Why Browser Statistics Aren't Reliable for Android

Posted by Bob1976 on December 12, 2012 11:21 am 45

It's a common thing we've all heard: iOS users use their browsers more than Android users. Apple/analyst company shows the graphs and data and trumpet these statistics as the reason why iOS is superior, avoiding more realistic statistics like marketshare and sales.

This, however, is inaccurate.

I immediately suspected that these statistics may be incorrect. With such a massive marketshare lead, how could it be possible that such a miniscule amount of people use the browser in Android?

So like any good scientist, it was time to test.

And here's the results:

Normal webpage loading:

4l2rhh_png_medium

via i.imgur.com

While using the "Request Desktop Site" mode:

8nkuqh_png_medium

via i.imgur.com

So as you can see, requesting the desktop site removes all references to Android. Since the iPad has no feature to disable referring to itself as an iPad, it's going to have a disproportionate representation in web statistics.

Thoughts?