is still the most popular smartphone operating system in the United States by a wide margin, as comScore has once again found that Android was on more than half of all active smartphones in the U.S during the three months ending in May. In all, Android accounted for just under 51% of all active U.S. smartphones in over the three-month period, followed by Apple’s iOS at just under 32%, RIM’s BlackBerry OS at 11.4% and Microsoft’s Windows Phone at 4%. The new numbers are mostly unchanged since comScore last measured mobile OS market share over the three-month period ending in February 2012, as iOS saw an increase of 1.7% since that period while BlackBerry OS saw a decline of 2%. As far as original equipment manufacturers go, Samsung phones accounted for 25.7% of active U.S. smartphones, followed by LG at 19.1% and Apple at 15%. The full release is after the jump.
comScore Reports May 2012 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share
Apple’s Market Share Approaches 1 in Every 3 Smartphone Subscribers
RESTON, VA, July 2, 2012 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending May 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.7 percent market share. Google Android continued to grow its share in the U.S. smartphone market, accounting for 50.9 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple captured 31.9 percent.
OEM Market Share
For the three-month average period ending in May, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.7 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.1 percentage points), followed by LG with 19.1 percent share. Apple continued to grow its share in the OEM market, ranking third with 15.0 percent (up 1.5 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 12.0 percent and HTC with 6.1 percent.
Top Mobile OEMs
3 Month Avg. Ending May 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2012
Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLensShare (%) of Mobile Subscribers Feb-12 May-12 Point Change Total Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A Samsung 25.6% 25.7% 0.1 LG 19.4% 19.1% -0.3 Apple 13.5% 15.0% 1.5 Motorola 12.8% 12.0% -0.8 HTC 6.3% 6.1% -0.2 Smartphone Platform Market Share
Nearly 110 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in May, up 5 percent versus February. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with 50.9 percent market share (up 0.8 percentage points). Five years after the release of the first iPhone, Apple’s share of the smartphone market reached 31.9 percent in May (up 1.7 percentage points). RIM ranked third with 11.4 percent share, followed by Microsoft (4.0 percent) and Symbian (1.1 percent).
Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending May 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2012
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLensShare (%) of Smartphone Subscribers Feb-12 May-12 Point Change Total Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A 50.1% 50.9% 0.8 Apple 30.2% 31.9% 1.7 RIM 13.4% 11.4% -2.0 Microsoft 3.9% 4.0% 0.1 Symbian 1.5% 1.1% -0.4 Mobile Content Usage
In May, 74.8 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device. Downloaded applications were used by 51.1 percent of subscribers (up 1.6 percentage points), while browsers were used by 49.8 percent (up 0.6 percentage points). Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 0.6 percentage points to 36.7 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing was done by 33.5 percent of the mobile audience (up 1.3 percentage points), while 27.0 percent listened to music on their phones (up 2.2 percentage points).
Mobile Content Usage
3 Month Avg. Ending May 2012 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2012
Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+
Source: comScore MobiLensShare (%) of Mobile Subscribers Feb-12 May-12 Point Change Total Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A Sent text message to another phone 74.8% 74.8% 0.0 Used downloaded apps 49.5% 51.1% 1.6 Used browser 49.2% 49.8% 0.6 Accessed social networking site or blog 36.1% 36.7% 0.6 Played Games 32.2% 33.5% 1.3 Listened to music on mobile phone 24.8% 27.0% 2.2
