Android, iPhone Wi-Fi Patterns are Different: Issue is "Why?"

A comScore analysis of U.S. Wi-Fi and mobile Internet usage across unique smart phones on the iOS and Android platforms reveals that 71 percent of all unique iPhones used both mobile and Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet, while only 32 percent of unique Android mobile phones used both types of connections.

If one assumes users are rational, how does one explain the difference in behavior? Also, the pattern of behavior in the United Kingdom is consistent with the U.S. results, as 87 percent of unique iPhones used both mobile and Wi-Fi networks for web access compared to a lower 57 percent of Android phones.

U.S. smart phones on the AT&T network were more likely to use Wi-Fi than those on other major operator networks, likely due to AT&T having both a greater iPhone market share and the largest Wi-Fi hotspot network in America.

Some might argue the problem is just that Android users can't figure out how to use Wi-Fi on their devices.

In the U.K., smartphones on the Vodafone, Telefonica and Orange networks were more likely to use Wi-Fi than were others on other U.K. operators.

In the U.K., the scarcity of unlimited data plans and higher incidence of smart phone prepaid contracts likely contributes to the use of Wi-Fi.

In addition, the current lack of high-speed data networks in the U.K. might also lead users to seek out higher bandwidth capacity on Wi-Fi networks, comScore speculates.

In the U.S., the increased availability of LTE, 4G and other high-speed data networks doesn't explain the pattern of heavier iPhone usage of Wi-Fi as well as the preponderance of devices on the Wi-Fi-extensive AT&T network.