When it comes to technology it would appear that Canadians are attached to their BlackBerrys, as the Waterloo-based company’s latest Priv model was the tech-related search entered the most into Google.ca in 2015, followed by Google Inc.‘s own Nexus 6P smartphone, Windows 10, the Nexus 5X (a lower-priced model that Google released alongside the 6P), and photo-based instant messaging app Snapchat.
As usual the Mountain View, Calif.-based tech giant analyzed trillions of global searches for its 15th annual Year in Search, dividing the results into separate categories including technology, “how to” questions, and news stories for more than 70 countries and territories, while also publishing detailed infographics listing the year’s top searches overall.
Aside from the infographics, which indicated the number of global searches for each topic, Google did not release any numbers for its country or category lists.
So what else interested Canadians, technology-wise, in 2015? Following Snapchat, the remaining top 10 technology searches on Google.ca were mobile messaging service Whatsapp, mobile video dubbing app Dubsmash, the Apple Watch, the iPhone 6 Plus, and YouTube’s new premium channel service, YouTube Red (which, as of this writing, remains tragically unavailable in Canada).
A Dec. 16 press release from Google Canada noted that 80 per cent of Canadian mobile searches take place in a location where is a PC is likely available, indicating that smartphones have become our go-to online devices. That Snapchat and Dubsmash were among the top 10 technology searches demonstrates that we love to use them “for sharing silly content,” the company wrote. Canadians also watch more online video than any other country, according to the release.
Worldwide the top 10 “consumer tech” searches, in descending order, were for the iPhone 6S, the Samsung Galaxy S6, the Apple Watch, the iPad Pro, the LG G4 smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy J5 smartphone, the HTC One M9 smartphone, the Nexus 6P, and Microsoft Corp.’s Surface Pro 4 tablet. (Apparently the world doesn’t love Blackberry, or the Priv, as much as we do. *sniff*)
As for the top searches overall, Google didn’t limit itself to 10, producing an unranked infographic comprising 16 topics that Canadians searched for the most in 2015 (all search numbers worldwide), including October’s federal election (more than 149 million searches), the Nov. 13 attack in Paris (more than 897 million searches), the Women’s World Cup (more than 113 million searches), and the Blue Jays’ playoff run (more than 172 million searches).
Globally the company produced a list of 18 topics, including Europe’s migrant crisis (more than 23 million searches), Queen Elizabeth II becoming the longest-serving monarch in the history of the British empire (more than 100 million searches), the July death of Cecil the lion (more than 32 million searches), and (sigh) the dress that broke the Internet (more than 73 million searches).
Watch Google’s global “year in search” video below.
