Apple's 3.5% smartphone share gain was Android's loss in Q4

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
The launch of the iPhone 5, combined with the continuing popularity of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, allowed Apple's iOS to grow by 3.5 percentage points in the U.S. market, taking share away from Google's Android OS.

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comScore's new report covers the three-month period ending in January 2013. The report shows Apple retaining the top spot in the U.S. among smartphone manufacturers, with 37.8 percent of the market, up 1.5 points from December of 2012. Samsung came in a distant second at 21.4 percent, but the Korean company also grew its share of the market by 0.4 points from December of last year.

The two companies' continuing domination of the smartphone segment came largely at the expense of HTC and Motorola, which continued to lose share.

comscore


As Apple's smartphones grew in popularity, so too did the operating system powering them. comScore has Apple's iOS at 37.9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in January of 2013, up 3.5 percentage points from October of 2012 and 1.6 points from December. BlackBerry was hurt most by Apple's growth, losing 1.9 points in the period, but iOS' growth appears to have come from customers switching from all platforms, including Android, Microsoft OSes, and Symbian.

The growth in Apple's share of the smartphone segment no doubt stems in large part from the launch of the iPhone 5. Apple's last two handsets, the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S, were the two most popular smartphones on the market over the fourth quarter of 2012.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Better watch out Microsoft. You're going to fall into the "other" slice of the pie...
  • Reply 2 of 46
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    Black is white. Up is down. Left is right. Good is bad.


     


    I'm not exactly sure how this is bad news for Apple, but somehow, I'm sure that it is.

  • Reply 3 of 46
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    I think in the U.S., the smartphone market is becoming saturated. It's not a matter of growth anymore, but more of taking from one another.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    WS spin: Apple fails to grab 5% market share growth from Android.
  • Reply 5 of 46
    Scoreboard, Samsung: it's about the customer experience.

    Fool an Android customer once. You get the customer-experience you pay for.
  • Reply 6 of 46
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    1) At least MS has come to a virtual standstill in a growing market. I guess that means means Win Phone isn't a complete failure. I like the OS.

    2) It's amazing that Apple can have such a huge market as a sole vendor and still be growing faster than their competitors with premium products. I hope to see this trend with other vendors and industries.
  • Reply 7 of 46
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    I wonder if Google still feels good about their $12 billion purchase of Motorola.
  • Reply 8 of 46
    thttht Posts: 5,437member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    Black is white. Up is down. Left is right. Good is bad.


     


    I'm not exactly sure how this is bad news for Apple, but somehow, I'm sure that it is.



     


    Of course it can be spun as bad news. Here is an obvious example: with Apple taking about 50% of the USA smartphone market, and the USA smartphone market saturated, that means Apple iPhone sales have no growth left in the USA. Without growth, the stock will tank. This may actually be the way this comScore PR be received in the market for Apple.

  • Reply 9 of 46
    poksipoksi Posts: 482member

    Breakdown of sold iPhone models clearly shows those numbers wouldn't be nearly possible without cheaper 4 and 4S old models. It is obvious there is a big market for Apple if it can listen to it. If they would throw in larger screen model year ago, Samsung would swim between among sharkies in the muddy water. However, they still believe they don't need larger screen and foolishly allow Samsung to build his brand on premium large screen models while selling et mass to midrange....


     


    Spin is actually this news to be read as a good knows of big success for Apple. And the Street is right: with such high quality phones and such ecosystem, Apple should sell substantially more and grabing market share from Android, not opposite...

  • Reply 10 of 46
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    Do they have chimpanzees writing these headlines?

    The headline reads "Apple's 3.5% smartphone share gain was Android's loss in Q4." However, when you read the story, Android was down 1.3%, Blackberry was down 1.9% and others were down slightly. So attributing the loss to Android is just plain wrong.
  • Reply 11 of 46
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by THT View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    Black is white. Up is down. Left is right. Good is bad.


     


    I'm not exactly sure how this is bad news for Apple, but somehow, I'm sure that it is.



     


    Of course it can be spun as bad news. Here is an obvious example: with Apple taking about 50% of the USA smartphone market, and the USA smartphone market saturated, that means Apple iPhone sales have no growth left in the USA. Without growth, the stock will tank. This may actually be the way this comScore PR be received in the market for Apple.



