Reston, Va. – The Android OS lost share among U.S. smartphone users in the three months ending March compared to the previous three-month period, and Apple gained share at a faster rate than Samsung, a comScore consumer survey found.
For the three-month period ending in March, Android’s share of smartphones in use slipped on a sequential basis by 1.4 percentage points to 52 percent while Apple’s iOS share gained 2.7 percentage points to 39 percent.
During the previous three-month period, Android’s share rose 0.9 percentage points but at a slower pace than the Apple iOS gain of 2 percentage points.
In the latest survey, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS gained a mere 0.1 percent share of smartphones in use to reach 3 percent, and BlackBerry’s share fell 1.2 percentage points to 5.2 percent. All told Google and iOS accounted for a 91 percent share of smartphones in use, up from 89.7 percent in the three months ending December.
The gains by Apple and Apple’s iOS reflect the launch of the iPhone 5 late last year and don’t yet reflect potential gains that Samsung could enjoy as a result of the launch of its Galaxy S4, which didn’t hit the market until after the survey period.
In its survey of consumers ages 13 and up, comScore found that Apple expanded its U.S. smartphone market share at a faster pace than Samsung in the three-month period, reversing the previous three-month trend in which Samsung gained share at a faster pace than Apple.
For the three-month period ending March, Apple increased its share of smartphones used by consumers by 2.7 percentage points on a sequential basis to 36.3 percent (see table), enabling Apple to maintain its leading smartphone share. Samsung’ raised its share by only 0.7 percentage points to 21.7 percent, keeping it in the number two spot.
In the previous three-month period ending December, Samsung’s share rose 2.3 percentage points on a sequential basis to 21 percent while Apple’s share grew 2 percentage points to 36.3 percent.
In the latest survey, HTC placed third in share at 9 percent, followed by Motorola with 8.5 percent and LG with 6.8 percent. The three all posted market-share losses.
Also in its survey, comScore found that 136.7 million people in the U.S., or 58 percent of all cellphone users, used a smartphone as their primary mobile phone at the end of March, up by 9 percentage points from the previous three-month period.
