Since the email was introduced to the world in the early 1970s, people couldn’t stop using it to send and receive messages.

Today, email clients, or what are commonly known as “email readers” are staples in a smartphone or desktop.

But which platform dominates the email client market share in 2023? 

You will be surprised to know that the answer is not Gmail. 

Email Client Market Share in 2023

What does the email client market share look like in 2023?

According to the latest data from Litmus, Apple Inc tops the industry, with 65.06% of the total.

Aside from Apple Mail Privacy Protection’s significant penetration rate, a portion of this share includes Apple iPhone and Apple iPad users. 

Here is what the email client market share looked like in November 2022:

• Apple Inc – the company captured 65.96% of the entire email client market during the month. iPhone accounts for 60.69%, Apple Mail Privacy Protection comes at 2.47%, and iPad is at 0.24%
• Gmail – this standalone platform captured 23.51% of the entire email client market during the month
• Microsoft Outlook – captured 3.35% of the entire email client market during the month
• Yahoo! Mail – captured 2.93% of the entire email client market during the month
• Google Android – captured 1.54% of the entire email client market during the month
• Outlook.com – Microsoft Outlook’s website version captured 0.80% of the entire email client market during the month
• Samsung Mail – captured 0.20% of the entire email client market during the month
• Orang.fr – the platform only entered the ranking in June 2022 and held 0.11% of the entire email client market share during the month

Email Client Market Share in August 2022

Meanwhile, here is a look at the email client market share in August 2022:

• Apple Inc (including iPhone and iPad statistics) – accounted for 57.72% of the entire email client market during the period 
• Gmail – accounted for 29.43% of the entire email client market during the period 
• Microsoft Outlook (app) – accounted for 4.33% of the entire email client market during the period
• Yahoo! Mail – accounted for 3.24% of the entire email client market during the period
• Google Android – accounted for 1.67% of the entire email client market during the period
• Outlook.com (website) – accounted for 0.89% of the entire email client market during the period
• Samsung Mail – accounted for 0.24% of the entire email client market during the period
• Windows Live Mail – accounted for 0.07% of the entire email client market during the period
• Orange.fr – accounted for 0.06% of the entire email client market during the period
• Web.de – tied with Orange.fr and accounted for 0.06% of the entire email client market during the period

Email Client Market Share in 2021

The email client market share looked entirely different from a year ago.

In 2021, Apple Inc and Gmail stood close with one another, accounting for 50.7% and 36.5%, respectively.

• Apple Inc – accounted for 50.7% of the total. In a more detailed look, 33% came from Apple iPhone, 10% from Apple Mail, 6.6% from Apple Mail Privacy, and 1.1% from iPad. 
• Gmail – accounted for 36.5% of the entire email client market during the year
• Microsoft Outlook (app) – accounted for 5.9% of the entire email client market during the period
• Yahoo! Mail – accounted for 2.7% of the entire email client market during the period
• Google Android – accounted for 2.2% of the entire email client market during the period
• Outlook.com (website) – accounted for 1.1% of the entire email client market during the period
• Samsung Mail – accounted for 0.6% of the entire email client market during the period

Webmail Open Market Share

Gmail remains dominant in terms of webmail open rate, or the number of times when the platform was used to open an email on the web in relation to the overall number of emails sent.

Below is a look at the webmail open market share in 2022:

• Gmail – tops the chart, with a 75% share in the entire webmail opens during the year
• Yahoo! Mail – captured 14.80% of the entire webmail opens during the year
• Outlook.com – captured 2.4% of the entire webmail opens during the year
• Other platforms – captured 7.8% of the entire webmail opens during the year

Desktop Open Market Share

Meanwhile, here is what the desktop open market share looks like.

Apple Mail dominates which means the majority of users use it when opening their emails on desktop platforms. 

• Apple Mail – captured 58.90% of the entire webmail opens during the year
• Microsoft Outlook – captured 40.00% of the entire webmail opens during the year
• Windows Live Mail – captured 0.90% of the entire webmail opens during the year
• Other platforms – captured 0.20% of the entire webmail opens during the year

Number of Emails Sent and Received Daily Over the Years

Email clients benefit from the growing number of emails sent and received daily.

Take a look at this data on the number of emails from 2017 to 2022:

• 2017 – 269.00 million emails have been sent and received daily during the year
• 2018 – 281.10 million emails have been sent and received daily during the year
• 2019 – 293.60 million emails have been sent and received daily during the year
• 2020 – 306.40 million emails have been sent and received daily during the year
• 2021 – 319.60 million emails have been sent and received daily during the year
• 2022 – 333.20 million emails have been sent and received daily during the year

Conclusion

Apple Inc topped the email client market share this year, capturing more than 65% of the total.

It left its close competitor, Gmail, which held 23.51%. The latter’s share declined from its 36.5% share just last year. 

Meanwhile, Orange.fr entered the list this year, with its share growing fast.

It will not be long before it overtakes Samsung Mail which comes closely above. 

Sources