     


    Ahh... but their is great potential for some speciality smartphones...  The PimpPhone, HoPhone, PusherPhone...

  • Reply 12 of 46
    sflocal wrote: »
    I think in the U.S., the smartphone market is becoming saturated. It's not a matter of growth anymore, but more of taking from one another.

    When the Sun converts all the hydrogen into helium, it starts fusing helium into lithium. Apple will just convert smartphone users into smart watch users. Or whatever comes next. It's already happened to the iPod users.
  • Reply 13 of 46
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    I'm still amazed by the number of people that have dedicated smart phones for personal and business use. There is a good chance you will actually see market contraction. Most people I see are split BB and iPhone.
  • Reply 14 of 46
    thttht Posts: 5,437member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh View Post



    I'm still amazed by the number of people that have dedicated smart phones for personal and business use. There is a good chance you will actually see market contraction. Most people I see are split BB and iPhone.


     


    Raises hand here. ;(


     


    3GS for work.


    4S for home.


     


    Never shall I have a device that mixes the two.

  • Reply 15 of 46
    512ke512ke Posts: 782member
    What? Something good for Apple?
    Here comes the backlash.
    But. But that's not international. But there is no room left for Apple to grow in the U.S. But the screen is too small. But Citi just yelled to the world that Apple's iPhone sales just collapsed. But the margins aren't big anymore. But Google is God. But Apple is poison as a company due to the fear its stock engenders among investors. But. But. But.
    @ Citi: Their sales went up bitches!
    UP.
  • Reply 16 of 46
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post



    I think in the U.S., the smartphone market is becoming saturated. It's not a matter of growth anymore, but more of taking from one another.


    Not close. Smartphones have less than 50% market share in the US. It is 65% in Japan and almost 60% in S. Korea. http://www.economist.com/news/business/21572776-apples-ios-and-googles-android-face-several-hopeful-challengers-bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed

  • Reply 17 of 46
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by poksi View Post




    Breakdown of sold iPhone models clearly shows those numbers wouldn't be nearly possible without cheaper 4 and 4S old models. It is obvious there is a big market for Apple if it can listen to it. If they would throw in larger screen model year ago, Samsung would swim between among sharkies in the muddy water. However, they still believe they don't need larger screen and foolishly allow Samsung to build his brand on premium large screen models while selling et mass to midrange....


     


    Spin is actually this news to be read as a good knows of big success for Apple. And the Street is right: with such high quality phones and such ecosystem, Apple should sell substantially more and grabing market share from Android, not opposite...



     


    Too bad we don't have a breakdown of the average screen size of Samsung phones sold, a lot of the cheap phones that make up the bulk of the phones they sell, have smaller screens.


     


    They have only shipped 30 or so million high end Galaxy S series phones over the last few years.

  • Reply 18 of 46
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member
    "Apple wrote:
    [" url="/t/156339/apples-3-5-smartphone-share-gain-was-androids-loss-in-q4#post_2289061"]Black is white. Up is down. Left is right. Good is bad.

    I'm not exactly sure how this is bad news for Apple, but somehow, I'm sure that it is.
    It's only bad news if you judge it based on what consistently wrong pundits think and on stick price fluctuations. Otherwise, it's just news, neither good nor bad. Apple is doing very well with a few bucks in the bank.
  • Reply 19 of 46
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member
    When the Sun converts all the hydrogen into helium, it starts fusing helium into lithium. Apple will just convert smartphone users into smart watch users. Or whatever comes next. It's already happened to the iPod users.

    What if the iPad is lithium? After all, lithium was the last element made during the Big Bang! Say it ain't so!
  • Reply 20 of 46
    ankleskaterankleskater Posts: 1,287member
    Not close. Smartphones have less than 50% market share in the US. It is 65% in Japan and almost 60% in S. Korea. http://www.economist.com/news/business/21572776-apples-ios-and-googles-android-face-several-hopeful-challengers-bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed

    It was reported last fall that US had passed the 50% mark, and 54% in Jan this year. Perhaps the Eco is using dated data.
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