlight of Flurry’s recent study is when the downloads took place. As the chart below shows, downloads spike in the evenings, but on Christmas Day, app downloads spiked early in the morning and maintained the same level throughout the whole day at around 20 million per hour.

Interestingly, this year tablets were slightly more popular than smartphones, although the trend was the opposite in previous years.