Smartphone penetration in the US has passed the 50% threshold for the first time, with apps and web browsing on the rise, according to new research.
The study, from comScore, surveyed more than 30,000 US mobile subscribers. The report found that Samsung was the top handset manufacturer overall with 26 percent market share. Smartphone penetration surged past the 50 percent threshold for the first time.
Google Android led that segment of the market with 52.5 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple accounted for 34.3 percent.
OEM Market Share
For the three-month average period ending in September, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 26 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.4 percentage points), followed by LG with 17.7 percent share.
Apple continued to close in on the #2 OEM ranking with 17.5 percent of mobile subscribers (up 2.1 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 10.9 percent and HTC with 6.2 percent.
Smartphone Platform Market Share
119.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (51.0 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in September, up 8 percent since June. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 52.5 percent market share (up 0.9 percentage points), while Apple’s share increased 1.9 percentage points to 34.3 percent. RIM ranked third with 8.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.6 percent) and Symbian (0.6 percent).
Mobile Content Usage
In September, 75.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device (up 0.5 percentage points).
Downloaded applications were used by 54 percent of subscribers (up 2.6 percentage points), while browsers were used by 52.6 percent (up 2.4 percentage points).
Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 2.1 percentage points to 39 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 34.4 percent of the mobile audience (up 1 percentage point), while 28.6 percent listened to music on their phones (up 1 percentage point).
Source: www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
