Samsung once again topped the global ranks of mobile handset manufacturers while Google’s Android mobile OS was the most widely used smartphone operating system (OS) in the three-month period ending February 2012, according to comScore’s latest MobiLens service report. Samsung captured a 25.6% share of the mobile handset market, while Android captured more than half the smartphone platform market for the first time.
LG took second-place behind Samsung among mobile handset Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) with a 19.4% market share. Apple ranked third with 13.5%, up 2.3% over the previous year, followed by Motorola at 12.8%. HTC moved up into fifth place with a 6.3% market share, up 0.4%.
More than 104 million Americans owned smartphones during the three-month period, according to comScore’s report, a 14% increase over the previous year. Android’s market share jumped 17% year-over-year and 3.2% over the previous quarter to 50.1%. Apple ranked second with a 30.2% share, a 5% annual gain and 1.5% increase quarter-over-quarter. RIM ranked third with a 13.4% market share, down 3.2% from the previous quarter. Microsoft ranked fourth at 3.9%, down 1.3% quarter-over-quarter, while Symbian wound up fifth with a 1.5% market share, unchanged on a quarterly basis.
Regarding usage, 74.8% of US mobile subscribers used text messaging during the three-month period, a 2.2% rise. Downloaded applications were used by 49.5% of subscribers, up 4.6%, while browsers were used by 49.2%, up 4.8%. Use of social network sites rose 3.1% to 36.1% of mobile subscribers. Nearly one-third (32.3%) of mobile phone users played games on their phones, up 2.6%, while 24.8% listened to music.
