Samsung Retains Top Spot in US Mobile Phone Market

For the three-month average period ending in November, device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 26.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 1.2 percentage points). Apple ranked second with 18.5 percent market share (up 1.4 percentage points), followed by LG with 17.5 percent share, Motorola with 10.4 percent and HTC with 5.9 percent.

Top Mobile OEMs

  Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Aug-12 Nov-12 Point Change
Samsung 25.7% 26.9% 1.2
Apple 17.1% 18.5% 1.4
LG 18.2% 17.5% -0.7
Motorola 11.2% 10.4% -0.8
HTC 6.3% 5.9% -0.4

Smartphone Platform Market Share

123.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (53 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in November, up 6 percent since August.

Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 53.7 percent market share (up 1.1 percentage points), while Apple's share increased 0.7 percentage points to 35 percent. RIM ranked third with 7.3 percent share, followed by Microsoft (3 percent) and Symbian (0.5 percent).

Top Smartphone Platforms

  Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Aug-12 Nov-12 Point Change
Google 52.6% 53.7% 1.1
Apple 34.3% 35.0% 0.7
RIM 8.3% 7.3% -1.0
Microsoft 3.6% 3.0% -0.6
Symbian 0.7% 0.5% -0.2

Mobile Content Usage

In November, 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 54.2 percent of subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), while browsers were used by 52.1 percent (up 0.1 percentage points).

Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 0.9 percentage points to 39.2 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 33.7 percent of the mobile audience, while 28.7 percent listened to music on their phones (up 0.4 percentage points).

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