According to ComScore’s Device Essentials study, it was found that 71% of iPhone users in the U.S. leverage both cellular and Wi-Fi networks compared to 32% of Android users. Furthermore, the numbers are even higher in the U.K. where the share of iOS and Android users utilizing both types of connections comes in at 87% and 57% respectively.
ComScore’s President of Operator and Mobile Solutions, Serge Matta, said that “in the U.K., the scarcity of unlimited data plans and higher incidence of smartphone pre-paid contracts with a pay-as-you-go model likely contributes to data offloading among users wanting to economize their mobile usage.” He continued by stating that the lack of high-speed 4G networks like the ones found in the U.S. also force U.K. users to move to Wi-Fi connections. That being said, the shift is expected to hit the U.S. soon enough as “unlimited” data plans continue to fall in numbers. It was previously announced that AT&T would be throttling the speed of grandfathered-in “unlimited” data plan users when a user crosses the 3GB threshold.
After breaking down the findings by carrier, iPhone owners on an AT&T network seem to use more Wi-Fi than any other U.S. carrier because the telecom has both a larger share of Apple’s handset as well as the nation’s largest hotspot network. In the U.K., handsets on Vodafone, Telefonica, and Orange networks were all found to use Wi-Fi more than those on other U.K operators’ networks.
For those of you who are interested, you can check out an interactive chart below:
Chart: Mobile and Wi-Fi Internet Connection Activity Across iOS and Android Smartphone Platforms in the U.S. and U.K. (Feb-2012)Description: A U.S. analysis of Wi-Fi and mobile Internet usage across unique smartphones on the iOS and Android platforms reveals that 71 percent of all unique iPhones used both mobile and Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet, while only 32 percent of unique Android mobile phones used both types of connections. A further analysis of this pattern of behavior in the U.K. shows consistent results, as 87 percent of unique iPhones used both mobile and Wi-Fi networks for web access compared to a lower 57 percent of Android phones.Source: comScore Device Essentials, February 2012Tags: 3G, Wi-FiAuthor: comScorecharts powered by iCharts
Source: ComScore
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