We’ve just spent a week investigating the device resolutions in use around the world between May-July 2015 for our device list in Fluid UI. We thought it would be handy to share this research on our blog for everyone to see.

The following graphics and tables detail all of the current common resolutions for devices, their point/density pixel resolution and various other details along with the market share for those devices. We hope it will be useful to use as a baseline for working on cross platform/device projects and will help to make sure your work is as accessible, usable and beautiful as possible.

Global web usage by resolution (phone and tablet) May-July 2015

Global web usage by resolution (phone and tablet) May-July 2015

Source: statcounter.com - Download the full csv

NA web usage by resolution (phone and tablet) May-July 2015

North America is a little more predictable, but not by much, with three resolutions having a market share of above 15% and two others above 5%. The prevalence of iOS device resolutions is also far more noticeable in the North American market.

NA web usage by resolution (phone and tablet) May-July 2015

Source: statcounter.com - Download the full csv

iOS

iOS iphone original to iphone6plus comparison

The impact of iPhone 6+

Apple are famous for putting a lot of effort into keeping their phones as simple as possible to design for. But with the iPhone 6 and 6+ they have finally given in to market pressures to launch a larger device, resulting in the first real fragmentation of screen sizes on the platform.

iPhone

Model DP PPI Ratio Viewport
iPhone 2g, 3g 320 x 480 163 PPI (@1x) 3:2 320 x 480
iPhone 4 320 x 480 326 PPI (@2x) 3:2 640 x 960
iPhone 5 320 x 568 326 PPI (@2x) 16:9 640 x 1136
iPhone 6 375 x 667 326 PPI (@2x) 16:9 750 x 1334
iPhone 6+ 414 x 736 401 PPI (@3x) 16:9 1080 x 1920

iPad

Model DP PPI Ratio Viewport
iPad + Mini 768 x 1024 132 PPI (@1x) 4:3 768 x 1024
iPad (Retina) 768 x 1024 264 PPI (@2x) 4:3 1536 x 2048

Full resolution assets for the iPhone 6+ are created at 1242x2208 and scaled down to 1080x1920 by the phone itself when displaying. For more information, see here.

Android

Android screen density distribution is of course a bit more varied. The following table details the various Android models which hold relatively large market share along with their screen resolutions.

Top selling Android phones

Model DP Density PPI Ratio Viewport
Galaxy SIII 360 x 640 200% (XHDPI) 306 PPI 16:9 720 x 1280
Galaxy SII 320 x 533 150% (HDPI) 217 PPI 5:3 480 x 800
Google Nexus 4 384 x 640 200% (XHDPI) 318 PPI 5:3 768 x 1280
Galaxy Nexus 360 x 640 200% (XHDPI) 316 PPI 16:9 720 x 1280
Galaxy SIV 360 x 640 300% (XXHDPI) 441 PPI 16:9 1080 x 1920
Galaxy Note II 360 x 640 200% (XHDPI) 267 PPI 16:9 720 x 1280
Galaxy S Plus 320 x 533 150% (HDPI) 233 PPI 5:3 480 x 800
Galaxy S 320 x 533 150% (HDPI) 233 PPI 5:3 480 x 800
Galaxy Note 400 x 640 200% (XHDPI) 285 PPI 8:5 800 x 1280
HTC One 360 x 640 300% (XXHDPI) 469 PPI 16:9 1080 x 1920
Droid Razr 480 x 853 150% (HDPI) 312 PPI 16:9 720 x 1280
Droid 3 & 4 640 x 360 150% (HDPI) 274 PPI 16:9 960 x 540
Droid Raz Maxx 640 x 360 150% (HDPI) 256 ppi 16:9 540 x 960
HTC Desire 240 x 400 200% (HDPI) 252 ppi 5:3 480 x 800

Source: screensiz.es

Windows Phones and Tablets

windows phones and tablets display

Late to the party and with a fairly small overall footprint, windows screens are mostly limited to the Microsoft/Nokia released devices, which come in two broad resolutions - 480x800 (5:3) and 480x854 (16:9). Tablet resolutions vary a good bit more and these often blur the lines between laptops running the same windows operating system.

Windows Phones

Model PPI Ratio Viewport Market Share
Nokia Lumia 520 233 PPI 5:3 480 x 800 23.2%
Nokia Lumia 630 221 PPI 16:9 480 x 854 9.7%
Nokia Lumia 625 199 PPI 5:3 480 x 800 7.1%
Nokia Lumia 530 245 PPI 16:9 480 x 854 5.1%

Windows tablets

Windows tablet resolutions are more varied, with the following all having some penetration:

1024 x 768 1280 x 800 1280 x 1024 1366 x 768 1920 x 1080 2560 x 1440

Overall

There is less fragmentation in the environment than originally anticipated and many of the device resolutions, while constantly increasing in terms of total pixels, are maintaining the same aspect ratios of their predecessors. Combined with a DP/Point based approach to designing, it should remain possible to deliver content, particularly on web without additional complications.

Below is our output graph of device resolutions along with their DP / point equivalent which we will be updating Fluid UI with. We look forward to seeing you there.

converting points to pixels chart

Bonus content: The wearables

We don’t have much to add here and the sales and growth of this market is still to be deeply understood, but we include them as we’ve done the research for our Fluid UI device list as we have libraries for them.
Wearables

Model Viewport PPI
Apple Watch 38mm 272 x 340 326 PPI @2x
Apple Watch 42mm 312 x 390 326 PPI @2x
Pebble Original and steel Monochrome 144 x 168 176 PPI
Pebble Time Color display 144 × 168 182 PPI
Galaxy Gear 320 x 320 275 PPI
Android Wear 320 x 320 348 PPI