Japan: smartphone OS monthly market share 2023

Android recorded a market share of 51.7 percent among smartphone operating systems in Japan in December 2023, while iOS held a market share of 47.7 percent. According to the methodology employed by the source, which tracks factors such as purchases, bills, and usage, Android was the leading operating system in Japan throughout the whole year.

Smartphone market in Japan

In terms of device models, Apple's iPhones are dominating the smartphone market in Japan. Although the ownership rate of smartphones increased in recent years, Japanese smartphone makers have not profited significantly from this growth. Japanese brands such as Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp, which prior to the advent of the iPhone had been providing highly advanced mobile phones to Japanese consumers, have difficulties competing against Apple when it comes to smartphone sales.

Smartphone usage

Smartphones have become an indispensable device for many Japanese consumers. A look at the household penetration rate reveals that about nine out of ten households now own smartphones. Smartphones have surpassed computers as the leading device used to access the internet. This change is also reflected by the average time people spend on using the internet via mobile devices per weekday, which has increased significantly in recent years.

Monthly market share held by smartphone operating systems in Japan from January 2016 to December 2023

Characteristic	Android	BlackBerry	iOS	Windows	Other
Dec 2023	51.7%	0%	47.7%	0%	0.6%
Nov 2023	56.5%	0%	43%	0%	0.5%
Oct 2023	54.7%	0%	44.7%	0%	0.6%
Sep 2023	62%	0%	37.6%	0%	0.4%
Aug 2023	56%	0%	43.7%	0%	0.3%
Jul 2023	60%	0%	39.7%	0%	0.3%
Jun 2023	59.5%	0%	39.9%	0%	0.6%
May 2023	59.2%	0%	40.4%	0%	0.4%
Apr 2023	58.4%	0%	41.2%	0%	0.4%
Mar 2023	53.8%	0%	46.1%	0%	0.1%
Feb 2023	55.2%	0%	44.7%	0%	0.1%
Jan 2023	55.1%	0%	44.7%	0%	0.1%
Dec 2022	55.1%	0%	44.9%	0%	0%
Nov 2022	56.2%	0%	43.8%	0%	0%
Oct 2022	58.8%	0%	41.2%	0%	0%
Sep 2022	61.7%	0%	38.3%	0%	0%
Aug 2022	58.6%	0%	41.4%	0%	0%
Jul 2022	54.5%	0%	45.5%	0%	0%
Jun 2022	51.7%	0%	48.3%	0%	0%
May 2022	51.7%	0%	48.3%	0%	0%
Apr 2022	54.1%	0%	45.9%	0%	0%
Mar 2022	56%	0%	44%	0%	0%
Feb 2022	58.4%	0%	41.6%	0%	0%
Jan 2022	55.7%	0%	44.3%	0%	0%
Dec 2021	55.6%	0%	44.4%	0%	0%
Nov 2021	57.9%	0%	42.1%	0%	0%
Oct 2021	59.9%	0%	40.1%	0%	0%
Sep 2021	64.5%	0%	35.5%	0%	0%
Aug 2021	61.5%	0%	38.5%	0%	0%
Jul 2021	58.1%	0%	41.9%	0%	0%
Jun 2021	55.1%	0%	44.9%	0%	0%
May 2021	57.7%	0%	42.3%	0%	0%
Apr 2021	60.2%	0%	39.7%	0%	0.1%
Mar 2021	57.4%	0%	42.4%	0%	0.2%
