Study: iPhone 5, Galaxy S3 Neck And Neck In Web Traffic Share

According to ad network Chitika’s latest traffic study, Samsung’s Galaxy S3 has caught the iPhone 5 in terms of the amount of Internet traffic it generates. The findings are drawn from “tens of millions of U.S. and Canadian smartphone mobile ad impressions” this month.

Chitika said that in October 2012, Apple’s latest iPhone enjoyed an 8-point lead in Web traffic share over Samsung’s Galaxy. Now, it’s down to one point, according to the ad network.

The chart below reflects the comparative shares of the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5 when looking only at traffic coming from the two devices.

However, when all Samsung smartphones and iPhone models are compared, the story is slightly different. All iPhone models together generate 41.5 percent of Web traffic, while Samsung handsets are responsible for about half of that: 20.6 percent.

Together, iPhone and Samsung Android users generate just over 62 percent of North American smartphone Web traffic.

Clearly, the Galaxy S3 has been an incredibly successful device for Samsung. This is partly because of the Samsung marketing juggernaut. It’s not as good as, say, the LG-made Nexus 4, which has enjoyed sell-out success but is a much lower profile device in the mainstream.

A number of reports released in the past few weeks have shown that Samsung and Apple dominate the global smartphone market. In particular, IDC reported that Samsung and Apple accounted for nearly 90 percent of global smartphone shipments in 2012.