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Nearly 4m Android devices activated over Christmas weekend

If you unwrapped an Android device on Christmas day, you weren't alone. On the contrary, you were in very good company indeed, because 3.7 million Android devices were activated on Christmas eve and Christmas day combined.

Presumably those on Christmas eve were people giving themselves a little early Christmas present. And why not?

Google's senior vice president of mobile Andy Rubin made the announcement via his Twitter account. It averages 1.85 million devices a day over the weekend, which is more than double Android's current 700,000 daily activations (something Rubin also announced via Twitter recently).

But it's not like iOS devices are lagging far behind. Flurry Analytics reckons 6.8 million new iOS and Android devices combined were activated on Christmas day. App downloads were also a staggering 242 million on Christmas day.

And this could just be the tip of the iceberg. We're currently in the grip of sales fever, with the post-Crimbo sales breaking all known records, the Mail reports. It says £4.3bn was spent over the last two days: £2.5bn went through the tills yesterday, and £1.8bn on Boxing Day. We don't know how much of that was tech, but with shops taking £4.6m a minute (or £77,000 a second), it's bound to account for some. Even if Asda's £50 HD telly might not be flying off the shelves.

It's expected to be the most profitable week for Britain's retailers, with £22.8bn expected to be spent by the third week of January -- that's £338m more than the same period last year.

Did you get an Android or iOS device for Christmas? Or are you going to snap one up in the sales? Let us know in the comments below if you spot any bargains, or over on our Facebook page.

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