A recent report suggested Apple’s (AAPL) latest iPhone reclaimed the title of top-selling smartphone in the world last quarter, and the popular handset apparently maintained its momentum in the U.S. last month. Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley issued his monthly handset sales estimates for the month of February early Monday morning, and he found that Apple’s iPhone 5 was the best-selling smartphone at each of the three major U.S. carriers where the phone is sold.
At AT&T (T), which sells more smartphones than another other U.S. wireless company, the iPhone 5 topped Samsung’s (005930) Galaxy S III and the Nokia (NOK) Lumia 920, which is impressively still AT&T’s No.3 smartphone according to Walkley.
The iPhone 5 also took top billing ahead of the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II at Verizon (VZ), and it beat out the same two smartphones at Sprint (S). At T-Mobile, the top-three phones were the Galaxy S III, the Galaxy Note II and the Nexus 4.
“Our February wireless store surveys indicated normal seasonal trends with softer smartphone sales versus December quarter monthly sales rates,” Walkely wrote in his research note. “While sales were seasonally slower in February, Apple and Samsung maintained dominant market share positions. Consistent with the past several months, our surveys indicated an increasing mix of LTE smartphones led by sales of the LTE iPhone 5 and the LTE versions of Samsung’s Galaxy SIII and Galaxy Note II smartphones.[bgr-post-bug]