Feb 2021	51.1%	0%	48.7%	0%	0.2%
Jan 2021	49.4%	0%	50.6%	0%	0%
Dec 2020	50.6%	0%	45.9%	0%	3.6%
Nov 2020	57.1%	0%	40.3%	0%	2.6%
Oct 2020	60%	0%	38.6%	0%	1.4%
Sep 2020	62.7%	0%	36.9%	0%	0.4%
Aug 2020	59.1%	0%	40.8%	0%	0.1%
Jul 2020	55.5%	0%	44.4%	0%	0.1%
Jun 2020	50.2%	0%	49.7%	0%	0.1%
May 2020	50.6%	0%	49.3%	0%	0.1%
Apr 2020	50.8%	0%	49%	0%	0%
Mar 2020	51.2%	0%	48.7%	0%	0.2%
Feb 2020	47.7%	0%	52%	0.1%	0.1%
Jan 2020	46.4%	0%	53.4%	0.1%	0.1%
Dec 2019	47.3%	0%	52.5%	0.2%	0.1%
Nov 2019	51.6%	0%	48.1%	0.2%	0.1%
Oct 2019	57.3%	0%	41.8%	0.5%	0.4%
Sept 2019	59%	0%	39.9%	0.7%	0.4%
Aug 2019	63.8%	0%	35%	0.6%	0.6%
Jul 2019	61.7%	0%	37.5%	0.5%	0.3%
Jun 2019	60.5%	0%	38.8%	0.3%	0.4%
May 2019	56.4%	0%	43.2%	0.3%	0.1%
Apr 2019	58.7%	0%	41%	0.2%	0.1%
Mar 2019	56.4%	0%	43.4%	0.2%	0%
Feb 2019	57.9%	0%	41.9%	0.1%	0.1%
Jan 2019	54.6%	0%	44.9%	0%	0.5%
Dec 2018	52.8%	0%	46.4%	0%	0.8%
Nov 2018	57.1%	0%	41.9%	0%	1%
Oct 2018	60.8%	0%	38.4%	0%	0.8%
Sep 2018	70.6%	0%	28.2%	0%	1.2%
Aug 2018	67.7%	0%	30.7%	0%	1.6%
Jul 2018	60.8%	0%	37.6%	0%	1.6%
Jun 2018	55.8%	0.2%	42.9%	0.1%	1%
May 2018	51.6%	0.1%	47.5%	0.1%	0.7%
Apr 2018	55.7%	0.1%	43.9%	0.1%	0.2%
Mar 2018	54.8%	0%	44.8%	0.1%	0.3%
Feb 2018	52.8%	0%	47%	0.1%	0.1%
Jan 2018	48.7%	0%	51.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Dec 2017	44.8%	0%	55.2%	0%	0%
Nov 2017	48.4%	0%	51.5%	0%	0.1%
Oct 2017	55%	0%	44.8%	0.1%	0.1%
Sept 2017	66.5%	0.3%	33%	0.1%	0.1%
Aug 2017	67.4%	0.3%	31.8%	0.4%	0.1%
Jul 2017	61.4%	0.3%	37.9%	0.3%	0.2%
Jun 2017	55%	-	44.6%	0.3%	0.2%
May 2017	50.9%	-	48.4%	-	0.6%
Apr 2017	55.9%	-	43.5%	-	0.5%
Mar 2017	53.1%	-	45.1%	1.2%	0.5%
Feb 2017	53.9%	-	44.8%	1.3%	-
Jan 2017	49%	-	49.5%	1.5%	-
Dec 2016	44.8%	0.3%	54.7%	0.2%	-
Nov 2016	42.3%	0.3%	57%	0.4%	-
Oct 2016	47.5%	-	51.7%	0.2%	0.3%
Sep 2016	61.7%	-	37.4%	0.5%	0.3%
Aug 2016	66.7%	-	31.9%	0.6%	0.8%
Jul 2016	64.6%	-	34.1%	0.6%	0.6%
Jun 2016	61%	0.2%	38%	0.3%	0.6%
May 2016	58.8%	0.2%	40.6%	0.1%	0.3%
Apr 2016	55.7%	0.3%	43.2%	0.1%	0.7%
Mar 2016	51.7%	0.1%	46.8%	0.5%	0.9%
Feb 2016	48.2%	0.1%	50.2%	0.5%	0.9%
Jan 2016	48.7%	0%	50.3%	0.5%	0.5%

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Release date

March 2024

More information

Region

Japan

Survey time period

January 2016 to December 2023

Supplementary notes

The source tracks mobile phone behavior, including purchasing of phones, mobile phone bills/airtime, source of purchase and phone usage. The data excludes enterprise sales.

The source does not provide an exact publication date. The release date given here is the date of data access.

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