AndroidFragmentationReport2015-OpenSignal.PDFVIP

ANDROID FRAGMENTATION VISUALIZED (AUGUST 2015) Fragmentation is both a strength and weakness of the Android ecosystem, a headache for developers that also provides the basis for Android’s global reach. Android devices come in all shapes and sizes, with vastly different performance levels and screen sizes. Furthermore, there are many different versions of Android that are concurrently active at any one time, adding another level of fragmentation. What this means is that developing apps that work across the whole range of Android devices can be extremely challenging and time-consuming. This year we see a continuation of the trends seen in previous reports; more devices and more differentiation between the devices out there. One big thing weve noticed this year is the increased fragmentation of manufacturers, with over 1000 manufacturers seen this year that we did not see in 2012 when we first published this report. Samsung, still the market leader, have seen their share of the global Android device market fall from 43% to 37.8% (although the market itself continues to grow) . The great strength of the Android ecosystem from a consumer perspective has always been the ability to pick a device that is perfectly tailored to your specifications, as there are so many devices to pick from. This trend has only continued, with more Android devices and manufacturers seen this year than ever before. DEVICE FRAGMENTATION Android Fragmentation 2015 We have seen 24,093 distinct devices download our app in the p ast f ew months. In our rep ort last year we saw 18,796. In 2013 we saw 11,868. This is the best way of visualizing the sheer variety of Android de