Apple passes HTC, claims second place in marketshare
updated 08:02 pm EST, Fri November 30, 2012
Charts led by Samsung, Android; Apple second in user base, total phones
Earlier today, ComScore released the latest set of data from its MobiLens service, reporting trends in the US mobile phone industry during the three-month period from August 12 through October 12, 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 US mobile subscribers, and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 26.3 percent market share. Samsung and various other Android-based phone makers continued to lead among smartphone platforms, accounting for a total of 53.6 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple held relatively steady at 34.3 percent.
For the three-month period, device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top seller with 26.3 percent of US mobile subscribers owning one of the Korean manufacturer's devices, up 0.7 percentage points. Apple rose to second for the first time on record, with 17.8 percent market share -- edging out LG, which had a 17.6 percent share. Motorola followed in fourth place with 11 percent, and HTC trailed with six percent. The data includes just three weeks of iPhone 5 availability, during which supplies were somewhat constrained. The full effect of the iPhone 5 will not likely be felt until the next report.
In October, 75.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Downloaded applications were used by 54.5 percent of subscribers, while browsers were used by 52.7 percent. 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, while 28.7 percent listened to music on their phones.
