Global Users Preferences for Android Phones for Q4 2020

The tough year of 2020 is over finally. There should be no one in the world who wants to live through 2020 again. A variety of unimaginable disasters occurred around the world in 2020, and it looks more like the end of the world in "2012" that was rumored many years ago.

Fortunately, everything has passed away at the end of 2020, and all problems will always be solved over time.

Today, we have worked out the users preference ranking in the fourth quarter of 2020 based on the backstage data of Antutu. What kind of mobile phone do Antutu users prefer? Let's see the outcome.

It should be noted that Antutu preference ranking is based on the phone configuration of Antutu users, so it does not represent the preference of the overall Android phone market.

Screen size: Unpopular small-screen flagships

In the fourth quarter of 2020, 6.5-inch screen size becomes the mainstream, and its market share continues to rise by 3.1% to 16.7%, compared with the third quarter. However, this increase rate is not the highest. The market share of 6.7-inch screen size rises by 6.8% to 13.9% in the fourth quarter, ranking No. 2, and it is almost doubled in the fourth quarter, compared with that of 7.1% in the third quarter.

Except these two screen sizes, the market share of other screen sizes is lower than that in the third quarter, and the 6.6-inch screen size has the highest decrease rate of 4.8%.

At present, the problem of mobile screen development is no longer whether it is large enough, but is how to improve the screen-to-body ratio. In fact, even the size of 6.6 inches or 6.7 inches is acceptable now. Truly, there may be no market for small-screen flagships such as iPhone 12 mini.

Screen resolution: Still 1080P, with significant improvement of high refresh rate

With regard to screen resolution in the fourth quarter, the market share of only 1080×2400 rises by 13.3% and is doubled, compared with the third quarter. The market share of other resolutions shows a downtrend.

It should be noted that, it is still 1080P, and such change results from the change in the corresponding mobile screen size. Nevertheless, as long as the figure 1080 is involved in the resolution, it is still 1080P. Actually, screen resolution still fails to advance towards a higher 2K level. Instead, an increasing number of new phones have been improved significantly in terms of the refresh rate.

Processor brand: Continuous increase of market share of MediaTek

In the aspect of processor brand, the market share of Qualcomm processors rises by 1% to 58.5% (nearly 60%), compared with the third quarter. It is still strong.

MediaTek suddenly rises thanks to its overall layout of high-end, medium-end and low-end chips in the new competition terrain of 5G, achieving continuous increase of market share. Its market share rises by 2.5% to 14.9%, compared with the third quarter. Although MediaTek's market share is still much lower than Qualcomm's 58.5%, it has already become the second largest processor brand of Android phones.

The market share of Samsung and Hisilicon is 13% and 12.3%, respectively. The Exynos processor of Samsung is now only used by Samsung itself and Vivo from China, so it is not easy for Samsung to achieve such market share. This demonstrates that Samsung mobile phones still have a certain market share in the global market while the market share of Hisilicon Kirin chip may continue to fall because of the ban.

Number of cores (CPU): Market share of octa-core chips up to 96.3%

The market share of octa-core chips continues to rise for a third consecutive quarter by 1.2% to 96.3%, compared with the third quarter. However, the market share of other multi-core chips is reduced slowly.

After rounding off, almost all mobile phones are octa-core phones. Even though there are some quad-core and hexa-core mobile phones, they barely have any effect on this chart or the status quo, and they are just some outdated mobile phones.

However, it is the existence of these outdated mobile phones that will make it difficult for octa-core phones to reach 100% market share. After all, it will take a very long time to completely eliminate those obsolete phone models, mainly due to social factors.

RAM: Great market share increase of 8GB RAM

Compared with the third quarter, the market share of only 6G RAM, 12G RAM and 8G RAM rises in the fourth quarter, with the increase rates of 0.8%, 0.9% and 3.9% respectively.

Judging from the increase rates, 8G RAM has become the mainstream RAM configuration for current mobile phones. Although 6G RAM has the highest market share (35%) in the fourth quarter, it is easy to understand that with the launch of new mobile phones, 8G RAM will replace 6G RAM sooner or later. Insufficient RAM may make your mobile phone more and more sluggish.

ROM: 128GB becomes the mainstream

In relation to storage capacity of mobile phones, 128GB ROM still ranks No. 1, as is expected. Its market share rises by 4.2% to 45.5%, compared with the third quarter. After all, the size of any one application may be dozens or hundreds of megabytes nowadays while the phone camera is generally configured with 48 megapixels, 64 megapixels or 100 megapixels at least and the storage space of 64G ROM mobile phones may be filled up with just dozens of photos. Therefore, the minimum configuration of 128GB ROM is a must.

The market share of 256GB ROM continues to rise by 2% to 12%, compared with the last quarter. Now that 128GB has become a minimum configuration of new mobile phones, the growth of 256GB is well-reasoned. After all, the mobile phones with high configuration naturally require larger ROM.

The market shares of 32GB and 64GB ROM continue to decrease by 2.5% and 3.4% respectively, compared with the third quarter. The continuous decrease reveals that, 32GB ROM and 64GB ROM easily filled up with just a few photos and applications, should be replaced with a speed like 5G network’s speed in the increasingly fast 5G era.

Android OS version: Percentage of Android 10 is close to 80%

Based on the distribution chart, Android 10 accounts for the highest percentage in the fourth quarter, up to 78%. It increased by 14.6%, compared with the third quarter, thanks to the rapid follow-up and optimization of various mobile phone manufacturers. By contrast, Android 9 plunges by 16.2% to 11.5%. At present, Android OS develops towards getting better and more standardized, as we can see.

For current Android mobile phones, not only users want to use the newer system, but also mobile phone manufacturers are doing a good job of optimization and follow-up. Often, mobile phone manufacturers quickly follow up soon after a new Android OS version is released to experience the change and upgrade of the new version, especially the upgrade of the security patch. Predictably, the chaotic situation in which multi-generation Android OS versions appear simultaneously as what in the early days of Android phone development is like, will be a thing of the past.

The above content is about the global users preference ranking of Antutu in the fourth quarter of 2020. Looking back the change of preference ranking in 2020, it is very positive. The memory and screen get bigger and bigger, and Android system also becomes increasingly newer, securer and better. Compared to the entire awful 2020, the development of mobile phones is still very positive and upward.

It should be noted again that the ranking list only represents the preferences of Antutu users and does not represent the configuration distribution of the overall Android mobile phone market.