Apple's iPhone climbs to 31% share of US smartphone market
A new analysis claims the iPhone made up 30.7 percent of the U.S. smartphone market and 14 percent of the mobile market in the first quarter of 2012.
comScore noted Apple's steady upward climb when it released on Tuesday quarterly data from its MobiLens service, which surveyed 30,000 mobile subscribers users.
Apple's share of the smartphone market grew 1.1 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. The figures were up 0.5 percent from Apple's three-month average from February.
The Cupertino, Calif., company's growth was outpaced by the Google Android platform, which grew 3.7 percent sequentially to reach 51 percent market share.
Research in Motion and Microsoft lost out during the quarter. The BlackBerry maker fell from 16 percent in December 2011 to 12.3 percent in the March quarter, while Windows Phone maker watched its market share slip from 4.7 percent to 3.9 percent during the same period.
Source: comScore
According to the research, Apple was the third-largest handset maker in the U.S. during the March quarter. Samsung took the top spot from the survey with 26 percent, up 0.7 percent from the previous quarter. LG came in second place with 19.3 percent share. Motorola and HTC trailed Apple in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Apple announced last month sales of 35.1 million iPhones during the March quarter.
Estimates have disagreed as to whether Samsung or Apple took the top spot among global smartphone makers fro the quarter. Strategy Analytics and IDC see Samsung as having won out, while IHS iSuppli believes Samsung shipped just 32 million smartphones.
comScore noted Apple's steady upward climb when it released on Tuesday quarterly data from its MobiLens service, which surveyed 30,000 mobile subscribers users.
Apple's share of the smartphone market grew 1.1 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. The figures were up 0.5 percent from Apple's three-month average from February.
The Cupertino, Calif., company's growth was outpaced by the Google Android platform, which grew 3.7 percent sequentially to reach 51 percent market share.
Research in Motion and Microsoft lost out during the quarter. The BlackBerry maker fell from 16 percent in December 2011 to 12.3 percent in the March quarter, while Windows Phone maker watched its market share slip from 4.7 percent to 3.9 percent during the same period.
Source: comScore
According to the research, Apple was the third-largest handset maker in the U.S. during the March quarter. Samsung took the top spot from the survey with 26 percent, up 0.7 percent from the previous quarter. LG came in second place with 19.3 percent share. Motorola and HTC trailed Apple in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Apple announced last month sales of 35.1 million iPhones during the March quarter.
Estimates have disagreed as to whether Samsung or Apple took the top spot among global smartphone makers fro the quarter. Strategy Analytics and IDC see Samsung as having won out, while IHS iSuppli believes Samsung shipped just 32 million smartphones.
Comments
Incredible numbers. What a crazy world we're living in. 35 million units...
I think share figures always should be presented with actual user figures as well. A decline in percentage for one part might look like someone is loosing customers when it's not the case. The whole smartphone market is growing, right? It just means that the one that see a decline in share isn't growing as fast as the others. It might still be healthy business though.
I'd like the following data accompanying the share percentage:
Share: X%
Change in share: +-X%
Number of users: X
Change in number of users: X
Remember when the iPhone was announced and Steve Jobs hoped to claim 1% of the hand-held market? 5 years later and it is 14 times the initial goal.
1% of the handheld market which means including the feature phones
Which still does not say that this isn't an incredible feat. Kudos!
Looking at the chart, there's been a total inversion with the previous OS leaders now at the bottom and those who were not part of the old boy's club, being at the top.
How the heck does google have 50%+. I rarely see android. Mostly iphones. 4S at that
I share your scepticIsm, but it is true that 75% of AT&T's iPhone sales last quarter we're to existing iPhone owners. Depending on what happened to all those old 3GS models, new iPhone subscribers on AT&T could be as low as 1.1M.
It does seem that lots of the newcomers to smartphones make the mistake of buying an Android phone, as it is "just as good as" the iPhone. Samsung's copycat strategy is still working.
