It seems the Angry Birds might have another reason to be riled - as another bird seems to be the top fowl in the mobile gaming roost.

Flappy Birds, the increasingly popular app on Android and iOS, has become one of the most downloaded apps this year in America and China. Despite being released in May 2013, the gaming app, which involves using a touchscreen to navigate a bird through frustratingly difficult obstacles, experienced a huge surge in popularity in the New Year. According to an interview with the game's creator Dong Nguyen, the app now earns an average of $50,000 a day from in-game ads. 

The huge popularity of simply designed mobile app games such as Flappy Birds is further evidence of the growing dominance of apps on iOS and Android versus declining interest in traditional hand-held consoles like Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS. According to data intelligence group App Annie, in 2013 both the Apple store and Google Play surpassed handheld consoles in sales.

Despite the greater processing power and flashier graphics on handheld consoles, it seems casual gamers would rather spend their mobile gaming time being frustrated by cartoon birds and colourful candy on their smartphones.