Samsung loses ground to Apple, HTC in US phone market
updated 02:55 pm EDT, Tue September 4, 2012
Android controls smartphone platforms
Samsung retained its top spot in the US phone market during the July quarter, but lost a little ground to some of its rivals, according to new tracking data from comScore. At the end of the April quarter Samsung had 25.9 percent of the market; by the end of July, though, it had dropped 0.3 points to sit at 25.6 percent. Also losing some share were second-place LG, which slipped from 19.2 percent to 18.4, and Motorola, which dipped from 12.5 percent to 11.2.
The three appear to have sacrificed sales mostly to Apple and HTC. Apple's share rose 1.9 points to 16.3 percent in the last quarter, while HTC inched ahead 0.4 points to 6.4 percent.
The platform most Samsung and HTC devices are based on, Google's Android, cemented its control of the US smartphone market even further, growing to 52.2 percent from 50.8. Apple's iOS advanced at a faster pace however, rising 2 points to 33.4 percent. Research in Motion devices fell from 11.6 percent to 9.5; Microsoft and Symbian saw smaller declines, from 4 to 3.6 percent and 1.3 to 0.8 percent, respectively.
The September and December quarters could see a major sea change. Apple is set to announce the iPhone 5 on September 12th, which unlike the iPhone 4S should be a major upgrade of the iPhone platform. That may draw in a crowd of buyers that have otherwise been holding off on a new smartphone.
TAGS :
iPhone, industry, Microsoft, htc, Symbian, Android, LG, BlackBerry, Motorola, Samsung, RIM, mobile phones, Windows Phone
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Joined: 05-13-01
"Google's Android, cemented it's control of the U.S. market even further."
To what advantage? Let's take a look.
Are developers moving to Android first and iOS later or never? Nope, just the opposite.
Is iOS's market share losing ground? Nope, it grew faster that Android's.
Are the Android OEMs taking in more revenue and profits than iOS? Nope again.
So begs the question, what advantage does Android's "control of the U.S. market" give it? Nothing it would appear, but shear numbers. Android's numbers are meaningless by every other metric of success. Yet Android is winning?