Boingo: iPhone Tromps Android for Airport Wi-Fi Use

Smartphones based on Google’s Android OS may be popular, but they hold up against Apple’s iPhone, at least for Wi-Fi usage in airports. According to statistics from Wi-Fi service company Boingo, iOS devices account for more than 83 percent of the traffic on its wireless networks.

iOS devices more popular than Android on Boingo's networksiOS more popular on Boingo Wi-Fi networks than Android

“iOS has a commanding market share of mobile devices actively using Wi-Fi in those same venues, representing more than 83 percent of mobile total,” the Boingo report stated. “Android more than tripled its market share from 2010, but is still a distant fourth place to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.”

The report also said that smartphones and tablets accounted for 58.9 percent of the Wi-Fi devices in airports in June, jumping ahead of laptops.

Boingo said the “overall size of the Wi-Fi device market has increased fivefold in the last five years, with laptops doubling overall while the explosive growth of smartphones/tablets constituted the bulk of the growth.”

Boingo culled the report’s information from Web analytics data gathered from over 60 airports in North America and Europe, and from more than 400,000 of its hotspots from around the world.