Cell Phone Useage

What were the top three most used phones in 2013? The iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5, and the iPhone 4, according to an Actix study that tracked communications between mobile devices and carriers' mobile networks.

But Samsung is the clear rival: its Galaxy S3, S2, and S4 claimed the fourth, fifth, and sixth places, respectively, according to figures that Actix, which sells software to track such usage, shared with CNET. Samsung also had a significant presence in the rankings with a handful of lower-end models such as the Galaxy S3 Mini and Galaxy Ace.

The ranking is based on the the number of people who used the phones during several one-hour monitoring periods during the year in North America and Europe.

The iPhone 4S had an average of 20,608 users per hour compared to 20,529 for the iPhone 5, 17,880 for the iPhone 4, 7,973 for the Galaxy S3, 4,603 for the Galaxy S2, and 3,118 for the Galaxy S4.

Actix picked busy times in busy places for its measurements, but it used the same sampling from one period to the next. The figures are based on average hourly usage data collected over the course of 2013, so newer phones such as the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, which haven't had as much time to penetrate the market, rank lower.

Although market-share statistics consistently show Android phones outselling iOS phones, network operators and programmers have to deal with a different reality: the number of different phones actually in use. The Actix data shows that for the European and North American markets at least, the iPhone holds a strongly prominent position.