South Korean electronics major Samsung leads the U.S. mobile market and Apple made significant gains to become to the second-largest US mobile phone maker overtaking LG. According to a recent study by comScore, a digital market research firm, Samsung is ranked the top handset manufacturer with 26.3 percent market share while Apple came second for the first time on record with 17.8 percent market share.
For the three-month average period ending in October, device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with an increase of 0.7 percentage points while Apple's market share grew 1.5 percentage points. LG was ranked third with 17.6 percent share followed by Motorola with 11 percent and HTC with 6 percent.
Top Mobile OEMs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2012 vs. 3 Month Ending Jul. 2012. Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+ | |||
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | |||
Jul-12 | Oct-12 | Point Change | |
Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
Samsung | 25.6% | 26.3% | 0.7 |
Apple | 16.3% | 17.8% | 1.5 |
LG | 18.4% | 17.6% | -0.8 |
Motorola | 11.2% | 11.0% | -0.2 |
HTC | 6.4% | 6.0% | -0.4 |
(Source: comScore MobiLens)
comScore surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found that Google Android continued to lead among smartphone platforms, accounting for 53.6 percent of smartphone subscribers and Apple secured 34.3 percent. While Android registered 1.4 percentage points increase, Apple's share increased 0.9 percentage points. RIM ranked third with 7.8 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.2 percent) and Symbian (0.6 percent).
Top Smartphone Platforms. 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2012. Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ | |||
Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers | |||
Jul-12 | Oct-12 | Point Change | |
Total Smartphone Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
52.2% | 53.6% | 1.4 | |
Apple | 33.4% | 34.3% | 0.9 |
RIM | 9.5% | 7.8% | -1.7 |
Microsoft | 3.6% | 3.2% | -0.4 |
Symbian | 0.8% | 0.6% | -0.2 |
(Source: comScore MobiLens)
Over 121.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (51.9 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in October, up 6 percent since July.
In October, 75.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device (up 0.3 percentage points). Downloaded applications were used by 54.5 percent of subscribers (up 1.9 percentage points), while browsers were used by 52.7 percent (up 1.5 percentage points).
Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.5 percentage points to 39.4 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 34.1 percent of the mobile audience (up 0.3 percentage points), while 28.7 percent listened to music on their phones (up 0.4 percentage points).
