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Topic: Smartphones

Samsung, Android held leads over U.S. mobile market in April

Summary: The U.S. mobile market barely saw a ripple during the three months between January and April as Samsung and Google's Android OS continue to hold steady.

Rachel King

By for Between the Lines |

Digital business analytics firm comScore published its monthly report for the U.S. mobile market on Friday, and little changed at the top for the three month period ending April 2012.

Unsurprisingly, both Samsung and Android retained their crowns at the top of the mobile OEM and smartphone platform rosters, respectively.

However, Samsung barely flinched from January to April with only a 0.5 percent increase in the domestic market. Apple saw the biggest (and only other) gain in the top five with a 1.6 percent increase as it held on to third place behind LG. Motorola and HTC rounded out the top five with slight drops as well.

On the smartphone OS front, Android peaked to account for more than 50 percent of the market share at 50.8 percent, a 2.2 percent increase from January to April.

Again, Apple was the only other OS provider in the top five that saw an increase. This time the iOS maker clinched second place with a 1.9 percent jump to secure 31.4 percent of the U.S. smartphone market.

Overall, approximately 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices for the three-month average period ending in April. More than 107 million of them owned smartphones during the same time frame -- a 6 percent increase from January.

For reference, comScore researchers surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers for this report.

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Topic: Smartphones

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30 comments
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  • In other news...

    Microsoft continued to decline.
    tatiGmail
    Reply Vote

    • In other words, Nobody realy wants Android

      it's just what come on the free phones.

      In other news, Microsoft continues to climb.
      William Farrel
      Reply Vote

      • On other news, Microsoft is now offering free phones.

        Thanks William for confirming that.
        daikon
        Reply Vote

      • Right

        50+% of the market buys these phones but nobody wants Android. I got news for you, there are a lot of people that identify themselves as being in the Android Camp and you don't have to look far to find them.
        slickjim
        Reply Vote

      • Being there

        Yeah, and nobody buys Windows, either. It's just what comes on the PCs. If that's the road to success -- and it sure was for Microsoft -- then Android has a very bright future.

        Given that Microsoft had to have known that being the top supplier of the OS to hardware OEMs was the path to the top, how do you suppose it happened that Google ate their lunch? Was it Ballmer? Too slavish a devotion to making cell phones into little desktop PCs? How did they make such a blunder?
        Robert Hahn
        Reply Vote

  • Point in time ..

    I never put much value in this data as it represents point in time snapshots that don't show any long term trend. Combine all this data over a year through 3 year window and pinpoint when key devices come out so you can get a better data view.

    Considering the US is the largest driver of smartphones and the bulk of people are tied to 2 year contracts the 3 month snapshot is really only useful for upgrade / new devices for that window. Knowing RIM has had no new devices since last year and Apple does one iPhone release yearly your only trending Android sales and the tiny spec known as Windows Phone
    MobileAdmin
    Reply Vote

  • Are all posters bad at math?

    A POINT change is in now way shape or form the same as a percentage change.

    In terms of percentages, which is the term you use in your post.

    Samsung grew by 2% and Apple by 12.5%.

    Quoting numbers but using the metrics incorrectly makes the numbers worthless.

    /rant
    raleighthings
    Reply Vote

    • Misleading

      If you follow your own logic your post is just as misleading. Percentage change needs to be calculated on units shipped to see real growth. Otherwise your number is skewed by the growth/decline of the overall market.
      Point change is what I have see being used in business analytics more often than not. Perhaps point should have been used vs percent but I thought this is understood so not a big deal.
      kirovs@...
      Reply Vote

    • They may be bad at math, but you're bad at statistics...

      Actually, you have it wrong as well. When comparing percentages, it's essential that they be percentages of the same base.

      The numbers are:

      Samsung Jan: 24.5% Apr: 25.9%
      Apple Jan: 12.8 Apr: 14.4%

      These percentages are all percentages of the same thing: total marketshare and all of the entries are unbiased percentage of the total within their column. That's a clean statistic.

      That means comparing Jan and Apr percentages is meaningful (although a little abstract).

