comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending October 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 26.3 percent market share. Google Android continued to lead among smartphone platforms, accounting for 53.6 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple secured 34.3 percent.
OEM Market Share
For the three-month average period ending in October, device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 26.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.7 percentage points). Apple ranked second for the first time on record with 17.8 percent market share (up 1.5 percentage points), followed by LG with 17.6 percent share, Motorola with 11 percent and HTC with 6 percent.
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s iPhone 5 launched on September 21, 2012, so this report includes on one month of iPhone 5 sales and two months of iPhone sales “pause” ahead of the release of iPhone 5.
Smartphone Platform Market Share
121.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (51.9 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in October, up 6 percent since July. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 53.6 percent market share (up 1.4 percentage points), while Apple’s share increased 0.9 percentage points to 34.3 percent. RIM ranked third with 7.8 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3.2 percent) and Symbian (0.6 percent).
Mobile Content Usage
In October, 75.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device (up 0.3 percentage points). Downloaded applications were used by 54.5 percent of subscribers (up 1.9 percentage points), while browsers were used by 52.7 percent (up 1.5 percentage points). 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 (up 0.3 percentage points), while 28.7 percent listened to music on their phones (up 0.4 percentage points).
Source: comScore, Inc.