Samsung and Apple may be locked in heated courtroom battles, but when it comes to the United States' mobile phone market, there is one clear winner.
According to the latest statistics from ComScore, Samsung's position as the country's most popular phone company endures. The South Korean phone maker took hold of 26.9% of the country's market, an increase of 1.2 points over the previous three month period. Apple, meanwhile, gained 1.4 points over the preceding months to control 18.5% of the market. LG came in just behind Apple at 18.2%, while Motorola and HTC finished off the rankings with 11.2 points and 6.3 points, respectively.
Although Samsung is still unquestionably on top, its share only grew a little over one percentage point over the previous year despite seeing strong sales for its Galaxy S3 smartphone. Reports from November indicated that the Galaxy S3 already sold more than 30 million units. In what's become something of a surprise for some, it is actually Apple who gained the most over the last year, when it held only 11.2% of the market. Compared to the three months ending in November of 2011, Apple has grown its share by over seven percentage points, a clear sign that the iPhone 5 has given it a boost since its launch in September.
Ever since the iPhone 5 supply finally caught up with the market's demand, sales have been better than previously expected. Analysts at the Canaccord Genuity investment bank even revised their sales expectations upwards to 47.5 million phones for the current quarter.
In the world of smartphone platforms, meanwhile, ComScore found that Android retains its majority share of the market with 53.7%, an increase of 1.1 points. Apple's iOS platform came in second place with 35%.
