Apple lost its dominant footing in the online ad impressions space for smartphone and tablet markets in 2012, according to a new study by mobile ad network Millennial Media .
The company’s tracking data for the mobile market found that Apple increased its ad impressions by 72 percent year-over-year. However, Samsung’s Galaxy S series witnessed an increase of 182 percent. While Apple still controls a 15.59 percent share of the global ad impressions market, Samsung’s 4.24 percent share is a large advance for the company. In comparison, the BlackBerry Curve line drove 3.91 percent of the global marketplace.
Both Apple and Samsung witnessed approximately a five percent increase across Millennial’s network.
The study also found that the once dominate Apple iPad line commanded only 58 percent of the global tablet market. The combined Google Android market, in the meantime, took in 41 percent of the global sector.
Apple has fought an uphill battle for market dominance in the tablet space as Android partners continue to emerge. Reaching their own levels of success in 2012 were the Amazon Kindle Fire , Acer Iconia, and Motorola Xoom (although on a less prominent note). Apple also fought against the Google Nexus tablet line and the Samsung Galaxy Tab series.
Despite increased competition in the tablet space, it was smartphones that accounted for 75 percent of overall ad impressions, up from 68 percent in 2011.
Still holding on for a small piece of the ad impressions pie were non-phone and non-tablet devices such as e-readers which made up 20 percent of the global ad impression space. Non-tablet devices actually increased their 2012 share by five percet of the overall market.