Two horse race still running as Android and Apple smartphone invasion continue.
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That’s according to comScore MobiLens which shows Apple and Android, particularly with Samsung are the front runners in the smartphone race in the critical US market, in the Mar-May quarter.
The race for smartphone supremacy between the two bitter rivals is often referred to by analysts as a “two horse race” and “the great war” – and things haven’t changed this year either.
Samsung is still the darling of the US smartphone market, with over 25% marketshare (+ 0.1%) and the No. 1 handset – and although Apple still trails at No. 3 on 15%, it has grown an impressive 1.5% in just 3 months, according to analysts comScore.
In fact, Apple grew its market share more than any of its mobile rivals and was the only brand to record growth of over 1% – no mean feat, especially since it hasnt released a new model since last year’s iPhone 4S.
So, with iPhone 5 expected later this year it will be interesting to see how much Cupertino can further its growth and whether it will be at the expense of arch rival Samsung, who has just released the already celebrated 4.8″ Galaxy S III.
iPhone 4 accounts for the largest overall share at nearly 40 percent of iOS smartphones in May 2012.
And lets not forget Apple manufacturers just iPhone, while Samsung makes a slew of devices, everything from “dumb” phones to high end devices like the Galaxy S III.
But Google’s Android OS is continuing its invasion, growing its share in the U.S. smartphone market, and is the No. 1 smartphone OS, powering just over 50% of all smarties(+0.8%), while Apple iOS captured almost one third (31.9 %) five years after the release of the first iPhone, up +1.7%.
Struggling BlackBerry maker RIM ranked third with just over 11%, followed by upstart Microsoft (4%) and the now defunct Nokia Symbian trailing on 1.1%.
And it looks like the hunger for smartphones is showing no signs of abating – 110 million owned smartphones in the U.S. during the three months ending in May, up 5% since February.
Other makers getting a look in was other Android players LG – the No. 2 mobile in the US with almost 20%, followed by Gogole owned Motorola (12%) and HTC with 6.1%.
But this good news for Samsung comes as both flagship Google Nexus smartphone (and Tab 10.1) is now banned from sale there following legal stoush with Apple.
The comScore study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers.
Texting (74.8%) Downloading apps (51%) of subscribers, surfing the web (49% ) social networking on the likes of Facebook, Twitter or blogs (36%) were the common uses of these mobile devices.
