Apple’s iPhone Widens Lead as Most-Owned U.S. Smartphone

Apple’s iPhone reached record high usage share in U.S. during the first quarter, according to the latest MobiLens survey from research firm comScore. The iPhone achieved 39 percent usage share among U.S. smartphone subscribers as of the end of March, up 2.7 percent from December 2012.

U.S. Smartphone OEM Usage Share Source: comScore	December 2012	March 2013	Point Change
Apple	36.3%	39.0%	2.7
Samsung	21.0%	21.7%	0.7
HTC	10.2%	9.0%	-1.2
Motorola	9.1%	8.5%	-0.6
LG	7.1%	6.8%	-0.3

Usage share of Samsung smartphones, powered by a mix of Android, Windows Phone OS, and the in-house Bada OS, rose 0.7 percent to reach 21.7 percent overall. All other vendors, including HTC, Google-owned Motorola, and LG, saw their usage share decrease in the first three months of the year.

While Apple holds an increasing lead as a hardware vendor, Android still commands a strong lead in terms of overall U.S. smartphone platforms. The Google-developed mobile OS did see its usage share fall slightly during the first quarter, however, from 53.4 percent in December to 52.0 percent in March. Android’s position in the U.S. smartphone market mirrors its position worldwide as the most prevalent mobile operating system, found on thousands of different devices at all price points.

U.S. Smartphone Platform Usage Share Source: comScore	December 2012	March 2013	Point Change
Android	53.4%	52.0%	-1.4
iOS	36.3%	39.0%	2.7
BlackBerry	6.4%	5.2%	-1.2
Microsoft	2.9%	3.0%	0.1
Symbian	0.6%	0.5%	-0.1

As the only provider of its propriety devices and software, Apple’s iOS usage share matches its hardware usage share, placing the company in second place with 39 percent. Despite stronger than expected performance from its new line of Blackberry 10 devices, the struggling Blackberry (formerly RIM) saw its usage share continue to decline, reaching 5.2 percent by the end of March. The final two players — Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Windows Phone operating systems and Nokia’s Symbian — saw very little change since December.

Overall, the survey counted 136.7 million smartphone users in the U.S., representing 58 percent of the nation’s mobile phone market and an increase of 9 percent since December.

Recently released Android phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, may cause notable changes in usage share over the next three months. Apple is not expected to release an update to the iPhone until the fall.