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Samsung's Android dominance makes it an Apple contender, study says

An analytics study categorizes Android user types and says Samsung's best chance to beat Apple is through tablets.

Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam
2 min read
Samsung's Galaxy S4
Samsung's Galaxy S4 Sarah Tew/CNET

The appeal of Samsung devices to moms and business travelers could let the South Korean company take a bite out of Apple's popularity, according to a study released Tuesday.

Research firm Flurry Analytics analyzed the users and use patterns of 45,340 Android devices in May, looking at not only how people spend time on their phones, but who those consumers tend to be.

It turns out that top Android users are avid runners, "hip urban lifestylers," and single people. It's a bit different from typical Apple users, which Flurry characterizes as "value shoppers" and new moms, in addition to single people.

While the Android platform as a whole still suffers from fragmentation -- with many devices and versions of the software -- Samsung has risen above the crowd as a possible contender to Apple.

Samsung dominates as the top manufacturer of Android devices, and this was reflected in Flurry's findings. The manufacturer's phones accounted for 59 percent in the overall sample of Android phones, and its tablets represented 42 percent of those devices.

While users in a variety of demographics favor Samsung devices, the report focused on two groups -- business travelers and moms -- two of the "most sought-after by advertisers," according to Flurry. Samsung smartphone users favored news magazines, tools, health and fitness, and education apps. Samsung's tablet users spent more time on communication apps.

When it comes to attracting people who spend the most time on mobile devices, Samsung's consumers are actually more like Apple's than other Android users, according to Flurry.

Samsung users also spend more time on apps within their devices than other Android consumers: 14 percent more than owners of other Android phones, and for tablet users, 10 percent more.

 
Samsung's Nexus 10 tablet. CBS Interactive

Samsung's weakness is it owns only a small share of the tablet market, a key area since people tend to spend more time browsing and shopping on the devices compared with their smartphones. Overall, owners of Android tablets spent 64 percent more time using apps than users of Android smartphones.

Samsung owners made up a small percentage of Android tablet users, according to Flurry. So, while Samsung is the king of the Android smartphone market, it will have to pay more attention to tablets if it wants a chance at Apple's throne.

See the full report here.