I wonder if we will see Microsoft regaining market share in the next six months, and if it does, at whose expense... I will be surprised if the marketing effort put into Lumia doesn't pay off at least partially. However, with the release of HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy III, Nokia has a very tough battle ahead of it...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Just_Me
How the heck does google have 50%+. I rarely see android. Mostly iphones. 4S at that
I suspect there are many, many cheap ones lying in boxes and under beds in children's rooms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Macky the Macky
Looking at the chart, there's been a total inversion with the previous OS leaders now at the bottom and those who were not part of the old boy's club, being at the top.
Could that happen again?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Just_Me
How the heck does google have 50%+. I rarely see android. Mostly iphones. 4S at that
I nev er see anything except iPhones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips
I suspect there are many, many cheap ones lying in boxes and under beds in children's rooms.
You think they can be used as baby monitors?
So this means per baby two android phones sold. ;-D
Quote:
Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz
Could that happen again?
Absolutely, it could all change again, don't see significant change happening in the near future but as Apple has significant loyalty amongst it's user base, it is more likely that Google are the ones who need to look over their shoulder at this stage.
I certainly hope so because WinPh deserves to be a contender based on technical competency and usefulness. I'd certainly choose it over Android.
I'm surprised that with RiM faltering for so long that they are still retaining the number 3 position in new smartphone OS share. And with a solid 13%, which I'm sure MS would be ecstatic to have.
Based on the current info and trends I don't see either MS or RiM increasing their market share.
I see a lot of Android phones myself, but that's because I happen to know a lot of lower income people and they are on prepaid plans. All of them say that if the iPhone ever becomes available on a prepaid plan, they'll be on it in a minute.
But yes, out of the people I know that can afford traditional mobile plans, it seems like almost all either have an iPhone or are planning to get one as soon as they are eligible for a subsidized upgrade.
I've long maintained that the day Apple makes a deal with major prepaid providers is the beginning of the end for Android.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Just_Me
How the heck does google have 50%+. I rarely see android. Mostly iphones. 4S at that
I keep thinking it must be that I don't run in the same type of circles as Android users.
I've sat at many a table with different groups of people, young and old, and when the phones come out I see mostly iPhones, Blackberrys (yes) or old flip phones (in that order) and few, if any, Android phones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tildeboy
I see a lot of Android phones myself, but that's because I happen to know a lot of lower income people and they are on prepaid plans. All of them say that if the iPhone ever becomes available on a prepaid plan, they'll be on it in a minute.
But yes, out of the people I know that can afford traditional mobile plans, it seems like almost all either have an iPhone or are planning to get one as soon as they are eligible for a subsidized upgrade.
I've long maintained that the day Apple makes a deal with major prepaid providers is the beginning of the end for Android.
"Once the iPhone is on more than just AT&T it is the beginning of the end for Android." (Everyone - Circa 2009/2010)
Moving goalposts much?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
I wonder what the market looks like when you exclude feature phones from the line up.
I certainly hope so because WinPh deserves to be a contender based on technical competency and usefulness. I'd certainly choose it over Android.
I'm surprised that with RiM faltering for so long that they are still retaining the number 3 position in new smartphone OS share. And with a solid 13%, which I'm sure MS would be ecstatic to have.
Based on the current info and trends I don't see either MS or RiM increasing their market share.
I was under the impression that feature phones are already excluded from the statistics. If I have to guess, I'd say that lower-end smartphones probably account for half of Android's share and perhaps less than 10% of iOS's...
Regarding RiM, I have very little hope for them. I saw their latest efforts recently and they're innovative, but that's hardly the main ingredient in market success -- inertia in the consumer's mindset, or the latest fashion -- alternatively pricing -- are more important factors.
I can imagine WP grabbing some current smartphone users from Android, which has a more volatile user base, but not many from iOS. On the other hand, first time smartphone buyers who get WP would probably be choosing it over an iPhone as the second choice, so that may limit iOS expansion. The second factor is less important in the US where smartphone penetration is high, and more so in growing markets such as China.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz
"Once the iPhone is on more than just AT&T it is the beginning of the end for Android." (Everyone - Circa 2009/2010)
Moving goalposts much?
Well I never said that, so your implication is a little disingenuous.