In December of 2011, the iPhone held the top spot as the device most often used for web browsing, but that changed in February of 2012, when the iPad overtook the iPhone, becoming the dominant browsing device.

After the release of the third generation iPad, the iPad’s browser share increased even more, and as of April, it’s currently holding a 33.7 percent share compared to the iPhone’s 27.4 percent share, according to data gathered by NetMarketShare.

This is up quite a bit from a 24.53 percent share in December of 2011, when the iPhone was slightly higher at 25.24 percent, and an impressive feat because the iPhone is a much more prevalent device.

iOS devices combined have made Safari the most popular mobile browser, with a 63.2 percent share compared to Android’s 19.3 percent, Java ME’s 11.8 percent, and Symbian’s 2.2 percent. Safari’s slice of the pie has increased quite a bit since June 2011, when it was at just 52.36 percent.

That mobile browsing mostly takes place on iPhones and iPads says a lot about the usability of the platform, since the majority of mobile subscribers do not have an Apple device.

In fact, according to a recent study from comScore, 26 percent of smartphone owners have a Samsung phone, 19.3 percent have an LG phone, and just 14 percent use an Apple device. Google also reigns supreme as the top smartphone platform, with 51 percent of the market, while Apple has just a 30.7 percent share.

Are your experience in line with this data? Do you do more browsing on your smartphone or your iPad?

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