Digital business analytics firm comScore Inc. released data from its comScore MobiLens service on Friday, June 1, showing key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three months ending April 2012. The firm's study surveyed over 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers.
According to comScore's data, Samsung ranks as the top handset manufacturer overall, with a 25.9 percent market share. Meanwhile, Google's Android continued to increase its share in the U.S. smartphone market with 50.8 percent of smartphone subscribers, and Apple seized 31.4 percent of the market.
OEM Market Share
The study found that 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices during the three-month period ending in April. Samsung ranked as the top OEM, gaining 0.5 percentage points to account for 25.9 percent of the U.S. mobile subscribers. LG followed in second place with 19.2 percent, while Apple continued to grow its OEM market share by 1.6 percentage points, landing on third spot with 14.4 percent. Motorola ranked fourth, with 12.5 percent, while HTC held 6.0 percent.
Smartphone Market Share
According to the study, more than 107 million people in the United States owned smartphones during the three months average period ending in April, up six percent from January. Google's Android ranked as the top smartphone platform, climbing 2.2 percentage points to land a 50.8 market share. Apple's share of the smartphone market gained 1.9 percentage points to 31.4 percent, while RIM ranked third with 11.6 percent. Microsoft followed with 4.0 percent, while Symbian got 1.3 percent.
Mobile Content Usage
According to comScore data, 74.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in April. Meanwhile, 50.2 percent of subscribers used downloaded applications, marking a 1.6 percentage point climb, while 49.0 percent used browsers, marking an increase of 0.5 percentage points. The usage of social networking sites or blogs increased 0.3 percentage points, used by 36.0 percent of mobile subscribers. Game-playing climbed 1.3 percentage points, used by 33.1 percent of the mobile audience, while 25.8 percent listened to music on their devices, marking an increase of 1.3 percentage points.
MobileLens data is collected from an online survey of a nationally representative sample of more than 30,000 mobile subscribers age 13 and older. The data collected on mobile phone usage refers to a person's primary mobile device. It does not include data referring to a respondent's secondary mobile phone. comScore is a global leader in measuring digital data, and is the preferred source of digital business analytics.
