Even tracking hardware would be a huge challenge. VGC might have good data for estimating sales at Best Buy, but probably has no method to track Apple Store, carrier sales, or all the myriad distribution channels around the world.

And then it gets worse when people want to track rival smartphone vendors. I think Nokia is the only other handset maker who even publishes unit sales at this point, and the rapidly growing Chinese manufacturers are a black box to every analyst.

I agree it would be awesome if VGC could track smartphones, but I don't think anybody out there has the data to paint an accurate picture at this point.

My point is that the iphone is the number one gaming device on the planet, hands down. This is a gaming site that revolves around the sales of said devices. Having the ability to make a phone call doesn't make it any less of a gaming device or negate it's position as one.

I lol'd....haha

Wouldn't that mean having to track every phone and tablet out there too since they all play games? On that basis we would become a technology website, no longer a gaming one so no i don't agree. I'm not even sure if it's possible to track an iphones sales anyways unless you are apple

$10 billion appstore revenue last year, games share of total app revenue is around 77%:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/01/07App-Store-Sales-Top-10-Billion-in-2013.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2013/11/01/games-drive-the-most-revenue-on-apples-app-store-and-google-play/

How much software revenue had the other platforms last year?

Iphone is not a gaming console. It's a phone, that happens to have some game apps.

If vita had a phone app, it wouldn't make it a phone. It would still be a console, that happens to have a phone app.

First of all, I'm not sure how the fact that most iPhone games are $0,99 is "irrelevant".
Secondly, it's not the number one gaming device... because it's not a gaming device.

*insert graphs of the crapton of money games on the Appstore are making*

Guys, it's very simple: we're talking about a phone. EVERYBODY (literally) buys phones, it's a necessity now, not a luxury. Video games have a much more specific audience, so breaking the 100 million mark is impressive - while it's something the iPhone does every year.

So, you have a MASSIVE audience, games that cost less than a dollar, encouraging impulse buys... think of it this way, while the video game people were talking about GTAV, iPhone players were talking about Flappy Bird and Candy Crush Saga. And we're still talking about GTAV! Flappy Bird? What?

The day that a smartphone game with a $10 pricetag is not seen as "too expensive", maaaaybe I'll begin to think of them as "handhelds", like sooo many people suggest.

Is it though? Im willing to bet above 70% of people who own an iphone play less than 10 minutes a day of games on it. That does not classify it as a gaming device.

People can emulate games on calculators, maybe vgchartz should track calculator sales as well.

counting digital downloads on smart phones are pointless.

Cause people redownload the same software everytime they change phones. Also does updating your game to a new version count as a new download?

You know that includes ~100m iPods Touch and ~170m iPads as well?