Mobile analytics firm Flurry reports that mid-size phablets increased in popularity this holiday season, while tablet sales continued to drop. New device activations a few weeks before Christmas have skyrocketed from 4 percent a few years ago to 27 percent this year. iDevices including the iPhone 6S Plus, iPad Pro, and iMac were also popular as Christmas gifts this year, earning 49.1 percent of all new devices.
Flurry's figures were collected from December 18 to December 25. Apple's sales for new devices dipped 2.2 percent from last year. However, it was still well ahead of second place Samsung, which sold 19.8 percent of all new gadgets, including the Galaxy Grand Prime and S6.
Microsoft's Nokia dropped from 5.8 percent to a measly 2 percent, according to PC Mag. LG took the fourth spot at 1.7 percent, while Sony was replaced by Xiaomi (1.5 percent) among the top five mobile device manufacturers, according to Forbes.
Xiaomi's sales figures were big news. That is because traditionally there is little gift-giving in China during the month of December, where the company is based.
It is interesting to note that most iPhone sales were for the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. Meanwhile, half of Android device sales were for its big screen phablets.
Another hot Christmas gift this year was Fitbit wearables. The fitness tracker's app took the No. 1 spot in the iTunes App Store as consumers started to think about New Year's resolutions in terms of weight loss.
Mobile app downloads also spiked on Christmas Day. There were 2.2 times more installations than on an average day during the month of December.