Almost 50% of All Emails Opened on iPhones in UK

In the UK, Apple's mobile devices dominate the email landscape, with 64% of all emails opened being done so on either an iPhone or iPad.

The iPhone was used to open 46% of all emails in the UK, with the iPad coming in second at 18%. However the figures show that the smartphone's dominance is in decline, with iPhone-opened email falling by 13% while email opened on Apple's tablet grew by a huge 55%.

Globally emails opened on iPads grew 70% when this year's figures are compared to those from 2013.

These figures come from data released by transactional email company SendGrid, which collated information from more than 8 billion emails, sent by over 125,000 companies and collected over two 10-day periods in 2013 and 2014.

Android down

One surprising statistic to come from the research is that email opened on Android-based smartphones and tablets fell by 31% in the UK, despite Android continuing to grow in popularity. According to data release by Kantar WorldPanel this week, Android smartphone sales in July of 2014 accounted for 59.5% of total sales, up 2.5% on last year and well ahead of iOS in second place with 28.6%.

While the UK is clearly not doing email on Android devices, that is not the same for other countries in Europe. The situation in the UK contrasts with significant year-on-year increases in email opened on Android in Belgium (+89%), France (+65%) and Turkey (+54%).

Globally however, email opened on Android fell by 4%.

The data for different countries in Europe shows huge geographical variation relating to the types of devices used to open emails in those countries.

French Windows

In France for example, Windows is the dominant platform, accounting for 85% of all emails opened in that country during the study. The popularity of Windows seems to be growing in France, with email opens on Windows-based devices growing more than ten-fold in France over the past year.

Jim Franklin, CEO of SendGrid, commented

"In the 32 years since the invention of email, Europeans have taken to a broad array of devices and operating systems to receive and send email. Now, mobile is dominant, but it's interesting to see the varying rates of adoption of different devices across Europe.

"The Germans are having a love affair with the iPad while the Brits are falling out of love with Android. Despite the prominence of Mac globally, Windows is a particular favourite in France for email usage."

Apple > Windows

The growth of popularity of Windows in France is a trend which is reflected globally according to SendGrid, as Windows-based devices are the fastest growing segment for 'email opens' around the world.

According to the data, 320 million emails were opened on Windows devices in the last year, accounting for a 147% increase over the previous year.

However, people still read more email on Apple-manufactured devices than any other device or platform. When you take into account all Apple's hardware - Mac desktops, MacBooks, iPhones and iPads - they were used to open 358 million SendGrid-delivered emails in the last year.