Android versus iOS is the fanboy battle of our time, and for the last decade, it’s been remarkably consistent. Apple has always had the edge in selling expensive flagship smartphones, but Samsung occasionally challenges with new innovations (or sheer screen size), while the affordable phone market is a slam-dunk victory for Google.
But according to a new report, the battle isn’t really a battle when it comes to the business world. Egnyte, a data storage and file-sharing company that serves businesses, has analyzed its vast trove of corporate data and come to a mostly-unsurprising conclusion: In the corporate world, Apple is king.
For its report, Egnyte analyzed “over 18 petabytes” of data from the last year to see whether iOS or Android devices are preferred by its corporate clients. According to Egnyte’s data, 79% of all activity happened on iOS devices, with the remaining 21% on Android phones or tablets. (Tragically, the company doesn’t have a Blackberry client any more.)
One interesting data point is that older devices dominated the most-popular device rankings. Here’s the top 5:
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 6s
- iPad Air 2
- iPhone 7 Plus
- iPhone 6
The list likely speaks to the fact that corporations hold onto devices for longer than individuals, plus the data collection began in 2017, before the iPhone X was even released.
The really interesting part about this is how conclusively Apple has dominated the mobile business space, compared to the complete opposite in desktops and laptops. Corporate IT favours Windows PCs, thanks to better network-level controls, customizability, and the availability of cheap workstations. All the same arguments hold true for mobile — Android devices are cheaper and typically more customizable than iPhones — but the outcome is very different.