      What you're proposing is to compare the *rate of change* of the percentages between two of the rows. That means you have two unrelated bases. In the first, the base is the percentage of marketshare of Samsung, and in the second you have the percentage of marketshare of Apple. These are *unrelated* in this case because they're no longer being compared to their base, but are being used as a starting point for a new comparison.

      Which is meaningless when it comes to comparison.

      The comparison you want to do is to take the raw numbers, find the rate of change in actual units sold and then compare the two percentages to the total marketshare change. But you can't do that here because you don't have the raw numbers.

      The short version: as a rule, you don't take percentages of percentages and you don't switch bases in comparisons.
      TheWerewolf
      Reply Vote

      • Yes. I should not have done that in a hurry.

        But back to my basic point. A point change is not a percentage change. It is very misleading.
        raleighthings
        Reply Vote

  • Nice as an indicator but not much else

    Statistically there was no change.
    Ripples maybe; change no.
    rhonin
    Reply Vote

  • Yep

    These numbers aren't changing any time soon. Android will continue to be king and iOS will be a distant second with no real 3rd contender.
    slickjim
    Reply Vote

    • Wrong; iOS is #1 seller in USA for the few quarters already

      This comScore only shows total installed base, which includes sales like from up to three or even four years ago. [b]But for the last few quarters, Apple has over 50% share of all smartphone sales. [/b]
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

      • Specifics?

        Please post a link. That was the case when the new iPhone was launched- can you provide link substantiating your claim for the other quarters?
        Because for Q1 (IDC source), 2012 I have:
        Android ??? 59 percent share with 89.9 million units shipped (145 percent growth)
        iOS (iPhone) - 23 percent share with 35.1 million units shipped (88.7 percent growth)
        Symbian ??? 6.8 percent with 10.4 million units shipped (60.6 percent decline)
        BlackBerry ??? 6.4 percent with 9.7 million units shipped (29.7 percent decline)
        Linux ??? 2.3 percent with 3.5 million units shipped (9.4 percent growth)
        Windows Phone/Mobile ??? 2.2 percent with 3.3 million units shipped (26.9 percent growth)

        45% of Android sales were Samsung.
        Care to explain your data source?
        kirovs@...
        Reply Vote

      • @kirovs@...

        Check out the latest Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon quarterly statements. This ComScore data does not line up with published numbers of the estimated market shares (by CoScore) of the 3 top cell carriers and their published financial data for investors. The ComScore info created a huge stir 2-3 weeks back with ComScore doing lots of double speak defending their methodology.
        Bruizer
        Reply Vote

  • Wonder

    Another research showed that more than half of those Android "smartphones" don't connect to the network, via either wifi or cellular. They are used to make voice calls only. A glorified feature phone. Just because Android in theory could be used for a smartphone, apparently does not mean it is... Yet, those are counted as smartphones anyway.
    danbi
    Reply Vote

    • Re-read your statement and see if it makes sense

      Why would you buy a phone that connects to no network? Defeats the purpose no wonder you are getting minuses. Makes no sense you would have to connect to something to make a call.
      techenduser
      Reply Vote

  • The iPhone's run is facing some major risks...

    Carriers are taking a hard stance against iPhone carrier subsidies and rightfully so. Last week, I released a research report that proves just how dependent the iPhone's market share is on carrier subsidies. I have another research report coming out in a few days that shows how bad iphone subsidies are for carriers and what moves they're making to correct this.

    http://www.tech-thoughts.net/
    sameer_singh17
    Reply Vote

    • The Coca-Cola logo is recognized by 94% of the world's population

      When you have them by the consumers, their hearts and minds will follow. Android is turning into the 'store brand' of the wireless telecoms business, the brand that the carriers themselves advertise because the margin-strapped manufacturer can't afford to buy a poster in a subway station. And just like the store brands in grocery stores, they get their share. But they never seem to push Procter & Gamble or Frito-Lay off the shelves.
      Robert Hahn
      Reply Vote

      • Really?

        So I must be dreaming I saw those RAZR and Galaxy commercials on the TV...
        kirovs@...
        Reply Vote
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